When Jeff Smith awakens in a
Columbus, Ohio, hospital, he is a man devoid of any memory. With no missing
persons matching his description, and no family to speak of, Smith is forced to
piece together a life he cannot remember. He is haunted by dreams of someone he
thinks to be his own undiscovered past. He chases this ghost from his dreams
across the nation, failing to find anything other than confusion.
Grand Illusion is a thought provoking look at the modern world through the
lens of a post-modern alternate future. Following the tale of one man through
the lens of multiple potentialities, this third novel by Scott Reed uses
post-apocalyptic satire to address everything from politics, to religion, pop
culture, personal communications, and love.
Smith and his altar ego, David
Cuddyback, traverse a complicated dystopian world searching for truth, finding
only darkness in a world which seems to be falling apart. Say goodbye to family
and friends as the novel captivates you with a story that weaves together
masterfully. Set in a near future, society decaying all around them, the alternate
world of David Cuddyback is explored through his own eyes as Reed introduces
you to a variety of characters with no discernible link, yet somehow linked in
consciousness by a future none of them knows will lead to a collision course with
destiny.
Simultaneously set in Portland,
Oregon, Cuddyback and his girlfriend Livvy wander through a crumbling society
in one moment, and a fascinating array of potential parallel universes the
next. The couple face many challenges, and their place, in a world crumbling
around them. Grand Illusion is a complex look at modern society through the
eyes of parallel existence, using the subtext of Cuddyback's different possible choices
as a backdrop.
All through the book lay clues to
where Smith may have started – the choices that seem to destroy his life. The
story of Smith climaxes with a view into the personal demons that lead him to
that Columbus hospital.
In the end, there will be characters
you love, characters you despise, and characters who guide you through the
morass of their world with hope for a future left not so bleak as the world
inhabited by its characters. Reed uses hauntingly specific details, a distorted
view of the future, and magnificent prose to blend a book of life and sadness.
Weary is the man whose path is
unknown for he must travel in the darkness of life.
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