Book: The Price of Time
Author: Tim Tigner
Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller
Part of a Series: No
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Summary:
A small tech start-up in the medical field has just made an amazing discovery. They figured out how to stop the aging process. Immortality was now in human hands, and only seven people in the world had it available to them. With the nearly inexhaustible wealth of one of the members, they had only two questions: what to do with their newfound existence and how to keep their secret.
Their plans accidentally cross paths with the recently “disgraced” CIA operative Zachary Chase who is privately looking into the disappearance of his old college friend. His investigation leads him to Skylar Fawkes, and together they try to unwrap the mystery of the immortal group.
Review (Spoilers):
This was a random book that I decided to pick up based on the premise of a group finding immortality. I didn’t really know any of the thriller aspect going in but let me tell you, it was pretty great.
The Immortals, as a group, are fairly interesting. They find themselves in two camps: the scientists and the business people. After several years of enjoying their immortality, they begin to realize an issue with not aging. The rest of the world does and soon, the rest of the world will notice that they do not.
The solution, of course, is the old tried and true method of assuming new identities every few decades. The problem? The modern world makes that extraordinarily difficult. It is not just a case of forging a few documents and sending in for a new license. The only solution that they can find is to assume the lives of regular people. They hire a former foreign intelligence worker to locate suitable replacements and begin the process of eliminating them and taking over their lives.
One of the selected replacements happens to be the friend of former CIA operative Zachary Chase. He is a good hero for this story as his fall from grace with the CIA was due to the fact he refused to change his report after discovering compromising information on an American diplomat. This frees him from the agency but gives him the skill set needed to investigate his friend’s disappearance.
His investigation leads him to Skylar Fawkes, a former triathlete looking for a new life and one who happens to have been selected as a replacement candidate for one of the Immortals. The two team up and look for answers while the Immortals not only attempt to complete their replacements but also deal with the sudden deaths of their members.
This was just a super fun book. It was a little slow to kick off, but once it starts, it keeps a steady pace until the finish. Like I said, Zachary is a good hero for the story. He’s your typical, all-American boy. Sure, he is a little jaded from his time with the CIA, but he never really comes across as cynical. He’s just a man trying to make a difference.
The Immortals are also interesting to follow. The story really only focuses on three of them, but in those three, the questions of morality and ethics surrounding artificial immortality are explored. Why is it important that they keep the discovery secret? Are they still human or a new species? How far will they go to survive? Of course, the novel makes a stand on these issues, but it doesn’t restrict the arguments to service that stand.
All in all, this was a fast-paced and fun ride. The characters were interesting, the story engaging, and the reading was not bogged down in techno-jargon. Going back to look up some things for this review made me realize that the author has more books in Kindle Unlimited, so I will definitely be checking out more of his work. All in all, I award this book the Steel Stash.
I know that thrillers are a bit outside of my typical genres, but if you’ve also read The Price of Time, let me know what you think? Are there any other thrillers I should check out? Or any good books exploring immortality and what it does to a person? Let me know below, or you can tell me on Twitter @steelstashwrit1.
Of course, if you are looking for a space fantasy with a grimdark feel and a bit of a thriller aspects, then please check out my new novella, Rose Nexus, out now on Amazon. You can get it here. And as always, I mustache you to stay fantastical.
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