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The Synapse Sequence
In the near future, everyday life is dictated by algorithms, from who gets a bank loan or a job, to what supermarkets sell and which news stories you read. Even policing is run by AIs, who track patterns and predict where crimes are likely to occur.
Anna Glover joins a start-up company that hopes to revolutionise solving crimes by combining the memories of witnesses into a virtual reality simulator that can be explored by an investigator. Her first case is that of a fostered teenage boy put in a coma by a brutal assault, and she begins to explore his memories, the only witness to the crime. But when the boy's sister disappears and Anna's own actions are called into question, it becomes clear that there are other motives in play, and there are those who do not want her to succeed...
Anna Glover joins a start-up company that hopes to revolutionise solving crimes by combining the memories of witnesses into a virtual reality simulator that can be explored by an investigator. Her first case is that of a fostered teenage boy put in a coma by a brutal assault, and she begins to explore his memories, the only witness to the crime. But when the boy's sister disappears and Anna's own actions are called into question, it becomes clear that there are other motives in play, and there are those who do not want her to succeed...
432 pages, Paperback
Published June 19, 2018
44 people are currently reading
355 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Godfrey
83 books51 followersMy first novel, New Pompeii, was included in both the Financial Times’ and Morning Star’s ‘Books of 2016’ lists. The sequel, Empire of Time, was published in June 2017. My near-future crime novel, The Synapse Sequence, was included in The Guardian’s June 2018 best recent science fiction round-up. I self-published my cold war thriller, The Calculations of Rational Men, in 2022. I have also self-published a children’s e-book (in 2013) and written several short stories.
****I'm aware that loads of manuscripts attributed to a composer from the 1880s have been mistakenly added to my profile - but they kept on being added faster than I could get them removed, so I gave up trying to keep up!****
****I'm aware that loads of manuscripts attributed to a composer from the 1880s have been mistakenly added to my profile - but they kept on being added faster than I could get them removed, so I gave up trying to keep up!****
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
June 14, 2018
Excellent sci-fi/speculative thriller that's left me pondering over it's ending. Very clever and a page turner.
Full review to come for the blog tour.
Full review to come for the blog tour.
July 7, 2018
Daniel Godfrey's third novel is a stand alone science fiction thriller, set in the near future. As with the author's previous novels (New Pompeii & Empire Of Time) the plot is well constructed & thought out. He writes intelligently, but not in so complex a way to confuse a simple reader like myself.
Although the novel is not an action packed adventure it still grips the reader. I must admit that I do find it difficult reading science fiction & fantasy novels (though not watching these film genres oddly enough) because I find it much harder to suspend my disbelief.
In The Synapse Sequence Daniel Godfrey creates a truly believable world that kept my attention from first page to last, & that is a tough job to pull off when you're up against a cynical old geezer like myself.
Although the novel is not an action packed adventure it still grips the reader. I must admit that I do find it difficult reading science fiction & fantasy novels (though not watching these film genres oddly enough) because I find it much harder to suspend my disbelief.
In The Synapse Sequence Daniel Godfrey creates a truly believable world that kept my attention from first page to last, & that is a tough job to pull off when you're up against a cynical old geezer like myself.
May 1, 2023
3.5/5
Would have been a 4 star but the swearing dropped it down for me.
Apart from that though a stella sci-fi crime novel. So many connecting pieces resulted in me having no idea what the ending would be.
Such an interesting concept when it comes to sci-fi technology and robots.
Anna is trying to stay out of the public eye after being thrown under the bus by the government trying to cover their dirty work. Her new job requires her to enter the conscious memories of witnesses and with it still in the trial phase, the need for results is high. What happens when she enters a boy's mind who's seen things even the police won't acknowledge...
Would have been a 4 star but the swearing dropped it down for me.
Apart from that though a stella sci-fi crime novel. So many connecting pieces resulted in me having no idea what the ending would be.
Such an interesting concept when it comes to sci-fi technology and robots.
Anna is trying to stay out of the public eye after being thrown under the bus by the government trying to cover their dirty work. Her new job requires her to enter the conscious memories of witnesses and with it still in the trial phase, the need for results is high. What happens when she enters a boy's mind who's seen things even the police won't acknowledge...
December 11, 2022
I will probably never finish "The Synapse Sequence."
I've been reading this book for at least three months and I'm only about half way through it. Unlike with some reads where life gets in the way of finishing a book, this time around it's a wholly conscious choice.
Maybe it'll pick up at some point, but this book is slow... and I have yet to connect with anything in it. It has a cool premise, but as far as I'm concerned it's been all untapped potential so far. That said, I may get around to finishing this one since it's not exactly a terrible book either.
But for now, this one is buried at the very bottom of my list of books to read.
I've been reading this book for at least three months and I'm only about half way through it. Unlike with some reads where life gets in the way of finishing a book, this time around it's a wholly conscious choice.
Maybe it'll pick up at some point, but this book is slow... and I have yet to connect with anything in it. It has a cool premise, but as far as I'm concerned it's been all untapped potential so far. That said, I may get around to finishing this one since it's not exactly a terrible book either.
But for now, this one is buried at the very bottom of my list of books to read.
March 29, 2019
This was a pretty decent science fiction read. I picked it up yesterday morning before the library
cafe opened to read-- it was very snowy, and I wasn't expecting too much in the way of customers. I got home and, still feeling sick, spent the day in bed reading off and on.
In essence, this book is sort of a dystopian crime novel-- two unlikely allies work together to crack a case that the Police State has written off. The main character is tolerable, and she leans a little too heavily on airplane metaphors-- the other characters around her aren't much more exciting. The characters are not really the strong point of the book though: its ideas are.
This book presents some pretty interesting future-oriented ideas-- what if Universal Income is one of the worst things that can happen to a society? What would it look like if we could access people's memories? It stays away from my pet peeve of getting too deep in speculative science, opting instead to simply ask us to trust that it works.
Most interesting, though, are its ideas that are applicable right now. I won't spoil it, but the book does something incredibly clever which caused me to have to confront some of my own prejudices. In a book about the ways memory can be tainted, it was very interesting to essentially have the same thing done to myself.
This ingenious device is the main thing that elevated the book up to a four star read for me, and if you are into dystopian sci-fi, the book reads smoothly, is paced well, and will make you think a little bit.
cafe opened to read-- it was very snowy, and I wasn't expecting too much in the way of customers. I got home and, still feeling sick, spent the day in bed reading off and on.
In essence, this book is sort of a dystopian crime novel-- two unlikely allies work together to crack a case that the Police State has written off. The main character is tolerable, and she leans a little too heavily on airplane metaphors-- the other characters around her aren't much more exciting. The characters are not really the strong point of the book though: its ideas are.
This book presents some pretty interesting future-oriented ideas-- what if Universal Income is one of the worst things that can happen to a society? What would it look like if we could access people's memories? It stays away from my pet peeve of getting too deep in speculative science, opting instead to simply ask us to trust that it works.
Most interesting, though, are its ideas that are applicable right now. I won't spoil it, but the book does something incredibly clever which caused me to have to confront some of my own prejudices. In a book about the ways memory can be tainted, it was very interesting to essentially have the same thing done to myself.
This ingenious device is the main thing that elevated the book up to a four star read for me, and if you are into dystopian sci-fi, the book reads smoothly, is paced well, and will make you think a little bit.
July 27, 2018
Originally published at Risingshadow.
Daniel Godfrey is a speculative fiction author whose fiction I've come to enjoy a lot, because he writes excellent and original Crichtonesque science fiction. His latest novel, The Synapse Sequence, is a clever, thought-provoking and unputdownable science fiction thriller that doesn't disappoint readers.
I immensely enjoyed this novel and found it captivating, because the author writes fluent prose and has an eye for details. The story was so entertaining that it grabbed hold of my attention from the start and held it all the way to the end. The twists and turns of the story were interesting and increased my reading pleasure greatly.
The Synapse Sequence may well be the best science fiction thriller of the year, because it's entertaining and thought-provoking in the best possible way. It's difficult to believe that other novels could suprass this novel in terms of story, characterisation and thought-provoking elements.
Here's information about the story:
- The events take place in the near future where the use of AI has increased quickly and people rely on technology and algorithms.
- The story starts with N'Golo making a call for help and trying to get the AI understand that a girl is in danger... Then the focus shifts to Anna Glover who is investigating a crime scene with the help of a synapse sequencer technology that allows her to enter witnesses' memories. Anna thinks that the synapse sequencer is an important tool, but selling it to law enforcement is difficult. One day, Anna meets a PI, Adrian Fowler, who wants to use the sequencer to find out what happened to N'Golo, who he is a fostered teenage boy that has been beaten into a coma. When Anna begins to investigate what has happened, she finds herself questioning things...
The is the beginning of a story filled with gripping suspense and thrilling moments that won't leave readers cold. Suspense and science fiction elements interlink perfectly in this story.
The characterisation is effortless and works wonderfully. Anna Glover is a well-created and flawed protagonist whose life and work the author explores believably within the constraints of the story. Anna is one of the best female protagonists I've ever seen in this kind of science fiction, because the author has created a realistic character who has her own problems and a past that haunts her. Anna has been forced to go into hiding and wishes to remain anonymous. She used to be an airplane crash investigator until she investigated a wrong crash that went political and caused her serious problems, because she is blamed for an unpopular war.
The author writes excellently about Anna's determination and stubbornness to use the synapse sequencer. Anna believes in this revolutionary technology and thinks it's an important tool in crime investigation, but others are not so conviced about its benefits. When Anna uses this technology, the author writes about its positive and negative sides in an intriguing way.
It was thrilling to read about the synapse sequencer technology. The author depicts how this amazing technology can be used to investigate crimes and find out the truth about the happenings. The synapse sequencer allows direct interaction with memories and gives people an opportunity to examine them in details. When many witnesses' memories of the same event are overlayed and details are examined closely, it's possible to get reliable and useful information about the event.
There are also many other interesting concepts in this novel. I was fascinated by the UI (Universal Income) and how algorithms and the increased use of AI ruled people's lives. The author's way of writing about how easily people may be manipulated by information they receive feels realistic, because many people already believe things they read online even though they may not be true or are twisted versions of the truth.
What makes The Synapse Sequence great is that the author clearly has something to say with his story. This novel can be seen as a warning against giving too much power to AIs, algorithms and social media. When you leave a human aspect out of certain things and allow machines and AI to handle things, something may go wrong and the results can be terrifying in the long run. The frightening and dystopic future depicted in this novel may well come true if we allow it to happen and don't question such things as how our personal data is handled, what kind of information is stored about us and what happens when technology begins to rule our lives.
I like Daniel Godfrey's writing style, because his prose is swift, fluent and gripping. When you begin to read his story, you'll instantly like it and find yourself drawn to it. In this novel, the author's prose feels even more polished and satisfying than before, because he has developed as a writer.
I give this novel full five stars for its entertainment values, because I loved the story and was pleased with the characterisation. I look forward to reading what the author comes up with next, because his stories are amazing.
If you're in need of awesome escapism and suspenseful science fiction, Daniel Godfrey's The Synapse Sequence will fully satisfy your needs and then some, because it's a great, original and intriguing contribution to the SF thriller genre. This novel is definitely one of the best and most enjoyable novels of its kind and deserves to be read.
My final words are:
Daniel Godfrey's The Synapse Sequence is a superb science fiction thriller!
Daniel Godfrey is a speculative fiction author whose fiction I've come to enjoy a lot, because he writes excellent and original Crichtonesque science fiction. His latest novel, The Synapse Sequence, is a clever, thought-provoking and unputdownable science fiction thriller that doesn't disappoint readers.
I immensely enjoyed this novel and found it captivating, because the author writes fluent prose and has an eye for details. The story was so entertaining that it grabbed hold of my attention from the start and held it all the way to the end. The twists and turns of the story were interesting and increased my reading pleasure greatly.
The Synapse Sequence may well be the best science fiction thriller of the year, because it's entertaining and thought-provoking in the best possible way. It's difficult to believe that other novels could suprass this novel in terms of story, characterisation and thought-provoking elements.
Here's information about the story:
- The events take place in the near future where the use of AI has increased quickly and people rely on technology and algorithms.
- The story starts with N'Golo making a call for help and trying to get the AI understand that a girl is in danger... Then the focus shifts to Anna Glover who is investigating a crime scene with the help of a synapse sequencer technology that allows her to enter witnesses' memories. Anna thinks that the synapse sequencer is an important tool, but selling it to law enforcement is difficult. One day, Anna meets a PI, Adrian Fowler, who wants to use the sequencer to find out what happened to N'Golo, who he is a fostered teenage boy that has been beaten into a coma. When Anna begins to investigate what has happened, she finds herself questioning things...
The is the beginning of a story filled with gripping suspense and thrilling moments that won't leave readers cold. Suspense and science fiction elements interlink perfectly in this story.
The characterisation is effortless and works wonderfully. Anna Glover is a well-created and flawed protagonist whose life and work the author explores believably within the constraints of the story. Anna is one of the best female protagonists I've ever seen in this kind of science fiction, because the author has created a realistic character who has her own problems and a past that haunts her. Anna has been forced to go into hiding and wishes to remain anonymous. She used to be an airplane crash investigator until she investigated a wrong crash that went political and caused her serious problems, because she is blamed for an unpopular war.
The author writes excellently about Anna's determination and stubbornness to use the synapse sequencer. Anna believes in this revolutionary technology and thinks it's an important tool in crime investigation, but others are not so conviced about its benefits. When Anna uses this technology, the author writes about its positive and negative sides in an intriguing way.
It was thrilling to read about the synapse sequencer technology. The author depicts how this amazing technology can be used to investigate crimes and find out the truth about the happenings. The synapse sequencer allows direct interaction with memories and gives people an opportunity to examine them in details. When many witnesses' memories of the same event are overlayed and details are examined closely, it's possible to get reliable and useful information about the event.
There are also many other interesting concepts in this novel. I was fascinated by the UI (Universal Income) and how algorithms and the increased use of AI ruled people's lives. The author's way of writing about how easily people may be manipulated by information they receive feels realistic, because many people already believe things they read online even though they may not be true or are twisted versions of the truth.
What makes The Synapse Sequence great is that the author clearly has something to say with his story. This novel can be seen as a warning against giving too much power to AIs, algorithms and social media. When you leave a human aspect out of certain things and allow machines and AI to handle things, something may go wrong and the results can be terrifying in the long run. The frightening and dystopic future depicted in this novel may well come true if we allow it to happen and don't question such things as how our personal data is handled, what kind of information is stored about us and what happens when technology begins to rule our lives.
I like Daniel Godfrey's writing style, because his prose is swift, fluent and gripping. When you begin to read his story, you'll instantly like it and find yourself drawn to it. In this novel, the author's prose feels even more polished and satisfying than before, because he has developed as a writer.
I give this novel full five stars for its entertainment values, because I loved the story and was pleased with the characterisation. I look forward to reading what the author comes up with next, because his stories are amazing.
If you're in need of awesome escapism and suspenseful science fiction, Daniel Godfrey's The Synapse Sequence will fully satisfy your needs and then some, because it's a great, original and intriguing contribution to the SF thriller genre. This novel is definitely one of the best and most enjoyable novels of its kind and deserves to be read.
My final words are:
Daniel Godfrey's The Synapse Sequence is a superb science fiction thriller!
August 21, 2019
A grim look into a world where AI touches (and, in some cases, orchestrates) many aspects of our lives that serves as a cautionary tale for the digital era.
September 4, 2019
Originally published online at BORG.com.
Let’s cut to the chase: Daniel Godfrey’s new novel The Synapse Sequence is not just the leading contender for the best science fiction novel of 2018, it’s the most absorbing, riveting, and thrilling science fiction novel I’ve read since I was first blown away by Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park in 1990. Hyperbole? Maybe just a little, but when you are reading a new book and you’re taken aback by the twists, turns, and surprises as this book provides, it’s a bit like walking out of a big rock concert, wanting everyone else to witness what you just experienced. Godfrey is relatively new to the genre, with two solid sci-fi books behind him, New Pompeii (reviewed here) and Empire of Time (reviewed here). But this story is a completely different take on science fiction, and so deftly written, smartly paced, and completely believable in its speculative reach, Godfrey is worth comparison to some of the greats in the genre for it.
Anna Glover is an investigator with an unfortunately troubled and public past for her conclusions in investigating an airplane crash. She lives in the somewhat distant future–bots serve man, taking on so many functions that personal freedom is limited. As told from the alternating viewpoint of Glover in the present and looking back on her life, future London is very familiar and steeped in the world that technology is building right now with so much of life absorbed into the digital world. When we meet our protagonist she is attempting to lie low conducting trials for a company with an emerging technology, a “synapse sequencer,” which allows a person to be tapped into the mind of another, like a witness to a crime, to experience vivid, shared memories as an observer. She meets with her boss inside this world, where he lives out most of his life, a life better than he would experience in the real world. The process requires the help of a monitor, and hers sees that she gets in and out of submersion safely. But we learn there are risks for anyone who participates in this intermingling of brain activity. If you’ve seen the 1980s sci-fi classic Dreamscape, the modern classic Source Code, the television series Stitchers, or the shared visions of iZombie, you’ll find no suspension of disbelief issue with the wild ride that awaits you. The method for the journey isn’t as elaborate (or glitch-filled) as Connie Willis’s elaborate time travel tech, but Godfrey provides enough to submerge us into the stress and angst of Glover as she takes journey after journey to learn the who and why of a case involving a boy in a coma and a missing girl.
You can’t predict where Godfrey will take Glover from chapter to chapter in The Synapse Sequence. Godfrey has been likened to an emerging Crichton, but Crichton rarely could craft as satisfying an ending as found here. The story embraces that speculative futurism like many a Philip K. Dick story (Paycheck, Total Recall/We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, and Minority Report for starters), while weaving in a plausible future from the seeds of new tech today. He combines the audacious duplicity of Vincent and Jerome in Andrew Niccol’s Gattaca with the foreboding and despair of The Man’s story in Chris Marker’s Le Jetée and Cole’s in Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys.
This is not the novel for a quick, one-sitting read–you’ll miss the meaning and depth as the threads take us to a variety of suspects and motives until they collide in the unexpected final chapters, and you’ll want to re-read it to look back over some clever sleight-of-hand by Godfrey. Underneath the science fiction is a detective story of the pulp crime genre, complete with a down-and-out private eye getting in the way of Glover’s pursuit. Yet some of the characters are completely new, like the comatose boy N’Golo Durrant, Glover’s strangely nostalgic boss Jake, and even Glover herself, a tormented, conscientious, and crafty heroine.
Does the synapse sequencer have merit to be the RoboCop or PreCrime of the future and usher in a new era of police investigation, or propel us closer to the Skynet of The Terminator? The hard science of the process isn’t as important as the questions asked of the self, the human condition, of free will, questions wrestled with very differently but with similar gravitas by past science fiction masters Daniel Keyes and Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Books like The Synapse Sequence are why fans of science fiction read science fiction. A dark, tech noir thriller that has it all, The Synapse Sequence is available in bookstores now.
Let’s cut to the chase: Daniel Godfrey’s new novel The Synapse Sequence is not just the leading contender for the best science fiction novel of 2018, it’s the most absorbing, riveting, and thrilling science fiction novel I’ve read since I was first blown away by Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park in 1990. Hyperbole? Maybe just a little, but when you are reading a new book and you’re taken aback by the twists, turns, and surprises as this book provides, it’s a bit like walking out of a big rock concert, wanting everyone else to witness what you just experienced. Godfrey is relatively new to the genre, with two solid sci-fi books behind him, New Pompeii (reviewed here) and Empire of Time (reviewed here). But this story is a completely different take on science fiction, and so deftly written, smartly paced, and completely believable in its speculative reach, Godfrey is worth comparison to some of the greats in the genre for it.
Anna Glover is an investigator with an unfortunately troubled and public past for her conclusions in investigating an airplane crash. She lives in the somewhat distant future–bots serve man, taking on so many functions that personal freedom is limited. As told from the alternating viewpoint of Glover in the present and looking back on her life, future London is very familiar and steeped in the world that technology is building right now with so much of life absorbed into the digital world. When we meet our protagonist she is attempting to lie low conducting trials for a company with an emerging technology, a “synapse sequencer,” which allows a person to be tapped into the mind of another, like a witness to a crime, to experience vivid, shared memories as an observer. She meets with her boss inside this world, where he lives out most of his life, a life better than he would experience in the real world. The process requires the help of a monitor, and hers sees that she gets in and out of submersion safely. But we learn there are risks for anyone who participates in this intermingling of brain activity. If you’ve seen the 1980s sci-fi classic Dreamscape, the modern classic Source Code, the television series Stitchers, or the shared visions of iZombie, you’ll find no suspension of disbelief issue with the wild ride that awaits you. The method for the journey isn’t as elaborate (or glitch-filled) as Connie Willis’s elaborate time travel tech, but Godfrey provides enough to submerge us into the stress and angst of Glover as she takes journey after journey to learn the who and why of a case involving a boy in a coma and a missing girl.
You can’t predict where Godfrey will take Glover from chapter to chapter in The Synapse Sequence. Godfrey has been likened to an emerging Crichton, but Crichton rarely could craft as satisfying an ending as found here. The story embraces that speculative futurism like many a Philip K. Dick story (Paycheck, Total Recall/We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, and Minority Report for starters), while weaving in a plausible future from the seeds of new tech today. He combines the audacious duplicity of Vincent and Jerome in Andrew Niccol’s Gattaca with the foreboding and despair of The Man’s story in Chris Marker’s Le Jetée and Cole’s in Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys.
This is not the novel for a quick, one-sitting read–you’ll miss the meaning and depth as the threads take us to a variety of suspects and motives until they collide in the unexpected final chapters, and you’ll want to re-read it to look back over some clever sleight-of-hand by Godfrey. Underneath the science fiction is a detective story of the pulp crime genre, complete with a down-and-out private eye getting in the way of Glover’s pursuit. Yet some of the characters are completely new, like the comatose boy N’Golo Durrant, Glover’s strangely nostalgic boss Jake, and even Glover herself, a tormented, conscientious, and crafty heroine.
Does the synapse sequencer have merit to be the RoboCop or PreCrime of the future and usher in a new era of police investigation, or propel us closer to the Skynet of The Terminator? The hard science of the process isn’t as important as the questions asked of the self, the human condition, of free will, questions wrestled with very differently but with similar gravitas by past science fiction masters Daniel Keyes and Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Books like The Synapse Sequence are why fans of science fiction read science fiction. A dark, tech noir thriller that has it all, The Synapse Sequence is available in bookstores now.
June 28, 2018
*I received a copy of this novel to review from the publishes. Review copied from my blog https://thereadinglodge.wordpress.com *
The Synapse Sequence follows our main character, Anna Glover, as she attempts to hide from those looking to point the blame. As she is going about her daily life and hoping to promote the Synapse Sequencer to authorities and interested parties, Anna is pulled into a case that could change how the world currently sees her. However, as she progresses further, uncovers more information, and submerges her mind into the sequencer many more times, Anna must suffer the consequences of her actions leaving her questioning her reality.
I thoroughly enjoyed the concept of this novel and the way in which the Synapse Sequencer is promoted. When we first meet Anna and the sequencer, she is attempting to highlight the importance of using the sequencer in criminal cases by being able to see multiple angles of a scene from the memories of witnesses who were there. It is a concept that is very forward thinking and is a form of technology that sounds logical, making the novel more realistic and not far-fetched as seen in some science fiction novels. I loved how as the novel progressed you began to see the various pros and cons of the technology, and what side effects can come of using such technology far more than you really should (something about that sounds familiar, right?! *cough* phones and computers *cough*)
Anna is a flawed character, one that is stubborn but also ambitious in her approach to get results. She takes chances when she believes that she can get the answers whilst also being aware of the consequences that these actions may cause. Anna also carries her demons, in particular the unpopular war that she is continuously blamed for (something that we will get the answers to as the novel progresses) – but she uses this as fuel in her will to prove to herself, and those around her that she is not the person she once was. By being brought onto this high-stakes case, Anna begins to find out more about herself as well as society in general when she submerges into the sequencer and the memories of the victim of the crime. It highlights how often we stereotype people based on something as simple as a name, and this information later makes her question the reliability of the sequencer as well as questioning herself.
I found this novel hard to put down, and a very easy read. It was informative without bogging you down with vast amount of info dumps. This was my first time reading a novel by Daniel Godfrey and I will definitely be reading some of his other novels after this.
The Synapse Sequence follows our main character, Anna Glover, as she attempts to hide from those looking to point the blame. As she is going about her daily life and hoping to promote the Synapse Sequencer to authorities and interested parties, Anna is pulled into a case that could change how the world currently sees her. However, as she progresses further, uncovers more information, and submerges her mind into the sequencer many more times, Anna must suffer the consequences of her actions leaving her questioning her reality.
I thoroughly enjoyed the concept of this novel and the way in which the Synapse Sequencer is promoted. When we first meet Anna and the sequencer, she is attempting to highlight the importance of using the sequencer in criminal cases by being able to see multiple angles of a scene from the memories of witnesses who were there. It is a concept that is very forward thinking and is a form of technology that sounds logical, making the novel more realistic and not far-fetched as seen in some science fiction novels. I loved how as the novel progressed you began to see the various pros and cons of the technology, and what side effects can come of using such technology far more than you really should (something about that sounds familiar, right?! *cough* phones and computers *cough*)
Anna is a flawed character, one that is stubborn but also ambitious in her approach to get results. She takes chances when she believes that she can get the answers whilst also being aware of the consequences that these actions may cause. Anna also carries her demons, in particular the unpopular war that she is continuously blamed for (something that we will get the answers to as the novel progresses) – but she uses this as fuel in her will to prove to herself, and those around her that she is not the person she once was. By being brought onto this high-stakes case, Anna begins to find out more about herself as well as society in general when she submerges into the sequencer and the memories of the victim of the crime. It highlights how often we stereotype people based on something as simple as a name, and this information later makes her question the reliability of the sequencer as well as questioning herself.
I found this novel hard to put down, and a very easy read. It was informative without bogging you down with vast amount of info dumps. This was my first time reading a novel by Daniel Godfrey and I will definitely be reading some of his other novels after this.
October 26, 2018
Daniel Godfrey writes all-too believable character-led speculative fiction. for me, all his novels have made the necessary suspension of disbelief easy by his deft attention to detail and the pacing and flow of his writing style.
In ‘The Synapse Sequence’ the reader interacts with the created near-future setting by being embedded deep within lead character Anna Glover, collecting the details of the world along the way. People don’t pay for goods with plastic, they swipe a chip in their wrists; driverless cars have evolved into pods called up by mentally connecting to the ‘Boards’ which feed back news items tailored to the individual; bio-data is monitored via the same method to assist early diagnosis of illness so that medical intervention, by robot, can be administered.
The majority of the population live on a basic Universal Income in lieu of paid employment because ‘bots’ have taken over most jobs, including police and security work, and the few who still have a prized job learn to keep in check their emotional responses for fear of a bad rating being applied and their job being given to someone ‘more suitable’. Or they illegally hire a Spoof whose bio-data is fed into the Boards in place of their own. Anna Glover needs one as she was a self-harmer in her younger days and the need keeps arising due to her almost paranoia-like anxiety. Yet is her distrust misplaced? Why do people keep recognising her, treating her like a war criminal, long after a dubious incident in a past employment?
If knowledge is power, what is knowledge? Are the memories encountered in the synapse sequencer true re-creations or does the human mind fill in gaps via its imagination? If a memory is replayed again, how much of that memory has changed? Is it, in fact, learning - a question paralleled by the continual learning nature of the AI at the core of the Boards. When someone’s life is at stake, degrees of truth matter.
The structure of the novel is as fascinating as the front-end Crime story, mirroring the way memories can be pulled into the present by both the mind and the sequencer. Given the right circumstances, as the author does by almost unnoticed degrees, the characters and the reader start to mismatch reality with remembrance, while quietly, chillingly, each chapter is headed by a series of notifications from the Boards. Brilliantly done.
In ‘The Synapse Sequence’ the reader interacts with the created near-future setting by being embedded deep within lead character Anna Glover, collecting the details of the world along the way. People don’t pay for goods with plastic, they swipe a chip in their wrists; driverless cars have evolved into pods called up by mentally connecting to the ‘Boards’ which feed back news items tailored to the individual; bio-data is monitored via the same method to assist early diagnosis of illness so that medical intervention, by robot, can be administered.
The majority of the population live on a basic Universal Income in lieu of paid employment because ‘bots’ have taken over most jobs, including police and security work, and the few who still have a prized job learn to keep in check their emotional responses for fear of a bad rating being applied and their job being given to someone ‘more suitable’. Or they illegally hire a Spoof whose bio-data is fed into the Boards in place of their own. Anna Glover needs one as she was a self-harmer in her younger days and the need keeps arising due to her almost paranoia-like anxiety. Yet is her distrust misplaced? Why do people keep recognising her, treating her like a war criminal, long after a dubious incident in a past employment?
If knowledge is power, what is knowledge? Are the memories encountered in the synapse sequencer true re-creations or does the human mind fill in gaps via its imagination? If a memory is replayed again, how much of that memory has changed? Is it, in fact, learning - a question paralleled by the continual learning nature of the AI at the core of the Boards. When someone’s life is at stake, degrees of truth matter.
The structure of the novel is as fascinating as the front-end Crime story, mirroring the way memories can be pulled into the present by both the mind and the sequencer. Given the right circumstances, as the author does by almost unnoticed degrees, the characters and the reader start to mismatch reality with remembrance, while quietly, chillingly, each chapter is headed by a series of notifications from the Boards. Brilliantly done.
June 20, 2018
Anna Glover is not a war criminal, but that doesn't mean that she isn't treated as such by the public at large. Blamed for giving the United States and United Kingdom a reason to wage war with China during her former life as an air crash investigator, she now works to build an experimental synapse sequencer which accesses the memories of multiple witnesses to reconstruct pivotal events, a technology that its owner, Jake Morley, wants to monetize for use in London's judicial system, among other places. Desperate to prove the value of the project -- and, by extension, herself -- Anna flings herself into the seemingly minor case of a foster teen beaten into a coma. As she dives deeper into N'Golo Durrant's life, she realizes that the very underpinnings of modern society are in jeopardy... and that that's not necessarily a bad thing.
The synapse sequencer is a fascinating fictional construct. In Daniel Godfrey's hands, this exploration of memory and technology becomes a cautionary tale of the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and politics, and makes for thought-provoking reading. I did not personally believe in Mr Godfrey's depiction of life on a Universal Income (essentially a guaranteed basic income which has been tried to great success in certain European countries in real life,) but I definitely appreciate the dilemmas raised as the plot unfolded. How much of our lives are we willing to cede to authority and technology? How much of memory is reality as opposed to perception? Twisty and bleak but not without its own cautious optimism, The Synapse Sequencer is the kind of dystopian thriller that will have you reevaluating what you think you know about your relationship with modern tech.
Stay tuned for an interview with the author on TheFrumiousConsortium.net within the next few weeks!
The synapse sequencer is a fascinating fictional construct. In Daniel Godfrey's hands, this exploration of memory and technology becomes a cautionary tale of the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and politics, and makes for thought-provoking reading. I did not personally believe in Mr Godfrey's depiction of life on a Universal Income (essentially a guaranteed basic income which has been tried to great success in certain European countries in real life,) but I definitely appreciate the dilemmas raised as the plot unfolded. How much of our lives are we willing to cede to authority and technology? How much of memory is reality as opposed to perception? Twisty and bleak but not without its own cautious optimism, The Synapse Sequencer is the kind of dystopian thriller that will have you reevaluating what you think you know about your relationship with modern tech.
Stay tuned for an interview with the author on TheFrumiousConsortium.net within the next few weeks!
January 6, 2020
The Synapse Sequence is a book that follows the life of Anna, a young woman with a dark secret in her past who's newly employed at a small new tech company. They are developing an extraordinary machine that could change the world. A machine that can access the memories of people and compile them into a virtual reality that can then be experienced from a new perspective. This machine could have limitless potential. This book is extremely well written with a very good plot. I really liked it, it was very interesting and had a lot of interesting viewpoints for the futuristic society that we may face. If you like mind-bending sci-fi books, then I'd definitely recommend this one.
April 4, 2018
The Synapse Sequence is blockbuster waiting to happen.
If you weren't paranoid enough about how your data is being used in the present, this near-future thriller will make sure you are.
There was so much about this I enjoyed, by using perspective and questioning our own prejudices Godfrey has once again created a page turner, and he captures the zestiest with a frightening prediction of the future.
(Full review to follow on SFFWorld once my brain is back in the real world.)
*Advance Review Copy courtesy of Publisher(Titan Books)
If you weren't paranoid enough about how your data is being used in the present, this near-future thriller will make sure you are.
There was so much about this I enjoyed, by using perspective and questioning our own prejudices Godfrey has once again created a page turner, and he captures the zestiest with a frightening prediction of the future.
(Full review to follow on SFFWorld once my brain is back in the real world.)
*Advance Review Copy courtesy of Publisher(Titan Books)
June 6, 2018
Absolutely gripping from start to finish. Set in a near future which feels completely plausible, covering both the increasing use of AI and how people can be manipulated by the information they are fed, The Synapse Sequence is a fast-paced fascinating story.
There are loads of twists and turns and an ending I completely didn’t expect, this is a brilliantly written story that deserves to be a blockbuster.
There are loads of twists and turns and an ending I completely didn’t expect, this is a brilliantly written story that deserves to be a blockbuster.
August 12, 2018
It took me a bit to get into the plot. Even having a bit of knowledge of Machine learning, IoT, AI... it gets complicated to read and the timeline gets confusing at times. Maybe that was the intention of the author since the main character is a woman who struggles with anxiety. At the end it all makes sense, all the dots connect but I missed getting engaged from the beginning.
June 29, 2018
Really Good! This was so much better than I expected; it was hard to put down and a little Inceptionesque (was she in the sequencer, or not? Did that really happen, or not?) with a great flawed main character and just . . . good.
October 17, 2021
Good near future sci fi, had well elaborated and realistic science but also managed to balance it with good plot/characters. Felt the payoff at the end wasnt as satisfactory as it could have been, but otherwise it was a worthwhile read
February 19, 2019
A story with a convoluted, and dramatic plot, with interesting characters and tantalizing science
April 10, 2019
Full of mystery and twists, this kept my interest better than most sci fi I read. I would read a sequel.
April 11, 2019
This book is certainly entertaining. It throws readers into a whirlwind where they don't know where they are. Thoroughly enjoyed.
June 10, 2019
Brilliant book - so many twists and turns! Thought provoking too, especially when I can see automation and AI creeping into my own workplace!
September 17, 2020
A somewhat enjoyable story with an ending leaving you wanting more of an ending.
February 23, 2024
Spooky near future sci-fi read. If you’re a fan of Blake Crouch you should give this a try! Loved the twists and turns.
October 23, 2024
Maybe 2.5/5. Confused at the ending. But enjoyed for the most part
Read
February 1, 2025DNF
March 19, 2025
I totally missed this book when it came out but it's been on the tbr pile for ages.
Highly recommended. It nails what's happening with AI and does it really interestingly.
Highly recommended. It nails what's happening with AI and does it really interestingly.
September 2, 2019
Science-fiction is a genre that is oftentimes used to comment upon issues faced by society at the time of its production. Star Trek showed a future where the whole world had come together at a time when the Cold War and the Civil Rights Movement were in full swing; Godzilla was about the horrors of nuclear war and the fear of those weapons; and The Synapse Sequence tells a story about the reliance on automated industry and the effect that it can have upon the population.
In a world where people seem to be in constant fear of losing their livelihoods, whether to cheaper labour or being replaced by machines and computers, The Synapse Sequence feels like a book that speaks to many of these fears and worries. It may not be the central drive of the book, but it’s the world that the characters inhabit, and one that doesn’t feel too far away from a potential real future.
At its core though, The Synapse Sequence is a mystery story, one that has more layers and twists than the reader is initially led to believe, and that plays out in ways that you’re not likely to expect.
The book centres on Anna Glover, a former air crash investigator who now works for a firm attempting to create artificial realities drawn from people’s memories. These simulations are initially being used for recreation and entertainment, but Anna is exploring whether they can be used to help investigate crimes through the memories of witnesses. At first it feels like very familiar territory, with people going inside artificial environments very reminiscent of The Matrix, or the holo-decks from Star Trek.
The Synapse Sequence quickly shows how different it is, however, using the concept of reality built from memory to set out some interesting and unique rules for its world, before turning these on their head as Anna and the reader find themselves in dangerous new territory.
Anna and her firm are hired by a private investigator to help look into a disappearance that the police aren’t interested in, mainly because the police is now run by AIs, and soon finds herself part of a bigger mystery, and possible conspiracy. Travelling into the memories of coma patient N’Golo, she enters a race against time to find the answers they need to solve the case.
Interspersed within this central mystery story are flashes forward in time to Anna as an old woman, living in a nursing home in the final years of her life. Here she recounts the story of her time as an air crash investigator to a young student, who is looking deeper into her final investigation in Tanzania, one in which her findings led to a bloody war.
These sections shift in both tone and perspective from the rest of the book, being told by Anna in the first person, whereas the rest of the book is written from a third person point of view. Whilst these sections at first appear to have only been included to provide deeper insight into Anna and the demons of her past, there’s more to them that plays into the main story.
The world of The Synapse Sequence is a grim one, with the population unhappy and unable to work. It feels like an England where progress is being made to the detriment of the individual, where people are placed on UI (Universal Income) so that the elite can stay on top whilst robots and AIs take over the jobs. As mentioned earlier, this doesn’t feel like a future too far removed from the world we live in now. Add into this the constant monitoring via computers and social media, and it feels very relevant.
Daniel Godfrey has managed to craft an entertaining story that has a very flawed and human heroine, a woman who is haunted by her past for having simply told the truth and done the right thing. It’s a story about her attempt at redemption, both from her own demons and in the eyes of the public. But it’s also a mystery story that manages to keep you guessing, and will end in a way that you’ll not see coming. A wonderful and engaging read.
In a world where people seem to be in constant fear of losing their livelihoods, whether to cheaper labour or being replaced by machines and computers, The Synapse Sequence feels like a book that speaks to many of these fears and worries. It may not be the central drive of the book, but it’s the world that the characters inhabit, and one that doesn’t feel too far away from a potential real future.
At its core though, The Synapse Sequence is a mystery story, one that has more layers and twists than the reader is initially led to believe, and that plays out in ways that you’re not likely to expect.
The book centres on Anna Glover, a former air crash investigator who now works for a firm attempting to create artificial realities drawn from people’s memories. These simulations are initially being used for recreation and entertainment, but Anna is exploring whether they can be used to help investigate crimes through the memories of witnesses. At first it feels like very familiar territory, with people going inside artificial environments very reminiscent of The Matrix, or the holo-decks from Star Trek.
The Synapse Sequence quickly shows how different it is, however, using the concept of reality built from memory to set out some interesting and unique rules for its world, before turning these on their head as Anna and the reader find themselves in dangerous new territory.
Anna and her firm are hired by a private investigator to help look into a disappearance that the police aren’t interested in, mainly because the police is now run by AIs, and soon finds herself part of a bigger mystery, and possible conspiracy. Travelling into the memories of coma patient N’Golo, she enters a race against time to find the answers they need to solve the case.
Interspersed within this central mystery story are flashes forward in time to Anna as an old woman, living in a nursing home in the final years of her life. Here she recounts the story of her time as an air crash investigator to a young student, who is looking deeper into her final investigation in Tanzania, one in which her findings led to a bloody war.
These sections shift in both tone and perspective from the rest of the book, being told by Anna in the first person, whereas the rest of the book is written from a third person point of view. Whilst these sections at first appear to have only been included to provide deeper insight into Anna and the demons of her past, there’s more to them that plays into the main story.
The world of The Synapse Sequence is a grim one, with the population unhappy and unable to work. It feels like an England where progress is being made to the detriment of the individual, where people are placed on UI (Universal Income) so that the elite can stay on top whilst robots and AIs take over the jobs. As mentioned earlier, this doesn’t feel like a future too far removed from the world we live in now. Add into this the constant monitoring via computers and social media, and it feels very relevant.
Daniel Godfrey has managed to craft an entertaining story that has a very flawed and human heroine, a woman who is haunted by her past for having simply told the truth and done the right thing. It’s a story about her attempt at redemption, both from her own demons and in the eyes of the public. But it’s also a mystery story that manages to keep you guessing, and will end in a way that you’ll not see coming. A wonderful and engaging read.
June 9, 2019
While reading this book, I began seeing clearly what type of writing I don't like. This book is a prime example. I would describe it by forming a duck beak with my fingers and opening and closing it repeatedly. 'Blah blah blah.'
Narrative aspects are crucial to a novel and this one completely fails at it. The book was full of dialogues from the beginning till the very end. A screenplay.
It's supposed to be a science fiction in the near future yet there is no creation. The author seems to be obsessed with people vomiting. Every time someone is in the sequencer they puke, there is a bucket and a mop which the assistant, who also happens to be the technician that invented it, uses to clean. The author finds several ways to describe it and that's how far his imagination goes. No blue curtains to inspire reader's imagination.
Narrative aspects are crucial to a novel and this one completely fails at it. The book was full of dialogues from the beginning till the very end. A screenplay.
It's supposed to be a science fiction in the near future yet there is no creation. The author seems to be obsessed with people vomiting. Every time someone is in the sequencer they puke, there is a bucket and a mop which the assistant, who also happens to be the technician that invented it, uses to clean. The author finds several ways to describe it and that's how far his imagination goes. No blue curtains to inspire reader's imagination.
January 10, 2019
I'm giving this 3 stars, but I really think it's more of a 2.5. I was excited to read this one. (I jumped it ahead of several other books I've been wanting to read.) What a letdown though. It took me forever to get into the flow of the story, and I never did feel like this book ever really clicked with me. I found the premise intriguing, but the writing style was choppy. I figured out what was I guess supposed to be a shocking twist right from the start, but still was left a tad confused by what was going on. I was less than impressed by the ending that so many apparently found so thought provoking also. It wasn't terrible, just not my cup of tea. I'll pass on any more from this author I think.
August 25, 2018
The Synapse Sequence is a science fiction thriller that left my head spinning with the possibilities of a world on the verge of removing the need for humanity. Filled with twists and new-fashioned sleuthing on a high-stakes kidnapping, the book also addresses important conversations on class structure and governmental oversight. It's a gripping and inspired read with a surprise finish that slammed a big A-HA in my face.
Full review at: https://reviewsandrobots.com/2018/07/...
Full review at: https://reviewsandrobots.com/2018/07/...
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