After his first book I had high hopes and was not disappointed. Dissolution is mind bending in the best way, absolutely absorbing and brilliant. I loved that the main character is older and her personality really defined. All the characters are amazing in their own ways but she shone throughout. Definitely a woman to be reckoned with. The whole sci-fi element is cool and refreshing to read. The way the novel is written creates tension and mystery as we go between interrogation sessions and the past. The plot slowly unravels, going through some twists and turns along the way. Despite the sci-fi backdrop there is such a human connection and emotion throughout the whole book, this really is a love letter to love and those enduring relationships. Loneliness and grief are also at the forefront, hard emotions to write about with energy but this book had that through its pacing and intrigue. I basically couldn’t put this down and if anyone likes thrillers/sci-fi then I cannot see them not enjoying this. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

This was mind blowing! It’s not often I can say I’m completely blown away by a book, it happened last year with The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown, but not since then. Dissolution is the story of a group of college friends who develop the science which allows people to go back into their memories, to rewatch them, but someone wants to take it further. We are learning the story many years later, as the wife of one of the scientists is trying to help her husband, to stop him losing more and more of his memories. I was kept wondering the whole way through and was shocked at the ending! If you enjoy a bit of science fiction/thriller this one’s for you! Definitely picking up Ascension very soon!

I really loved this authors debut book Ascension, but Dissolution absolutely blew my mind. There’s a lot of excellent well written fast paced tech thrillers out there but Binge just adds so many layers to his stories with depth and emotion. That combination is one of my absolute favourite forms of storytelling and Binge is up there with Blake Crouch and Justin Cronin for me. This is very much a puzzle box book. You’re thrown in blind and need to slowly figure out the clues along with the characters to try and build up a picture of what’s happening. The journey is the destination and the reading experience is incredibly satisfying. I absolutely adored Maggie and Stanley. They were every elderly family member I’ve ever loved and lost. Maggie especially was such a refreshing and unique protagonist, I felt such a strong connection to her all the way through. This story manages to be disturbing, heart wrenching, violent and romantic. Every moment I wasn’t reading I was thinking about it and every time I picked it up I made sure I was paying attention to every word, not wanting to miss a thing. Cannot wait to see what Binge does next.

We start pretty much at the end. In a rather interesting way. Maggie is recounting her story to Hassan, who is also part of said story. It tells how they met and what happened next. As she details caring for her devoted husband, Stanley, how together they try to "save" him, his memories, which are being stolen from him. Erased. As well as this, we also go back in time to follow Stanley's childhood. How he attended a boarding school and found solace in an exclusive club headed by a rather eccentric teacher. We also follow the early days of his relationship with a young Maggie... And that's all you need to know. In fact, the less you know, the better the book will be for you. Yes you will probably spend a while in confusion, and yes, it does start off a wee bit slow. But like the chess games in the book, there are openings, there are pieces to set up, before we can start the endgame. But once all the groundwork has been covered, it really does get on with itself very nicely indeed, culminating in a wholly satisfying conclusion. One of the things that really stood out for me was the relationship between Stanley and Maggie. It added an emotional level to what could have been too cerebral a story. Meaning that the whole was balanced. And the concept surrounding memory and what it can be used for really did intrigue me and, for me anyway, was a wholly new thing. Which did keep me thinking long after I turned the final page. This is my first book by this author but, on the back of what I just read, I have added his previous books to my ever bulging TBR. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Wow, the spoiler for this one is huge and is also what makes this hugely entertaining. In a metaphysical cross between The Time Traveller’s Wife and the Thursday Next novels, Binge gives us a moving elegy to lifelong love, a Spec Fic take on time travel and dreams, a timelocked spi-fi odyssey, and a fiendishly clever cat-and-mouse labyrinth of logic and oneupmanship. Maggie Webb has been caring for her husband Stanley, watching as the man she loves loses his memories. Until the day a complete stranger reveals that Stanley’s memories are being stolen, and only Maggie can unravel the truth behind the who and the why, by entering Stanley’s very memories and ending the terrible ravaging of his personality. But who can Maggie trust, in Stanley’s memories and in her real life? Beginning with the very real challenge of a loved one losing their memories and their personality, Binge crafts a high stakes and opaque thriller that sets off like a slingshot where nothing and no-one can be trusted. Thrust right out of her depth, only Maggie’s determination to save her husband propels her to take risks in the dream world, little knowing that the secret is that— No, you’re going to have to read this one yourself. A real triumph. Four and a half stars