Hardcover, 432 pages
English language
Published Aug. 17, 2023 by Michael Joseph.
Bridge's maverick scientist mother Jo is dead.
Now she's examining everything Jo left behind. Which is when she finds her big secret.
Is it a drug? A gateway to other worlds? Jo believed so.
Bridge is desperate to see her mother again. Will do anything, risk anything. Including search for her in those other realities.
What she doesn't know is that others are after Jo's secret. And some believe anyone it touches must be destroyed.
Bridge? She just wants to find her mom ...
I listened to the audiobook, read brilliantly by Lisa Cordileone, which really helped me to keep up with the plot as it leapt around.
It took me several attempts to get into Bridge, but finally, this week, I picked it up again and was sucked in. There are plenty of other novels about traveling multiple universes to see the other yous, and Beukes knowingly stops to play with those expectations. The real story here is about loss, and the memory of a person vs the person they really were. But there's a lot of good science fiction fun to be had along the way.
Sometimes Beukes really works for me, and when it does, it's a five-star barnburner. But sometimes it doesn't quite work. This is one of those times. I found the story both confusing and disturbing. Of course it's meant to be disturbing, but I guess she's so good it is more disturbing than I can take. I have a strong allergy to horror, and this bordered on it for me. I'm sure some readers will have the barnburner reading experience, though. I just couldn't stick with it.
