I picked this book up at a thrift store recently not really having any idea what the book would be about. At first, the book was basically the story of a young man, Jason Tull, from a rich family who becomes obsessed with reincarnation and trying to find a "golden case" that cannot easily be dismissed by skeptics. The book describes a couple of pretty solid cases of reincarnation and then Jason finds Mallory Hastings, who upon waking up in a hospital after a car accident, becomes hostile and terrified and is unaccountably mute. Jason sends her a message telling her that "1) You're not Mallory Hastings at all; 2) You don't know how you got where you are; and 3) You're afraid to speak the truth to the people around you." Mallory grabs onto this and decides to trust Jason but can Jason find out her true identity prior to being reincarnated?
Okay, all of this was rather fascinating and the novel was really drawing me in. Then all of sudden, Quinn pulls the rug out and the novel takes a very unexpected turn! The reality is that Jason is living 2000 years in the future and Mallory had lived her previous life way back in the mid twentieth century before what was know as the battle of Dachau when time was reset to "After Dachau" or AD time. In this future world the "mongrel races" have been eliminated and Hitler was perceived as a legend who led the Aryans to victory. There is a quote from Napoleon in the book that "history is an agreed-upon fiction." This book uses the quote as a way to say that everything one knows is in doubt.
This was a really thought-provoking and jaw-dropping narrative that I won't soon forget. A really high recommendation for this one. Now I also want to read Quinn's other works including his most famous, Ishmael.
Okay, all of this was rather fascinating and the novel was really drawing me in. Then all of sudden, Quinn pulls the rug out and the novel takes a very unexpected turn! The reality is that Jason is living 2000 years in the future and Mallory had lived her previous life way back in the mid twentieth century before what was know as the battle of Dachau when time was reset to "After Dachau" or AD time. In this future world the "mongrel races" have been eliminated and Hitler was perceived as a legend who led the Aryans to victory. There is a quote from Napoleon in the book that "history is an agreed-upon fiction." This book uses the quote as a way to say that everything one knows is in doubt.
This was a really thought-provoking and jaw-dropping narrative that I won't soon forget. A really high recommendation for this one. Now I also want to read Quinn's other works including his most famous, Ishmael.
