Flux by Jinwoo Chong

Available now

CW: an extensive list can be found at The StoryGraph

From the Publisher:

Four days before Christmas, 8-year-old Bo loses his mother in a tragic accident, 28-year-old Brandon loses his job after a hostile takeover of his big-media employer, and 48-year-old Blue, a key witness in a criminal trial against an infamous now-defunct tech startup, struggles to reconnect with his family.

So begins Jinwoo Chong’s dazzling, time-bending debut that blends elements of neo-noir and speculative fiction as the lives of Bo, Brandon, and Blue begin to intersect, uncovering a vast network of secrets and an experimental technology that threatens to upend life itself. Intertwined with them is the saga of an iconic ’80s detective show, Raider, whose star actor has imploded spectacularly after revelations of long-term, concealed abuse.

I had the pleasure of spending a few days this winter doing nothing more than listening to audiobooks and putting together jigsaw puzzles. One of my favorite books from that time is this one. It’s one of those books that I absolutely loved and also have a really hard time describing why and what was even going on. It’s a highly emotional, compelling, and character driven story that explores grief, trauma, and regret. The way the storylines of our three main characters weave together is both extraordinary and heartbreaking and is slowly revealed over the course of the book so be prepared for a bit of a slow burn that is well worth the wait. Chong has an interesting take on time, space, and the science of reality and I honestly didn’t understand much of it but it was fascinating to listen to. The way the storylines of our three main characters weave together is both extraordinary and heartbreaking and is slowly revealed over the course of the book so be prepared for a bit of a slow burn.

I listened to the audio version of this book and David Lee Huynh gave an excellent performance so if you have that option, I highly recommend the experience.

If you’d like to add this incredible story to your shelf, you can click on the cover above or here for ordering information. You may have noticed, or not it’s cool, that I’ve started to use The StoryGraph for content warnings. As I understand it, the majority of the warnings are provided by readers but many books also have content provided by the author. This way, I know I’m not missing something that may impact someone’s reading experience. It’s also my new favorite way to track my books and they provide you with all sorts of fancy and colorful graphics that breakdown your books by genre, length, format, and many other topics.

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