Man in the Empty Suit

By: Sean Ferrell

Narrated by: Mauro Hantman

Say you're a time traveler and you've already toured the entirety of human history. After a while, the outside world might lose a little of its luster. That's why this time traveler celebrates his birthday partying with himself. Every year, he travels to an abandoned hotel in New York City in 2071, the hundredth anniversary of his birth, and drinks 12-year-old Scotch (lots of it) with all the other versions of who he has been and who he will be. Sure, the party is the same year after year, but at least it's one party where he can really, well, be himself.

The year he turns 39, though, the party takes a stressful turn for the worse. Before he even makes it into the grand ballroom for a drink he encounters the body of his 40-year-old self, dead of a gunshot wound to the head. As the older versions of himself at the party point out, the onus is on him to figure out what went wrong - he has one year to stop himself from being murdered, or they're all goners. As he follows clues that he may or may not have willingly left for himself, he discovers rampant paranoia and suspicion among his younger selves, and a frightening conspiracy among the Elders. Most complicated of all is a haunting woman - possibly named Lily - who turns up at the party this year, the first person aside from himself he's ever seen there.

For the first time, he has something to lose. Here's hoping he can save some version of his own life.

©2013 Sean Ferrell (P)2013 AudioGO

Very timey whimey!

Loved it! Only getting 4 stars because some places dragged a bit.

It was great very timey whimey in that he interacted with his own time line. This book would irritate The Doctor to no end, certain fixed points in time aren't really that fixed after all.

GREAT Listen...but you have to work for it

One of the things that makes it hard to write book reviews is that there is a conflict between wanting to express your own views and a duty to readers. My view is that this is maybe one of the best books I've read. It is Pynchon. It is one of a limited number of science fiction books that qualifies as literature. The author clearly worked this manuscript until it was perfect.
Ok....That was for me -- this is for you. Do not listen to this unless you really want to work on it. There are times it repeats. There are times it is relentlessly dystopian. There are times it is just plain sad and heartbreaking.
It is set in a not too distant post-something New York. Life is hard and not entirely well-balanced. There is a mystery, there is a dark humor. There is aggressive time-loopery. If you get to half way and think you want to kill this reviewer -- stick it out.

Kind of hard to follow.

It sounds interesting in the beginning. but then it gets kind of complex. if you don't pay good attention, you will get lost. it was ok.

New take on paradox

This was a vividly told and engaging story. Not since Robert Silverberg's mid-'70s Up the Line has time travel been so meticulously explored and the paradoxes so deftly treated. Avoiding spoilers is difficult, but the relationships among the characters are surprising almost every time, and the plot is twistier than one of those new compact fluorescent lightbulbs.

Almost perfect

A great listen. Occasionally approaches the edge of "confusing" but never steps over it. Just twisty enough to keep you on your toes. A solid, smart book and a solid performance. I would put this on a "must-hear" list for time travel fans.