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Robert J. Sawyer

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Quantum Night Kindle Edition

by Robert J. Sawyer (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.0 937 ratings

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With such compelling and provocative novels as Red Planet Blues, FlashForward and The WWW Trilogy, Robert J. Sawyer has proven himself to be “a writer of boundless confidence and bold scientific extrapolation” (New York Times). Now, the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author explores the thin line between good and evil that every human being is capable of crossing…

Experimental psychologist Jim Marchuk has developed a flawless technique for identifying the previously undetected psychopaths lurking everywhere in society. But while being cross-examined about his breakthrough in court, Jim is shocked to discover that he has lost his memories of six months of his life from twenty years previously—a dark time during which he himself committed heinous acts.

Jim is reunited with Kayla Huron, his forgotten girlfriend from his lost period and now a quantum physicist who has made a stunning discovery about the nature of human consciousness. As a rising tide of violence and hate sweeps across the globe, the psychologist and the physicist combine forces in a race against time to see if they can do the impossible—change human nature—before the entire world descends into darkness.

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Maclean's fiction bestseller
Longlisted for Canada Reads 2017

"Cracking open a new Robert J. Sawyer book is like getting a gift from a friend who visits all the strange and undiscovered places in the world. You can't wait to see what he's going to amaze you with this time." --John Scalzi, Hugo Award-winning author of Lock In

"Robert J. Sawyer explores the intersection between big ideas and real people." --Robert Charles Wilson, Hugo Award-winning author of The Affinities

"Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Sawyer's latest work is a fast-moving, mind-stretching exploration of the nature of personality and consciousness." --Publisher's Weekly (STARRED REVIEW)

About the Author

ROBERT J. SAWYER lives in Toronto. He has won both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel, as well as the Crime Writers of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award for mystery fiction. The ABC TV series FLASHforward was based on his novel of the same name. Visit him on the Web at www.sfwriter.com, facebook.com/RobertJSawyer, and twitter.com/RobertJSawyer. The author lives in Mississauga, Ontario.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00X59368Q
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ace (March 1, 2016)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 1, 2016
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1086 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 366 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0425256421

Best Sellers Rank: #841,422 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,473 in Technothrillers (Kindle Store)
- #1,963 in Hard Science Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #2,680 in Technothrillers (Books)

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4.0 937 ratings

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Robert J. Sawyer

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Robert J. Sawyer is one of only eight writers ever to win all three of the world’s top awards for best science-fiction novel of the year: the Hugo, the Nebula, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. He has also won the Robert A. Heinlein Award, the Edward E. Smith Memorial Award, and the Hal Clement Memorial Award; the top SF awards in China, Japan, France, and Spain; and a record-setting sixteen Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards (“Auroras”).

Rob’s novel FlashForward was the basis for the ABC TV series of the same name, and he was a scriptwriter for that program. He also scripted the two-part finale for the popular web series Star Trek Continues.

He is a Member of the Order of Canada, the highest honor bestowed by the Canadian government, as well as the Order of Ontario, the highest honor given by his home province; he was also one of the initial inductees into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Rob lives just outside Toronto.His website and blog are at sfwriter.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Patreon he’s RobertJSawyer.

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4 out of 5

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Jeffrey D

Intriguing mind exercise wrapped in speculative fiction

Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2024

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I could not put it down. The action is intense, and the characters are so relatable even in their altered states! While like most SciFi the story has fantastic technology, Robert J. Sawyer’s tale deals with the psychological results when technology brings new understanding. Groups of characters partake of the fruit of tree of the knowledge of good and evil with unexpected outcomes. Really a fun, surprising, and insightful read.

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Joe Karpierz

sometimes a good number of them in one book (some of his ...

Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2016

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QUANTUM NIGHT is Robert J. Sawyer's 23rd science fiction novel. Throughout all those novels and all those years, Sawyer has explored any number of far ranging ideas, sometimes a good number of them in one book (some of his novels have so many different ideas in play it's sometimes tough to keep up with them all, let alone figure out how they all play into the particular story he is telling). One of his favorite topics to explore is the nature of consciousness, and Sawyer returns to that subject in a novel that reminds the reader of some of those earlier idea filled novels. From the idea a person can't be convicted of a crime because that may just be his (or her) nature, to the saying that a person's "lights are on, but no one is home" being a central theme to the book, Sawyer has the reader's head spinning from the opening pages. And it takes the thought that "you can't change human nature" and turns it completely on its ear.

Jim Marchuk has developed a technique for identifying the psychopaths in our midst. There are other techniques, but his appears to not only support the others but is 100% objective and accurate. Marchuk is called to appear as an expert witness in a murder trial; the defense claims that because the accused was "made that way" - that is, a psychopath - he cannot be found guilty of the crime (this is an idea that is not new, and appears here as a result of the mammoth amount of research that Sawyer has done for this novel. His method has determined that the defendant is indeed a psychopath; that is not in question. What started out as a cross-examination of the method turns into a cross-examination of Marchuk, the end result being that he has not only lost 6 months out of his life, but during that 6 months (he finds out later) he has done some pretty gruesome acts.

Not long after his day in court, Marchuk is contacted by an old girlfriend he had during that dark six month interval. Kayla is a quantum physicist. She and a colleague have discovered that the consciousness is quantum in nature, and that there are three states of consciousness: the philosopher's zombie or p-zed (the state where the lights are on and no one is home), the psychopath, and what the novel ends up calling the cwcs (quicks) - conscious with conscience. Each of the three is a actually a quantum state that is an indicator of a quantum entanglement in the brain (it's at this point that I think I'd better stop trying to explain the science here and let you read the novel for yourself, and after you do that take a good hard look at all the non-fiction reading that Sawyer has laid out at the end of the book, and although it might not be a bad idea to explain what a p-zed is, I don't want to take up half the review doing an info dump) and it turns out that an outside force can induce the brain to change quantum
states.

However, there are several questions that are central to the story: why did Marchuk lose those 6 months, why is Kayla's brother in a coma, and why is there an increasing amount of violence occuring all over the world that appears to be somewhat unstoppable? The answers to the first two questions are handled relatively easily and in a straigtforward fashion. The third one is a tad more difficult to come to grips with, and the solution is one that will change the makeup of the entirety of humanity.

QUANTUM NIGHT is certainly a story of ideas, but it is more than that. It's a story of how those ideas influence the people in the story, and how it makes them think of their own as well as all of humanity's morality. These are real people, and although they are facing very earth shattering concepts and ideas that will change the way they think of each other and the rest of the human race, they react in what I feel are very realistic ways to a crisis that threatens to take down a good portion of civilization.

It's probably reasonable to talk about how the science is presented in QUANTUM NIGHT. This is the third book I've read in the last several months which contains a great deal of complex science to make the story work. The first was Kim Stanley Robinson's AURORA, and the second was Neal Stephenson's SEVENEVES. The first two novels have long stretches of infodumps - pages upon pages upon pages of infodumps. Robinson goes into gory detail telling the reader exactly why a generational starship will not work. Stephenson loves teaching his readers about orbital mechanics. Sawyer, on the other hand, weaves the science into the story so that while you're vaguely aware that you're getting a lecture in quantum mechanics (for example), it's not boring and tedious. It's part of the natural conversation of the story, and the characters react to it in realistic ways. As much as I love a good infodump, I really got tired of the orbital mechanics in SEVENEVES; my eyes were rolling so much I felt they would spin out of my
head. And while it could be argued that Sawyer treads dangerously close to the "As you know, Bob" method of the infodump, I don't think he ever crosses that line. The conversations between the characters in which the science is explained to the reader is believable and interesting.

Oh, one more thing. If you start walking down the street or sitting in your car at a stop light looking at people and wondering if they're psychopaths, p-zeds, or quicks, Sawyer has done his job. He's making you think about the world around you in different ways. And that's what good science fiction - like QUANTUM NIGHT - does.

8 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Thought-provoking and very readable, but flawed

Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2016

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I'll try to make this review useful for potential readers: as a thoughtful old-fashioned hard-ish sci-fi it is very good, moves at a brisk pace, is never boring, and one plot twist genuinely surprised me. Characters are strictly one-dimensional, but that's the point. Which brings us to the major themes: whether one is a psychopath, mindless drone (most of us, apparently) or an enlightened thoughtful being is largely pre-set on a quantum level. Now, what if one could switch these states? En masse? Would it be ethical under this or that series of circumstances? The book essentially develops a thought experiment reaching its logical conclusion.

Why just three stars? Well, the novel is set in (very) near future, and the author immediately gets entangled with current politics. It doesn't even matter if it's left or right, it's just a little too current and does not belong to a sci-fi book. The usual annoying "protagonist divides humankind into deserving few and undeserving many, and promptly puts him/her self in the former camp" trope applies, only this time the protagonist is even more annoying than usual. Regardless of your political leanings, this aspect of the book is cringe-inducing.

Problem number two: the ending hinges on a bunch of truly amazing coincidences (even for a quantum universe), and the big scientific idea / break-through in the end would be obvious to anyone capable of doing 3rd grade math. A little disappointing.

This said, it's a good read, and the mystery plot (which starts the events in the book) is actually very well done. Some psychology anecdotes and thought experiments are interesting and new to a layman (well, at least this layman). And it is indeed thought-provoking. Cautiously recommended.

PS. Protagonist has a somewhat corny sense of humor (appropriate for a character), but the jokes are often unexpected and surprisingly funny. About 1/2 laugh/cringe ratio :-)

36 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Classic Sawyer - Wonderful

Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2016

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I’ve never been disappointed in a Robert J. Sawyer novel, and having read this latest novel, Quantum Night, I can continue to say that he never disappoints.

Like all of his books they can be read on different levels. Like Johannine literature, his novels can appear as light reading and easily understood, or deeply read for profound reflections. One reader might read about a character’s classroom activity and a presentation of a runaway street car and simply enjoy the story. A fan of Sawyer will recognize there are no ramblings. They are all connected, especially in a book about quantum connections. Both readers will be able to enjoy the book.

This book has all the delightful surprises one would expect from Sawyer. There are the usual references to pop culture, including several from Star Trek. He refers to his own books more than once, but only his faithful readers will recognize these brief references and enjoy them.

Having encountered psychopaths in my work, and having suffered from them, I found Sawyer's take very interesting. As always, his writing shows great research. I personally prefer reading the ebook so I can more easily check out facts on the web. It is not necessary to do this in order to enjoy the book, but if you are like me this sort of detail and depth that Sawyer provides enhances the reading experience.

Don't rush this book, but savor every word. Be sure to give time to read the last chapters without interruption. The last sentence is particularly meaningful to those well-versed fans of Arthur C. Clarke.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

R. Friedman

More brilliance from one of the masters of the genre

Reviewed in Canada on March 23, 2016

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Quantum Night grabs your attention from the first paragraph and holds it captive until the last sentence on the last page. Well written, thought provoking, deep characters and, despite being "science fiction" it's hard to tell where the real science stops and the fiction begins. Definitely falls into the "must read" category.

4 people found this helpful

PJ Online

Cracking read, don't give up when the science gets heavy!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 3, 2016

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An absolutely cracking start to this with the trial interactions getting you going and booing the prosecutor!

The science is a bit heavy in places, but most is simplified and not the whole story, although it "feels" to be absolute truth in the way it is presented. So don't try and classify yourself based on the types presented! It extends Sawyers exploration into consciousness as some of his earlier works have done with this presenting theories and citing additional reading at the end.

The characters are engaging and the atmosphere generated is great, drawing you in and compelling you to read on and learn about consciousness. If nothing else, read this for the trial at the start!

3 people found this helpful

BONES

Great Idea Made Into A Great Story - Some Very Minor Spoilers Ahead

Reviewed in Australia on April 10, 2016

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I just finished this last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. The concept that drives the story is very cheeky and fits perfectly with the evidence any of us can gather from our daily interactions online and in the real world. It's not short on "dad" humour that takes the edge off what could otherwise be quite confronting at times.

In many ways it feels quite similar to Flash Forward, which is high praise as I enjoyed that book just as much as this one, although Quantum Night has big philosophical and psychological aspects that set it apart. The story is intricate enough, with our protagonist's past gradually revealed to us through flashbacks and insights from his treatments, but it never becomes bogged down or confusing.

I find Robert J. Sawyer's style makes for very easy and enjoyable reading so I ate this one up in less than a fortnight. The characters are mostly likeable (most of the time) and the one really bad guy is only briefly involved in the story. That said, all the good guys do questionable things but that is part of what makes it so engaging. If there was one aspect that bugged me a little, it was that the background of general unrest -widespread rioting, etc. - seemed a little forced. But that was a minor gripe that didn't spoil anything.

2 people found this helpful

Saskatoonian

Phsycoligical Thriller

Reviewed in Canada on September 21, 2016

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Great read. It takes place in my hometown so naturally I was surprised, then as I read more the story itself got me turning the pages! Great read from a great author!

2 people found this helpful

Mrs W

Another hit

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 29, 2016

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Really enjoyed it although not my favourite of sawyers (that has to be the www trilogy). Had me gripped from the beginning although I struggled with the physics I understood the philosophy and psychology enough to make up for it. My husband incidentally is a physicist so he was the other way around and enjoyed it just as much.

Quite thought provoking and you can't help but try and categorise yourself. Can't help but feel it was an easy way to flatter and inflate the ego of almost any reader- if this is your type of book them you are most likely a quick ;-)

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