Unthinkable

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
And truly what a delight! Parks will keep you on your toes as you uncover the narrative from the perspectives of Jenny and Nate, a married couple. Each chapter weaves in a new twist. It's honestly rare to find crime and mystery novels that aren't predictable from the very first chapter. He dangles just enough breadcrumbs each chapter to keep you enthralled, without being repetitive, predictable, or shallow. Even where the narrative is obvious, and you start questioning why a logical man like Nate wouldn't just communicate with his wife, Parks brilliantly layers in complexity to lead your mind in one direction to shock you from another.

There are some cringeworthy moments like Nate's occasional narcissistic self-promotion or the slight misogynist stereotypes against Jenny's superwoman nature, but those moments often tie into plot points. Overall I highly recommend this book. If you want excellent execution, no distracting grammar or typos, an overall cohesive and engaging plot, and characters that will keep you guessing, then this is the book for you. If I could, I would give this an extra star. Will definitely be seeking out more by this author.

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHO MARCUS SAKEY IS??? Ok, so this was a fun rib at a fellow author that Parks tossed into this book, and if you're in the know, it was genuinely hilarious. I don't know if Parks and Sakey know each other or have any kind of relationship at all, but it was hilarious regardless. And great levity in an otherwise pretty heavy tale that asks the classic trolley problem in a much more personal and yet global context: If you knew that one singular person was going to be the thing that ultimately tips global warming beyond repair and that billions of lives would thus be lost, could you kill that person? What if that person was your wife? Through the first 2/3 of this book, this is the primary driver and raises a lot of thought provoking questions, as Sakey's own books tend to do. The back third goes more to direct action tale (as the back parts of Sakey's own books tend to do), but the interesting connection here given the ribbing is that there are elements that could tie this tale to Sakey's own Brilliance Saga. Whether this was the intent, this reader has no clue. But again, an interesting thought experiment. Ultimately this is a fun mystery/ action tale that mostly sticks to the realistic - even the exact scenario of the finality of global warming is plausible given the facts recorded in After Cooling by Eric Dean Wilson, which releases just weeks before this book itself does. If you're looking for purely mindless action, eh, there are other books better suited to that. If you like “action with a brain”... this is going to be exactly what you're looking for. Very much recommended.