Ascension

Starred review from February 13, 2023
The incredible premise of this superlative science fiction thriller from Binge (Professor Everywhere) gains credibility through the adroit presentation of the main narrative through letters and the pitch-perfect characterization of the brilliant lead, Harold Tunmore, who’s haunted by a fatal error caused by his own arrogance. Harold, a British surgical consultant turned physicist, disappeared in 1990, leaving his family bereft. In 2019, long after Harold was declared legally dead, his brother, Ben, is stunned to hear from a friend that he thought he’d spotted Harold in a psychiatric hospital near Surrey. Ben reunites with his sibling, who seems out of it and dies by self-immolation soon afterward. Ben finds a collection of Harold’s letters, which recount his participation in a covert expedition to the Pacific in 1991 to investigate a mountain, only recently discovered, which dwarfs the Himalayas. The sudden appearance of the massive structure proves to be just one of the mysteries Harold and his colleagues tackle at risk to their sanity and their lives. Binge’s superlative imagining of how the mind-blowing scientific discoveries, which have global implications, would affect his characters elevates this above similar genre fiction. Admirers of Michael Marshall Smith’s The Anomaly will be riveted. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, ICM Partners.

June 10, 2024

When an Everest-like mountain appears in the middle of the Pacific Ocean seemingly overnight, semi-reclusive physicist Harry Tunmore finds himself a reluctant member of a squad of scientist-explorers, all hungry to uncover its unearthly secrets. Of course, all is not what it seems, and Harry and his teammates quickly find themselves plunged into an unforgiving landscape of nightmares, both physical and metaphysical. Binge (Professor Everywhere) draws on a mix of tropes from sci-fi, horror, and classic literature to create a world that is at once novel and familiar, an epistolary mystery evoking the works of H.P. Lovecraft and Christopher Nolan. The audiobook narration by Peter Kenny effectively lifts the action and adds to Harry's sense of dread as the mountain's dangers increasingly reveal themselves. The result is an imaginative romp that admirably entertains and chills even as it occasionally falters, e.g., around the shallow development of supporting characters like Harry's ex-wife Naoko. VERDICT A fun and fast-paced thriller that climbs high and more or less reaches the summit. Recommended for fans of speculative fiction and cinematic sci-fi-horror.--Robin Chin Roemer

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