Quantum Night: Unsettling in the Best Way

I tried to avoid any spoilers, so if you find this review less than useful, this is probably why

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What is the book about?

While testifying as an expert witness at a sentencing hearing due to his ability to detect without question if a person is a psychopath, psychology professor Jim Marchuk discovers that 20 years before he lost six months of his life. As he begins trying to piece together the missing memories, he reconnects with physicist Kayla Huron, whose research into quantum consciousness reveals a startling truth: most of humanity may be operating without genuine self-awareness at all. This discovery and how it ties to events happening around the globe force Jim to reexamine who he thought he was and who he turns out to be.

Overall Impression

The “mindless zombies” idea where people function normally but without inner conscience is genuinely creepy. I found myself thinking of various people in my life and going “hmmm.” 

I found all the familiar Canadian names to be a fun change as I am so used to American and UK locations and associated speech and ways of life.

What Works

The premise is genuinely believable once you accept the philosophical zombie concept; the idea that someone could look, act and sound like a “normal” person while having no inner life at all. Sawyer weaves in actual philosophical and psychological references in such a way that it elevates the story rather than bringing it down. When I finished the book, I went and looked up Sawyer’s background, as I was curious if he had any training in the sciences, as he has such a grasp of the material

It was the ending and the shifts in character that finally forced me to suspend disbelief, and to me, that’s the mark of a story doing its job. A book that makes you sit up and go “no way!” is a book worth getting to know.

Things To Consider

This is definitely not a book you can skim, and it took me a bit to get into the story. I tried to just read, telling myself I would go back and look up unfamiliar terms at the end but you can’t do that with the number of references to real-life researchers and experiments and the various terms used throughout. This is the type of story that benefits from a second read to pick up all the little things you may have missed on the first pass.

The Canadian connection

Sawyer is a Canadian author, and the novel is grounded in recognizably Canadian settings, including Winnipeg and Saskatoon.

As I live in Saskatchewan and spent a fair amount of time in Winnipeg over the years,  it was a familiar background. Which, in some ways, felt a trifle odd, as I am used to locations set pretty much anywhere else in the world.

Beyond the book

This is an interesting time to have read this book. Without giving away parts of the storyline, I need to say it created a feeling of unease reading about the fictional instability and division happening on a global scale. Struck a little too close to home based on what Canada has been facing over the last couple of years;  not the actual happenings so much as the unease sitting in the minds of Canadians today.

I stayed with me after closing the book.

The verdict

Quantum Night is the first book I’ve read by Robert J. Sawyer, and it won’t be the last. It isn’t an easy read, but it rewards you if you stay with it through to the end. It’s unsettling in the best way, and Canadian in a lovely way. I can see exactly why it won the 2017 Aurora Award for Best Novel.

Recommended for

Sci-fi fans, anyone with an interest in psychology, people who just enjoy Canadian writers and a good read.