Crosstalk

by Connie Willis

Briddey is about to get exactly what she thinks she wants . . .

Briddey is a high-powered exec in the mobile phone industry, overseeing new products from concept ('anything to beat the new apple phone') to delivery. And she works with her wonderful partner, Trent. They've been together for six magical weeks, in a whirlwind of flowers, dinners, laughter and now comes the icing on the cake: not a weekend away or a proposal but something even better. An EDD. A procedure which will let them sense each other's feelings. Trent doesn't just want to tell her how much he loves her - he wants her to feel it.

Everything is perfect.

The trouble is, Briddey can't breathe a word of it to anyone (difficult, when the whole office is guessing) until she's had two minutes to call her family. And they're hounding her about the latest family drama, but when they find out about the EDD - which they will - they'll drop everything to interrogate her. And it might just be easier to have the procedure now and explain later.

The race is on: not just for new, cutting-edge technology, but also for a shred of privacy in a public world and - for Briddey - a chance for love at the heart of it all.

This is a brilliant, heart-warming romantic comedy from one of the wittiest and wisest of our authors. Written with a light touch and a smile, we're swept up in Briddey's romance - and into the difficulties of a world just one technological step away from our own, as technology and social media blur (or indeed remove) the line between personal and public.

• ISBN10: 1473200954
• ISBN13: 9781473200951
• Publish Date: 15 September 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Gollancz
• Edition: Digital original
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[jamiereadthis]

Okay, so. Huh. This book. I’ve meant to read Connie Willis for ages. I think I’d like Connie Willis in most other cases.

But this book. Drove me mad.

It’s SO manic. It’s so circular and repetitive. And that’s the point, I know, but still: no one has a single surprising or off-topic thought the whole time? Are you kidding? And then the plot only works by withholding information? And then there’s still plot holes big enough to drive a truck through? And explain to me please why it’s a horrible thing that the voices are gone when, up to that point, the whole goal has been getting rid of the voices?

If the point of book was driving me mad, then yay, it worked.

I really do get what Willis was going for, and I would have liked the book had she gotten there. But it felt like a struggle, and she didn’t, so even the fun parts got bogged down in “WTF, huh?”