What a peculiar reading experience. First impression is...chicklit, women fiction, no, no, say it ain't so and then, in fact, it ain't so, it's suddenly a satire about an uber type A personality female CEO of a tech company with the newest neatest gadget on the market. And then it's a possible kidnapping, possible corporate espionage. And then it's a doppelganger story or possibly some sort of scifi clone scenario. And then it's possibly a sappy morality tale of how not to waste one's life working. And then it's a mystery...what's going on with the Glitch. And then all things are revealed. And frankly it's pretty unsatisfying. Which is to say this is a competently written novel that seems to have had many chances to get really interesting and resolutely chose not to pursue any of them, opting for the most realistic plausible bland solution. The author is a technical writer in real life and this can actually be used by the way of explanation. This one is technically perfectly functional, unlike the novel's invention Conch, but there's something about its adamant refusal of get even slightly speculative or imaginative that leaves the readers wanting. The main protagonist is certainly a woman for the modern age, she lives to work, converses in corporate jargon and has children named Nova and Blazer, but if she is the soul of the story then the story's soul is mechanical. With a more developed satire angle this would have worked to a greater effect. In its present form with its most obvious and most disappointing ending, it's just not as good as it might have been, despite all the potential. Then again it is a first novel, allowances must or might be made. It's eminently readable and occasionally fun, took a day to get through, easily enough. Thanks Netgalley.

The first scene seemed kind of ridiculous, so I gave up. (What parent focuses on a business call instead of a potentially drowning child?)