Flashback

By: Dan Simmons

Narrated by: Richard Davidson, Bryan Kennedy, Joe Barrett

Length: 21 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

The United States is near total collapse. But 87% of the population doesn't care: they're addicted to flashback, a drug that allows its users to re-experience the best moments of their lives. After ex-detective Nick Bottom's wife died in a car accident, he went under the flash to be with her; he's lost his job, his teenage son, and his livelihood as a result.

Nick may be a lost soul, but he's still a good cop, so he is hired to investigate the murder of a top governmental advisor's son. This flashback-addict becomes the one man who may be able to change the course of an entire nation that is turning away from the future to live in the past.

A provocative novel set in a future that seems scarily possible, Flashback proves why Dan Simmons is one of our most exciting and versatile writers.

©2011 Dan Simmons (P)2011 Hachette

dan simmons is 1 of the master

i read this cuz of the author. i dont regret it. nice story, interesting views of the future. good narration. weird end...

Just the Very Best!

I cannot express how much I enjoyed this book?
A great mystery wrapped inside a dystopian format that is not that much of a stretch. I really like his other works too but this one captured me.

Terrific and terrifying

Every book I read from Dan Simmons becomes my favorite….until the next book is published

An excellent story with a frightening future!

What did you love best about Flashback?

From my political perspective, the story was spot on with a credible future based upon the politics going on right now with the Obama and liberal agenda. Very frightening yet very possible.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Flashback?

The description of the People's Republic of Boulder

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

Nick and Soto!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Absolutely yes!

Any additional comments?

A really entertaining story!

Dystopian Noir

Would you listen to Flashback again? Why?

I would listen again because the form is a murder mystery and now that I know the solution I would like to reread to find the clues.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Flashback?

The solution to the mystery is very dramatic.

Any additional comments?

It is the tone of this book that makes it so good. It is very politically incorrect and presents a believable dystopian future. In fact, this book, originally published in 2011, accurately predicts things that have since happened (although he failed to foresee the dramatic rise of ISIS). Indeed, one prediction came true today, 7/14/15.

Good, not great

Dan Simmons has an incredible imagination, and here he has created a realistic and bleak dystopian future. The mystery is solid and the characters are believable and have great depth.

But the pacing is sometimes excruciatingly slow and tedious. Couple that with some of the worst narrators I've ever heard and this book just misses the mark!

Don't let rant keep you from enjoying this story!

I read the reviews, and being fairly liberal myself I kept an open mind about it, and I wasn't all that bothered by the right wing agenda of the characters. Most of what everyone is complaining about occurs in static scenes where two characters talk (playing chess, in the cab of a truck, at a desk) and blame the bleak future on Obama (specifically) and American policy in this decade, and because these are isolated incidents, it just sounds like a cranky old author bitching because he can. But the story itself is fascinating -- it is BLEAK as hell, but incredibly compelling -- bleak in a different way than 2030 by Albert Brooks was bleak (I still can't believe that ALBERT BROOKS the comedian wrote that? He had to have had some help). In Flashback, the Japanese are a superpower, whereas in 2030 it is the Chinese. All extrapolating plausible outcomes based upon current trends (remember when the sci fi books of the 80s blamed the bleak future on the Reagan administration?).

However, if you are a Dan Simmons fan, you will enjoy this book tremendously despite the occasional political griping. He is still one of the most interesting writers working today, and this story is layered and rich, and it will throw you many surprises along the way. Just try not to get too depressed. It is worth it all the way to the end.

one of my favorite authors , but...

i was turned off by the first narrator...for some reason he distracted me from getting involved in the story . At some point i will try to read the book rather than listen..i do like Dan Simmons.....

Great

Simmons brought a what if future of what could happen to America if it continues down the weak Liberal path of self-destruction and apathy. The way drugs are a downfall that Americans are doing to themselves. Great cop story and gun fights keep this story alive.

great story and performance

This book contains a description of a post apocalyptic/alternate history which leans into the Republican view of politics. If you dont have the stomach for such a story, just skip it.

The global geo politics of Earth 2035 is revealed by Nick Bottom, a detective hiered to solve a cold murder case, while he interviews witnesses.

I find Dan Simmons writing very emersive. The combination of dialogue and inner monologue is very entertaining. This book is no different. The story is engaging and the characters are interesting.