A deeply unpleasant fever dream. Like if A Catcher in the Rye were a lot worse and also about an obnoxious technobro's midlife crisis.

The concept of this book intrigued me right away - the narrator works at Dare to Know, an organization that can pinpoint the time of your death down to the second at a 100% success rate. It's a costly business ($20,000), and not everyone is keen about the practice. While waiting for a tow truck, our narrator decides to look up his own death date - despite it being completely against the rules - and the results are shocking.

Even though I found the narrator to ramble, I was nonetheless engaged in the story for the first half. Beyond that, events took a turn for the weird, and the ending was all over the place. I hadn't expected such a deep sci-fi/horror vibe, and some scenes went way over my head. All the flashbacks felt a bit much too.

Still, I'm sure science fiction and speculative fiction readers will appreciate the book, and I'm always a fan of a story that's completely unique.

I enjoyed the intriguing concept behind this book, the scientific/philosophical food for thought, and the depth of the characters. Unfortunately for me, the plot - and particularly the way the book ended - just weren't satisfying for me.

That said, I found the ending unsatisfying in the same way I find certain aspects of some of Stephen King's books unsatisfying, so that probably bodes well for Dare to Know!

I appreciate the opportunity to read the ARC in advance of publication.

If someone knew when you will die, would you want them to tell you?

Dare to Know is dark and compelling horror story of a world where the discovery the death particle now means anyone can learn the date of their demise. We follow our downtrodden narrator as they reminisce about their now soulless, corporate life calculating and selling death dates using advanced mathematics. But what happens when he breaks the taboo and calculates the date of his own death?

Frankly, it is difficult to write about this book without giving too much away, or to convey the twisting, existential dread that engulfs this entire novel. The subject is dark, sometimes creepy, but there is something that keeps pulling you through, begging you to read more.

I found this book so compelling I read it in two sittings, struggling to tare myself away from the page. If you can handle a darker, more mysterious exploration of life and death, you will not be able to put this book down.