From the Bookshelf of The Sword and Laser…

The Fold (Threshold, #2)

Peter Clines

Start date: February 1, 2021

Finish date: February 28, 2021

Discussion: The Fold

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 10 topics — 216 comments total

The Fold

TF: Other books in the series
By Jenny (Readin… · 11 posts · 86 views

last updated Mar 10, 2021 06:44PM

TF: Maybe I'm just too old for this book
By John (Taloni) · 29 posts · 176 views

last updated Mar 05, 2021 11:17AM

showing 10 of 11 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Feb 20, 2021 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it liked it

Shelves: read2021, 2021-laser, sci-fi-fantasy, sword-and-laser

I finished this month's Sword and Laser pick. It's about 100 pages setup about folding dimensions and quantum travel, 100 pages investigation, and 150 pages adventure, so you know, hang in there.

I found some aspects frustrating but was entertained enough that I could be persuaded to read the other books. Part of that persuasion happened in the comments to my Instagram post, thanks to the commenter if she sees this:

A: Have you read 14 by him? I wonder if it feels less sloggy if you have. Even tho ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Jan 15, 2015 Jeff James rated it liked it

Shelves: ebooks, review-copies, netgalley

Full disclosure: I received a free review copy of this book from Net Galley.

My first exposure to Peter Clines' work was thanks to Audible, which recommended his earlier novel, 14. I rarely buy books without existing knowledge or recommendations to go on, but the summary sounded really interesting - a man moves into a Los Angeles apartment building and starts experiencing mysterious and possibly supernatural events - and the narrator, Ray Porter, was excellent. I ended up really enjoying that boo Full disclosure: I received a free review copy of this book from Net Galley.

My first exposure to Peter Clines' work was thanks to Audible, which recommended his earlier novel, 14. I rarely buy books without existing knowledge or recommendations to go on, but the summary sounded really interesting - a man moves into a Los Angeles apartment building and starts experiencing mysterious and possibly supernatural events - and the narrator, Ray Porter, was excellent. I ended up really enjoying that book, and added Clines to the short list of authors I plan on reading as thoroughly as possible. Accordingly, when I saw that he had a new novel coming out this year, I immediately wanted to get my hands on it.

In The Fold, teleportation is a reality... but it's not quite ready for public consumption. Enter Mike Erikson, a man with an eidetic memory hired to find out why the scientists involved refuse to share their invention with the world. Thanks to his observational skills and analytical mind, he soon discovers that things are not what they seem and that "the fold" is far more dangerous than anyone imagined.

The Fold's strongest points are its plotting and sheer readability. I tore through the book in a matter of days, and I was definitely hooked throughout, forgoing sleep and important chores so that I could continue reading. Clines is skilled at subtly injecting creeping horror into his stories, and I loved that feeling of being slowly drawn into something horribly doomed. Clines also injects timely pop culture references throughout, which makes the book feel grounded in the here and now

Anyone who has read Clines' previous work knows that he has a fondness for a certain brand of cosmic horror. When hints of a connection to the world of 14 started cropping up in The Fold, I immediately had a guess where the story might be going. Although this did make the book slightly more predictable for me, I was also excited to know that Clines was continue to play in a setting that I throughly enjoyed.

Unfortunately, the characterization in The Fold isn't quite up to snuff. Mike isn't given much depth other than his stated discomfort with using his intellectual abilities, and we are only provided the barest glimpse into his life before this story begins. Most of the time it felt like his function in the plot was more important than who he was as a person, and ultimately he became a kind of Holmes pastiche without the humanizing flaws or down-to-earth partner.

The other characters don't fare better. The supporting cast is a bit one-note, and Jamie, the love interest, reads like such a wish-fulfillment cliché that Clines hangs a lantern on it:

She sighed. “All that brain power and it never occurred to you why a cheerleader turned into a computer geek?”

“I just figured you were some Internet male fantasy come to life.”

I was also disappointed that the novel raises existential issues like whether you're still the same person after you teleport and then quickly discards them in favor of resolving the story with a series of bloody fights. In fact, the climactic scenes don't really have anything to do with the side effects of teleportation. Instead, they turn The Fold into the kind of story you could tell about any door into a hostile place, and felt like a bit of a re-tread of 14 in some ways.

Although I did enjoy reading The Fold, I definitely wish the characterization had been stronger. I think there might be a more interesting version of this book, perhaps in an alternate universe, where Clines draws his primary influences from Philip K. Dick's worries about reality and selfhood. I do still recommend checking out his work, however, and I'm hoping there will be further books in this world. ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Feb 05, 2021 Christina rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2021, marvel_dc_doppelganger_2021, finished-feb-21

I had never heard of this book. In fact, I had never heard of the author, Peter Clines, either. This was a book that was chosen by one of my book clubs and boy, am I ever glad it was! I was so pleasantly surprised by this book and how much I enjoyed it. I am not going to go too much into what the book is about (you can read the synopsis if you so desire), because I don't want to get into too much spoiler territory, but the quick and dirty version is that an extremely smart gentleman, who also ha ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 26, 2016 Sean Lockley rated it it was ok

There's something I like about this Peter Clines fella, despite the two 2-star reviews. I get a certain comfort from how he writes about everyday mundanities. Maybe that's why I get disappointed when the shit hits the fan in his novels. I'm broken out of the comfort zone that he lulled me into, and not in a good way, because when his novels get crazy, it's not in the most interesting of ways. Clines is great at ramp up, creating suspense, weaving a mystery, but overall execution leaves a bit to ...more

Like · see review

Jun 23, 2015 Jennifer Anderson rated it really liked it

Probably a 4.5. There was a brief period where it got a little jumbled, but it totally won me back in the end. Will definitely be looking forward to his next book.

Like · see review