A.G. Riddle’s Departure Is a Blockbuster Movie in Book Form
A group of unconnected strangers are on a flight from New York to London when a mysterious explosion causes the plane to crash. Injured and panicked, some of the passengers leap into action, helping to save lives and keep order until rescue can arrive, while others show their true colors and look out only for themselves. And then…rescue doesn’t come. And then, they begin to realize they’re not where they should be. Or, perhaps, when they should be.
That’s just the beginning of A.G. Riddle’s Departure, which sold over a million copies as a self-published book and is now being given a hardcover release by a major publisher. Following an intriguing setup that promises to inspire the same fanatical quest for answers as the TV series Lost (but with, you know, actual answers), Riddle takes us on a ride involving quantum entanglement, time travel, immortality, and alternate universes, assembling one of the most inventive and least predictable books of the year. For once, you don’t have to wait for the movie version: the book itself is a blockbuster.
Departure (Signed Book)
Hardcover
$17.12
$21.99
Departure (Signed Book)
By A. G. Riddle
Hardcover
$17.12
$21.99
Instant connection
Riddle’s characters are introduced swiftly and with an economy of language that forges an instant connection with the reader. Harper Lane is a writer who has to make a decision that will change the course of her life. Nick Stone is a natural leader whose unconscious response to the crash is to take charge and prevent further catastrophe, not because he’s self-important, but because someone has to. Riddle tells this story through the alternating viewpoints of Harper and Nick, two strangers who have natural chemistry that hints at a deeper—and weirder—connection than either could possibly predict.
Clear storytelling
This dual-narrator approach moves the story along briskly, with the switch-off between points-of-view plopping the characters in the same position as the reader: always receiving and processing new information. The split narrative allows the plot to rocket forward at twice the speed without becoming needlessly complicated.
Exciting science
In case you’re worried that this is all setup and no payoff, we can assure you: Riddle has constructed an awesome sci-fi story and doesn’t leave you hanging. At first, there’s so much weirdness it seems like it couldn’t possibly pull together into a satisfying conclusion: the plane, they eventually figure out, has landed in England, but more than a century out of time. And England—the whole world—appears to be abandoned, save for a handful of people who wear environment suits that flicker with high-tech camouflage, fly in advanced hovercraft, and brandish advanced weaponry. Even weirder, it soon becomes apparent that a few of those suits are occupied by future versions of some of passengers—and that they were (will be?) instrumental in creating the future they find themselves in, a future where the population has been reduced to a few dozen people who are more or less immortal and engaged in a civil war over what to do about the very crash that opens the novel.
Riddle trusts the premise
This sort of complex narrative could get out of hand if the author didn’t trust its implications, instead settling for a traditional, whiz-bang ending. Riddle is better than that. He takes the story in an unexpected, but totally satisfying direction. There’s plenty of action, including a lengthy climactic assault on a futuristic city in the middle of the drained seabed of the Mediterranean Sea, but Riddle is smart enough to ensure the concluding chapters are contemplative, intellectual, and suspenseful, instead of simply busy.
The suspense is real
The tension you’ll feel extends all the way to the last page. Once Harper and Nick develop a plan to save not just one but two timelines (and the untold billions of people in each), you spend the last few chapters desperately looking for clues as to whether it’s going to work or not. Everything depends on a few decisions, influenced (they hope) by things they’ve done in the future. Can you count on yourself to do the right thing?
Departure is available October 20.
Instant connection
Riddle’s characters are introduced swiftly and with an economy of language that forges an instant connection with the reader. Harper Lane is a writer who has to make a decision that will change the course of her life. Nick Stone is a natural leader whose unconscious response to the crash is to take charge and prevent further catastrophe, not because he’s self-important, but because someone has to. Riddle tells this story through the alternating viewpoints of Harper and Nick, two strangers who have natural chemistry that hints at a deeper—and weirder—connection than either could possibly predict.
Clear storytelling
This dual-narrator approach moves the story along briskly, with the switch-off between points-of-view plopping the characters in the same position as the reader: always receiving and processing new information. The split narrative allows the plot to rocket forward at twice the speed without becoming needlessly complicated.
Exciting science
In case you’re worried that this is all setup and no payoff, we can assure you: Riddle has constructed an awesome sci-fi story and doesn’t leave you hanging. At first, there’s so much weirdness it seems like it couldn’t possibly pull together into a satisfying conclusion: the plane, they eventually figure out, has landed in England, but more than a century out of time. And England—the whole world—appears to be abandoned, save for a handful of people who wear environment suits that flicker with high-tech camouflage, fly in advanced hovercraft, and brandish advanced weaponry. Even weirder, it soon becomes apparent that a few of those suits are occupied by future versions of some of passengers—and that they were (will be?) instrumental in creating the future they find themselves in, a future where the population has been reduced to a few dozen people who are more or less immortal and engaged in a civil war over what to do about the very crash that opens the novel.
Riddle trusts the premise
This sort of complex narrative could get out of hand if the author didn’t trust its implications, instead settling for a traditional, whiz-bang ending. Riddle is better than that. He takes the story in an unexpected, but totally satisfying direction. There’s plenty of action, including a lengthy climactic assault on a futuristic city in the middle of the drained seabed of the Mediterranean Sea, but Riddle is smart enough to ensure the concluding chapters are contemplative, intellectual, and suspenseful, instead of simply busy.
The suspense is real
The tension you’ll feel extends all the way to the last page. Once Harper and Nick develop a plan to save not just one but two timelines (and the untold billions of people in each), you spend the last few chapters desperately looking for clues as to whether it’s going to work or not. Everything depends on a few decisions, influenced (they hope) by things they’ve done in the future. Can you count on yourself to do the right thing?
Departure is available October 20.