I am a sucker for anything time related. This book just didn’t do it for me. The Future is Yours is told through a series of texts, emails, and transcripts and not always in order as events occurred. The format made it quick to read. The premise was interesting but just when the story should have climaxed, the wind was let out of it’s sails. It just ended abruptly with an ambiguous ending (I think that was the intent but it just came across as not knowing how to end it). The ending made it just an okay book.

DNF @ 50%

This is the perfect example of "diversity for diversity's sake" - our main characters are Ben (a Black man) and Ahdi (an Indian man) but they never encounter barriers because of their race. Indeed, it only comes up during their introductions and in one description of them. There is one time where Ben calls something racist as a mark against a choice of potential font colors (the color in question being white). And while this is the world I wish we lived in, it's definitely not. Ben is able to talk himself and Ahdi out of trouble several times when, as a Black man, his trying to talk his way OUT of anything would almost automatically mean he was worse off because of the attempt. There's no discussion of the inherent racism in tech and start-ups, in academia, in marketing. You cannot have POC characters without at least a hint of these concerns.

Plus, Ahdri is your stereotypical "super nerd" whose antisocial behavior is destined to be fixed by "finding the right girl" - and this topic comes up again and again. Their romantic relationships just get even more cliche from there, but that would be spoiler territory.

I will say, the pacing was phenomenal. I sat down and read 50% in one sitting but I found that I wasn't ever convinced by the product. All the setbacks are waved away and ignored because "they know the future" and even fantastic storytelling across various mediums (text messages, emails, articles, video transcripts, and audio transcripts) can't make up for unbelievable characters and a technology that never feels entirely real.

I have seen The Future Is Yours by Dan Frey categorized as science fiction, time travel, and as a techno-thriller, and there are aspects of all of these within this unique story set in California and Washington D.C. The key question in this book relates to seeing what is happening one year in the future. Would you take advantage of such an opportunity? Do you really want to know what the future holds for you?

Former college friends Ben Boyce and Adhi Chaudry answer this question with an overwhelming yes. Forming a startup called The Future, they want to deliver this technology to the world. Ben takes on the management, marketing and financial side and Adhi tackles the technical side. Will they make their dream into a reality where the device can predict everything perfectly? Will there be any downsides or long-term consequences? Would they be social, political, personal, or something else entirely? Can they overcome the technical, scalability, and ethical hazards of such a technology? What types of opposition and opportunities will they encounter?

The reader gains a strong sense of Ben and Adhi’s personalities through their texts and emails. Additionally, Adhi shows significant character growth despite his introversion while Ben seems to stay the extroverted entrepreneur that is out to conquer the world. How will their relationship change?

While I know other books have used similar formats, this is my first reading experience where the entire novel was told through written records such as emails, transcripts, blogs, text messages, incident reports, and letters. In this case, it worked well. Additionally, the reader gains some insight into venture capital and even board of directors’ office politics. Somehow, the format also managed to invoke a strong sense of suspense and tension which I didn’t expect, but made the reading experience pleasurable. I did think some of the swearing used wasn’t necessary to convey the mood and tension and could have been handled differently. Additionally, the use of stereotypes, if it was going to be used for the two main characters, could have been reversed and would have made the story more unique. Themes include friendship, ethics, love, business acumen, predictive accuracy, change, and consequences to actions.

Overall, this was a gripping, original, and steadily-paced book was entertaining and kept my interest. This novel was definitely thought-provoking. The ending? You’ll have to read it to find out if they are successful or not. Does the world change? What happens to Ben and Adhi?

Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine – Del Rey and Dan Frey provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date is currently set for February 9, 2021. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Dan Frey, Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine, and Del Rey for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

What would you do if you created a piece of technology that could peer into the future and demonstrate what life would be like, scanning emails you have yet to write and seeing search engine results for events that have yet to occur? Such is the premise of Day Frey’s novel, The Future is Yours. Two young men create a system that can project ahead, hoping that it will help people see the path they are bound to take, a likely goldmine. However, the road is fraught with unforeseen (or ignored) paths, such that the future is more likely to ruin, rather than reinforce, life as you know it. A thought provoking piece that touches on the technology, while offering an insight into why one might not want to peer behind the elusive curtain. Recommended to those who love a little tech in their thrillers.

Ben Boyce and Adhvan (Adhi) Chaudry had an irresistible bond in college, fuelled by their love of technology. They worked together on an idea that would create a system that could look into the future, allowing the user to forecast what lay ahead for them and the world at large. While many scoffed at the idea, Ben and Adhi forged on, using their determination to make it work.

Money proved to be elusive, but this could not deter the two men from pursuing their dreams. Ben was the business-minded one, while Adhi worked through the quantum computing, finally coming up with something that could be feasible. Their system, dubbed The Future, caught the eye of many in the tech and business worlds, though there was still a great deal of reticence by those who did not like dabbling into the future.

After Ben brought his wife, Leila, on to act as legal counsel, everything appeared to be running smoothly. However, the system itself needed some strong parameters in order to function well. Could seeing into the future allow someone to alter their destined path? Might this glimpse allow for illegal and unethical decisions to be made? Falling into the wrong hands, might this prove to be an issue of national security? Ben and Adhi are forced to wrestle with this, as well as some of their own personal quibbles, all while The Future rises in prominence.

As emotions run high and business decisions are made, someone will get left in the dust. It becomes a bloodsport to juggle The Future with what the months ahead will bring, including being summoned before Congress to answer for the technology. Ben is armed with foreknowledge of what is to come, but nothing will prepare him for The Future, including the future itself.

This book caught my eye when I saw the dust jacket summary, as I am always intrigued about what forecasting ahead would do for the world. While America has just gone through a political abyss where they wished to see how to make America great after authoritarian rule, many have not seriously thought or hoped to know what awaits them on the other side of the proverbial horizon. Dan Frey offers readers an insight without getting too tech-heavy or delving into the world of sci-fi.

Ben Boyce and Adhi Chaudry offer up wonderful co-protagonists in this piece. While they come from vastly different backgrounds, their passion for technology and looking into the future binds them together. There is some backstory woven into the narrative, mostly to explore how the two met and what brought them here, with a great deal of the focus in the present (and future, to a degree). Ben is the business-minded one whose eye is on the prize, while Adhi struggles with being the tech-savvy geek who is pushed aside and forgotten. These two men grow, independently at times, together in other instances, but surely apart as well. Their personal and professional struggles are front and centre in this piece, as the reader is forced to choose which of them is the more relatable and perhaps liked.

Frey does well to develop some strong supporting characters, some of whom emerge throughout the piece, while others are blips on the radar of this book. The present/future mix allows the reader to see how certain people will influence things throughout the novel, steering the story in directions for a time before letting fate take the lead. This is done so effectively and many of those who grace the pages of the book become influencers of the story’s future, in a unique manner.

While I am not usually a fan of sci-fi, this book really connected with me. It does have the element of looking into the future and using technology to dictate the path, but it does not get too heavy in that regard, keeping it readable and fun for the masses. Frey writes in such a way that concepts are easy to understand and fun for the reader throughout. This is not your typical story, in that it is retold through emails, memos, congressional testimony, and text messages. The narrative flows well using these forms of communication, exhibiting the emotion one might expect from strong narrative and dialogue. The plot is strong and pushes ahead, forecasting and foreboding throughout, as Ben and Adhi face professional and personal struggles throughout. If Dan Frey’s novel says anything, it is that his future is sure to be successful, and one need not look into any piece of technology to predict that!

Kudos, Mr. Frey, for a strong piece of writing that captured my attention throughout. I am eager to see what others think of it and where you will take readers next. The future awaits...

What would happen if you could see the future? Would you let it dictate your present? How would it affect your relationships? And is this something that one should really muck around with? Dan Frey has created a book that starts out as a tale of friends building "the Future" together. This new company is going to bring about global equality and make them rich. They know this because they've seen a year into the future. But can their friendship survive? And what happens when the future starts to change? Really gripping and thought-provoking.

If you could look one year into the future, would you? This epistolary novel follows two friends who invent a technology that lets them do just that.

Two of my buzzwords are time travel and mixed media, so I knew immediately that I would enjoy this book. It was written in emails, text messages, court transcripts, and blog posts. We follow our two main characters as they invent this technology that lets them glimpse the future and how the technology effects their friendship and the world.

This was a fast paced and fun book that I would recommend to fans of sci-fi thrillers or people who enjoy mixed media.

The Future is Yours
By. Dan Fey
P. 352
Format: e-arc
Rating: ****

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I received The Future is Yours from @Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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The Future is Yours is written in an alternate narrative style. It is a collection of text messages, emails, and transcripts of congressional hearings. You learn exclusively about the characters from their written text. Given the nature of the book, this is apt.

What would happen if you had a machine that could see the internet one year in the future? On it’s surface it sounds great. You would know if you and the person you are crushing on will get together. You can see your vacation pics. You could have foreseen Covid coming and stocked up on a house in rural America before they became a hot commodity.

Then you start to think about the ramifications of what would actually happen if everyone was given access to this technology. That is the plot of The Future is Yours.

While the story focus a lot on the tech, the actual story is about the people. Ben is a business person through and through. He is trying to break through as an African American male who lost both his parents - his mom to cancer and his dad who left. He also has ADHD. I’m not going to lie, I started to really despise Ben. I questioned what Fey was doing with the character. I held out hope though that it was all leading somewhere. It did.

Adhi is an Indian American tech genius. He also is neurodiverse with mental health concerns that are not really brought in until later in the book. Adhi’s mental health is not the main focus of the book, although it does get tangled into the plot - but only in the way that it is a character focused book and his mental health is part of who he is. Given the book as a whole I think it really works. Also more mental health rep, especially when it shows the individual as a person and not a disorder, is so important.

If you like science fiction that will leave you thinking and keep you wondering until the end, then you will enjoy The Future is Yours. Be forewarned that there is mention of suicide multiple times in the book. Also, the female characters are more a means to an end than actual flushed out characters. I enjoyed Ben’s wife but I can’t even remember her name - so yeah.

I hardly get the time to read adult fiction lately. I'm happy I made time for this one. The format of the story is unusual in that the entire book is written using email and text messages in the exposition of the plot. I liked it eventually- but it was hard to adjust to at first.

This book is written in the form of emails, articles, transcripts and text messages, which I normally wouldn't like, but it is done very well. It held my attention all the way through and I finished it very quickly. It is about time travel to the year 2022 and takes place in the future (late 2020-late 2021), so it is interesting. It does not contain details about the next couple. Of years, but more about the characters' lives and the invention they create. It is definitely an interesting topic. It was a tad confusing at times (deciphering who was saying what in text messages or wrapping my head around the jumps in time and some of the "tech talk," but not enough to dislike it or give up. I definitely recommend this to anyone who wants a lighter time-travel or techy book. It is a quick, easy read with some interesting concepts.

This book has a unique format. It is told in the form of transcripts, e-mails, text messages, etc. I started reading it and thought it was just an interesting way to start the chapter, but after a few pages I realized this was the way the entire book was going to be.
It was an interesting story, and I can tell the author was trying to make the characters more "real" than a lot of stories out there. The protagonist is deeply flawed and I never really got the point where I liked him. I just couldn't really find myself liking any of the characters or being able to empathize with the much except for Adhi. He was an interesting character and some of the illustrations of his dealing with mental illness were interesting, but not fully developed.
The book has some interesting twists and I enjoyed the ending, but it was a struggle for me to get through it. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. Interesting concept, one interesting flawed characters, and all the characters are very flawed (to the point where they are caricatures of Silicon Valley tech bros); predictable twists and a difficult to get into and read format made this an "eh" book for me.
I gave it three stars, but that is probably rounding up from a 2.5 or so.

This book was interesting to read, especially considering the evolution of technology we’re currently living through. A tale that has not been told before, which I find is more and more rare in this genre. I personally enjoyed the unique way the story was told through emails and virtual correspondences. New Dan Frey fan!

It is always enjoyable to read an author who starts with a good idea and lets it spin. I liked the format of text messages, emails and senate hearing transcripts. The plot also grabbed me and I read the majority of the book in one day.

Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey Books for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was an unexpected joyride for me. As a fan of Max Brooks and Andy Weir, I was pleasantly surprised to find the format of this novel to be in the form of “primary sources” or texts, emails, transcripts of Congressional hearings, etc.

The novel itself tells the story of two college friends who create a new upstart tech company called The Future, which provides users with the ability to read and view data up to a year in the future. Despite the book’s format, the characters in The Future is Yours are well established and each has a distinctive and unique voice. Having known like minded individuals, I can say that Dan Frey nailed the two most common personality types in both Ben and Adhi.

I highly recommend this book for any fan of futurism, sci-fi, or speculative fiction. If you love reading books in the vein of Max Brooks or Andy Weir, you will not be disappointed.

I received a free advance copy of this from NetGalley for review.

Imagine if you could see what was in the news a year from now? Considering how the last year is gone, I’d guess it would be more than any sane person could bear.

Adhi Chaudry and Ben Boyce became friends in college even though they couldn’t be more different. Adhi is an introvert and a brilliant computer engineer. Ben is a charismatic salesman type who dreams of making it big. When Adhi develops a theory that would use quantum computing to enable a PC to show data from one year in the future, Ben immediately sees it is an opportunity to start a company that will make Apple and Amazon look like small potatoes. In fact, they even get confirmation that this is what they will do once Adhi gets the machine working and they look ahead a year to see that their corporation, The Future, has made them rich even before they start selling everyone their own machine. There are troubling aspects to the technology, but with the knowledge of what they will do in hand, Ben and Adhi press on even as problems pile up and begin to take a toll on their friendship.

There’s a lot I liked about this clever sci-fi book, and one of the best things was that it's epistolary novel told in texts, emails, and transcripts that bounce around from Ben’s testimony told in front of a congressional hearing just before The Future starts selling the machines to the public to flashbacks about how it all came about. It’s not just a clever gimmick either because there’s actually a reason why it’s told this way that becomes clear late in the book.

The idea of the glimpsing ahead to the future via a quantum computer was also intriguing and very well done. It could have been a concept that came across as wonky or even magical, but Adhi’s theory along with the development process grounds it more than enough to seem feasible.

Once the set-up is established, author Dan Frey then does some very nice work in a way that shows he thought through the implications of this technology even if his main characters haven’t. Adhi and Ben do a few tests that convince them that the future cannot be changed by them knowing the future. Although Adhi is more cautious we see how Ben’s enthusiasm blows past any notions that this is a bad idea.

This is where Frey’s themes become clear, and it couldn’t be more timely than this moment when social media companies who made fortunes by allowing anyone to say pretty much whatever they want have now been forced to reckon with the consequences because it turns out there’s a lot of people who are shameless opportunists who will lie constantly, and there’s even more people ready to swallow everything they say.

That’s why Ben’s character really struck me because he talks a good game about how letting everyone share the information about the future makes for a fair and level playing field and that it would actually make the world better. Yet, the story also shows time and again how he uses that argument to beat down rational concerns and criticisms about the technology he’s trying to sell and how much responsibility he bears for it. Sound like any tech billionaires you know?

Frey uses this to turn what could be the book’s biggest plot hole into a strength. Because if Adhi and Ben can see the future, why wouldn’t they just keep it secret and play the stock market to get rich without taking the tech public and open the Pandora’s Box of letting everyone see the immediate future?

Part of the answer is that it isn’t enough to just be rich, they want to become famous as world changers like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, or Mark Zuckerberg. Or at least that’s Ben dream, and he can persuade Adhi that it’s his too. Which means they have to let the public know about it so the excuses about doing it for the good of the world start up. Plus, they know that they’ve already done it by looking ahead so why worry about it? They’ve set up a logic loop that demands that they do this even as the warning signs start flashing faster and faster.

On top of all this, it reads like any of those real stories about how some friends started a business, made it big, and then when disagreements come about it, everything falls apart. As you read their emails and texts you can see the cracks starting to form, and there’s a real sense of impending doom because readers can see what’s happening even if they can’t. This has impact because Frey built a real and believable bond between Adhi and Ben so that I was still rooting for these guys even as I was thinking that this was all a terrible idea.

Combine all this with a fantastic ending, and you’ve got one of the better sci-fi books that has extremely relevant themes.

My thanks to Net Galley for making an eARC copy of this book available to me.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is at all interested in how advances in technology can potentially affect our lives going forward. The book is told in a series of email exchanges, text messaging threads, and meeting minutes from a congressional inquiry. I found that this method of storytelling worked particularly well for the subject matter of this book. It seemed to me that the author did a nice job of explaining how quantum computing might actually work in a practical setting, and a good job as well at considering some of the social and philosophical issues that would arise if the device were ever to be actually created.

Read this book; you will not be disappointed.

Thank you so much, NetGalley, Del Rey and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine, for the chance to read and review this book.

Ben Boyce and Adhi Chaudry are best friends and very different from one other. While Ben is more extrovert and chatty, Adhi is introvert and quiet, but they complete one other. They help, support one other, but when they create a computer that can predict the future, everything changes and it will tear their friendship and the world apart. The future, the computer program, can make you see one year in the future, what you will be doing, dating, buying and so on, but soon they realize the future their device is foretelling is not a rosy one. Can they stop it?

This book is absolutely intriguing and captivating, The story is told by emails, texts, pictures, conversations, blog posts, interviews, swinging between past and present and future.
It's a story really thrilling, pushing the reader to ask questions about innovations, the future, friendship and love. I love the way it's written, even though some may find this way a bit confusing, because, swinging between past, present and future leaves the reader a bit dazed, but it's definitely worth it. I loved reading the relationship between Boyce and Adhi and I was really fascinated, and scared, by the possibility of a device like that.

It's a book a definitely recommend to those who love stories about time travel, friendship and science.

This is the best time-machine book since Elan Mastai’s All Our Wrong Todays. I am fascinated by the concept of time travel, and the clever advancement of the plot through documents and text messages was very entertaining. I hope to see more from this author!

This was an interesting read. Two best friends that met at Stanford – one an extroverted sales guy, the other an introverted genius. They build a company around a device that can more or less see the future one year in advance. The story follows the two as they build the company and get closer and closer to going pubic with the device. But things start going wrong – what if the device destroys the world? This really delves into the relationships between the two friends along with the rest of their circle. It is told through memos, emails and text messages, so that takes a bit getting used to. I’m still not sure what I think about the ending on this one though. It is an interesting twist and not exactly what I was thinking would happen. A solid book about tech, relationships and how far people are willing to go for their dream.

This book was a bit of a challenge at first due to the way it is written. It is a combination of text, email and Congressional hearing testimony that takes some getting use to. The basis of the story is time travel and the challenges and concerns that it can present. While the main storyline is interesting, the method used to present it left a bit to be desired.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook page.

I am not sure why i requested this book and I am sad I did because now I have to rate it. It was written in a way that was cold and hard to follow. I felt I never got the truth from it.