Really interesting concept about a dystopian society that imagines what it would be like to organise by intelligence. Seems scarily pertinent. Gripping read.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, thankyou Netgalley.

I loved this book. I couln't put it down. As a teacher in a data rich profession this book scared me how easily a system can be manipulated. It shows how easily a society can be shaped as long as powerful people flatter the public.This book will make you look at the world around you in a slightly different manner. The UK is curently in Lockdown due to Covid -19, and this book gave me other fears.

If you read the first book by Christina , you should know what to expect - a dystopian novel that tackles some extremist view - in "Vox", it was women's rights, in "Q", Christina Dalcher writes about a obsession with perfectionism, sameness and improvement.

Set in a near future, "Q"is a name of the system that measures human potential, their quotient, which determines where you study, which jobs are open for you, where you live.. Elena's family never had to worry about it - they live in a comfortable home, her husband in a highly paid job in a Department of Education, herself a teacher in a highly prestige school, their children passing monthly tests that keep them in the best possible education. Until one of them doesn't pass the test and is send away. And her mother goes after her. What follows, is a chilling, uncomfortable read - a dissection of human obsession with perfectionism, with trying to neatly fit everyone in the same categories. There are many strands in this novel that make you think - Dalcher writes about privilege, class, elitism, pressure to fit in and belong, mistrust towards the unknown. This is also a book about motherhood - being a parent, sacrifice and choices.

"Q" is a dark, unsettling book - a highly addictive thriller that makes you think and examine your own prejudices. Definitely the one to read.

Elena Fairchild is a teacher in a top school. Her husband is an important man is Education. Her eldest daughter breezes through school scoring highly in the monthly tests. However Freddie is not so lucky. Each month everyone has Q tests. The results are all important. If you score highly the world is your oyster. Score low- you are nobody. Whereas everyone seems to accept this as the right & proper way to go Elena's elderly grandmother remembers Nazi Germany. She warns that is where the country is heading.

When Freddie fails her test she is condemned to be sent away from home to a state boarding school. Elena deliberately fails her own teachers test & manages to be sent to the same school. She discovers that things are even worse than she thought.

This was a powerful story. It is scary close to the way the world is heading & it certainly kept me reading! Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book. I won't forget it in a hurry.

I stayed up until 5 am today to finish this nail biting, thought provoking book. It is very well written and well researched. The storyline made my blood freeze and I worry that potentially we could find ourselves in this shocking situation. I admired the strength of character of Elena and absolutely loathed her husband, particularly as we learned their backstory, which again served to make the two main characters even more rounded. A well deserved 5 stars

She has done it again! What a cracking read! Scary what goes through this authors mind as it could be as if I'm reading an alternate universe based in this time. I love it! Great book yet again.

This is a horrifying but totally engrossing glimpse into a world that doesn't seem too far away - which is what makes it even more terrifying! We are used to being judged on how we look, what products we have etc in our world, but here you are tested to see your quotient, Q, and that will determine the school you go to - either one that nurtures you and encourages the gifted members of society, or sent off away from you family to a school, more like an institution, that is run by the government.

Elena Fairchild is living a blessed life - teaching at one of the elite schools, married to Malcolm who is working for the government behind the scenes, and mother to 2 daughters. They see those who haven't 'succeeded' in life but the way that life is run it is best not to think too much about them. If you have a higher Q it allows you a life of privilege such as extra items at the supermarkets, different queues at the tills, even the school buses are different for children with higher and lower Q's. In this world, even illness requires verification so no playing poorly for a day off work!

But her world is about to change when one of her daughters scores low in her Q test and she sees the other side of the coin - and she doesn't like it. You'd think she'd get support from her husband to try and save their daughter from being sent away, but you'd be wrong! And her life starts unravelling as she looks back at different points in her life and starts to regret certain decisions she made that have led to this moment.

The more that Elena looks into the whole system on which their lives are based, the more she is horrified and desperate to find a way out of it all. You really can sense her devotion to her daughter and imagine yourself in that situation, battling both your other half and the society you live in. go

This is a scary glimpse of a future reality and I loved how real it all felt!! The despair shown by Elena, the harshness of her husband as he towed the government line, and the uncovering of the true reality of the institutions was truly shocking!! A brilliant read!!

‘Q’ is Christina’s second novel. I read her debut novel VOX back in 2018 and I loved it so when I found out she had this book coming out I just couldn’t wait to read it.

Q is set in the near future where almost everything is based around your Q (Quotient) scores. Your Q is not just based on the intelligence tests that are carried out regularly but are also calculated based on other factors such as your family background, education as well as things such as where you work and how much you earn. Your Q score has a massive impact on your life as the higher the Q the better privileges you have.

Now in this book we for Elena whose life is turned upside down when one of her daughters fails her latest Q test. From her on you’ll just have to pick up the book to find out what happens next.

What I can tell you is that wonderfully written book that will get you thinking about the future. This is such a scary realistic dystopian read. It’s fast paced with some fantastic characters. The main character Elena was great. I found her to be really relatable, and although I am not a parent I could really see why she did what she did. I think if I was in the very same position I would probably do the same thing too.

I loved the short chapters it allowed me to race through the book so that I could discover how it all ended. The ending was a hopeful one yet at the same time a little upsetting.

This was definitely a fab read and after reading quite a few medico reads recently it’s definitely great to discover a great read. I finished this book at the end of April and I’m still thinking about this book. I will definitely be adding the physical copy to my shelves. I highly recommend this book and if you enjoyed VOX then I think you’ll definitely like this one.

My thanks to HQ for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Q’ by Christina Dalcher in exchange for an honest review.

It was published on 30 April and I elected to preorder its audiobook edition, narrated by Lisa Flanagan, and so listened alongside reading the eARC.

This was a deeply chilling dystopian novel made more so by it being inspired by historical events. While I knew that eugenics had been embraced by the Nazis, I was unaware of the American eugenics movement of the early twentieth century that predated this.

‘Q’ is Dalcher’s second novel following her 2018 debut, ‘Vox’, that likewise drew upon the disturbing trend in the USA (and elsewhere ) towards extremism. Here it is the quest for perfection that provides the ‘what if’.

‘Q’ is set either in the near future or more likely an alternative now. Dr. Elena Fairchild is a teacher at one of the new elite schools. A mandate has swept the country stressing perfection and for over a decade everyone has been assigned a Q (Quotient) number that indicates their status in society.

Now there are regular tests in school even for young children. Any student who doesn’t measure up is immediately relocated to the new state boarding schools theoretically allowing teachers to focus on the gifted.

Elena and her husband, Malcolm, have two daughters. However, their marriage is very shaky. When their youngest, nine-year old Freddie, takes her monthly test and her Q number drops below the acceptable level she is immediately reassigned to a state school located in Kansas. Elena risks her career and marriage to bring her back home.

Complicating the situation is that Malcolm is the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Education and so is involved with writing these new policies. Even Elena isn’t without complacency in this new society. At High School both she and Malcolm were part of a geeky crowd, who got their revenge by suggesting the introduction of a card system that prioritised intelligence over popularity.

“What if we turned it around? I mean, what if we made it so the dumb popular people had to—I don’t know—wait in line for lunch? Or pay extra for stuff?”.... from small beginnings a dystopia is born.

Elena is in denial about the implications of these policies until she is faced with the terrifying reality.

I found this a compelling and highly disturbing read. Even more so than ‘Vox’ its premise is all too possible given certain insidious trends in society that demonises the ‘other’.

I feel that this is an important novel and one that I would expect would appeal to reading groups given that it is not only an engaging story but one that provides a wide scope of topics for discussion.

This is the second book by Christina Dalcher and, for me, it was another book of two halves. I thought the concept was excellent and the scene was really well set. I liked the mix of the present and then and felt this built up a good picture of this scary new world where Q scores are everything. However I felt the last half to third was a bit rushed and could have done with being fleshed out a bit more. It was definitely a good read and I liked it much more than Vox (I didn’t care for the ending) but would have liked maybe another 50-80 pages just to make the last third a little more rounded. I would recommend this to someone who likes dystopian literature but perhaps not as heavy going as The Handmaids Tale. I think Christina would write a really amazing screenplay and I do look forward to her next book. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and review

Spectacular read, absolutely blew me away. I am speechless, just can’t put into words how amazing this book is. I seriously recommend you read this. Terrifying, bone chilling , scarily realistic dystopian fiction. But beyond this it’s about family, what you will do to protect them and humanity itself. It’s wonderfully well written, I was a fan of Vox but I think she’s gone a step further, this isn’t an easy read, it will leave you thinking and feeling emotional, but read it you definitely should. One of my best reads for 2020.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

After reading Vox last year, I was really looking forward to reading this book.
Q is an unsettling, dystopian story based around Elena and her fight against a new system of hierarchy meant to divide the population.
The story mainly focuses on the education system, but these sanctions affect every part of life and is based on a persons 'Q' rating. Elena is top tier all the way - smart, succesful & beautiful, but when her youngest daughter flunks a test and her Q score drops below the required mark, she is taken off to a government boarding school with visits only possible once a quarter.
The scenes when Freddie leaves were horrendous to read as a parent and I understand completely why Elena then did all she could to make sure she could get to her daughter.
This is a powerful read that despite being fiction, has stark similarities to real-life situations. Definitely one that will get you thinking.

Elena Fischer Fairchild has helped create and support a society where your station, accessibility and opportunities are based on a handy identifying number known as the Q number.
Citizens are tested on numerous subjects every month, and one failure results in immediate demotion down society's pecking order. Ostensibly about intelligence, the system was horrific enough to begin with with built in oppression as par of the course, but now runs the risk of being co-opted by the Fitter Family Campaign, a group with it's own agenda, who has been inspired by America's own deep and murky past.
Dystopian books really hit their stride when they play with the extremes of policy and ideas that already exist - providing warnings about all those throwaway comments made and what would happen if they became reality, and Q does that in terrifying beauty.
Elena is a complex character. While she learns from mistakes and wakens up to the reality around her, sacrificing and putting her children above all else, she holds a lot of unlikeable qualities. She oozes white upper class privilege and selfishness, and is as much to blame for what goes on around her as anyone could be. That she works to take down the system she essentially created, and that she created it from her own place of pain and oppression, does not absolve her of the trauma and tragedy that has resulted. But her complexity makes her compelling. I could not say she is likeable, although she has some likeable notes to her, but she is not so hateful as to turn me off. In fact her awakening drew me in further.
My only quibble was that as Elena starts to uncover some home truths towards the end she seems to forget about what is going on with children, and it is only as a throw away line later on that we discover what was happening elsewhere.
An well written dystopian thriller.

This is a terrifying and powerful read. As well as being a real page turner its horribly realistic and will give you that scared creeping feeling of dread. I predict this book doing so well with readers!

Set in the near future, Q paints a disturbing picture of a world where self-importance and injustice prevail in America's education system. A mother will stop at nothing to protect her daughter who has been sent to a 'special' state school hundreds of miles away after her grades in school, slip.
I enjoyed the writing style and the characters were well-formed. It was a little difficult to fully empathise as the marriage had broken down so badly. I was expecting a more dramatically involving ending, but apart from that, I felt it was a good read.

This is a truly terrifying novel, far too close to our society today. It is set in the near future where everything is based on your Q scores, essentially your intelligence. When her daughter fails her latest test and is sent to a state boarding school, a powerful woman decides to follow. What emerges is an horrifying investigation into the plans of some politicians for the future generations. This is a very well written book, thought proving and with an upsetting yet hopeful ending. It will stay with me.

This is a dystopian thriller that is uncomfortable to read.

Teacher Elena Fairchild is married to Malcolm, who works for the Department of Education, and is a mother of two girls; Anne and Frederica "Freddie". Each person has a quotient 'Q' number out of 10 and is routinely tested. If your number falls below 9, you are sent to a yellow government school, away from your family, so that the "regular" silver schools can focus only on gifted children and those who have a high Q number.

After a test, Elena and Malcolm youngest daughter Freddie's results put her below the minimum of 9 and she is sent away to one of these government schools. Elena realises that this is all about eugenics and sets out to find out, and prove, what is really going on.

It's a really uncomfortable read and Dalcher writes brilliantly. I will be honest and say that it did take me a while to get into this one, probably because dystopian thrillers aren't the type of book I'd choose, but I'm so glad I stuck this one out. It's thought-provoking and a little scary.

This was the first Christina Dalcher book that I’ve read and a bit of a wild card for me compared to my usual genres.

Described as a Dystopian Thriller I read the Synopsis and was intrigued..... so I thought I’d give it a go.

This is a story based very much around the Eugenics movement, a book that was very hard hitting at times and truly thought provoking!

This story was predominantly focused on a three tiered schooling system based on your Q number, or quotient / qualifier. It wasn’t too hard to imagine that something similar could quite easily happen in the world we live in today and for me, was very reminiscent of what happened in Europe during WW2 when Hitler attempted to create the ‘perfect race’.

I enjoyed learning about Elena’s life story, told in the first person, her relationships with her husband (an awful, loathsome man), her children, parents and her beloved Oma!

I didn’t love this book, but equally I didn’t hate it. My first Dystopian Thriller, I’m glad that I read it and pushed myself to try a genre outside of my ‘norm’. If you like a Dystopian novel I would definitely recommend giving it a try.
3.5 stars from me.

Thanks to Netgalley and HQ for a advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received a free ecopy of this book in return for an honest review. Many thanks to @netgalley and Harper Collins for the opportunity.

I do like a good dystopian and the description of Q (also published as Master Class) caught my eye, but I was hesitant about reading it. I worried it would be tough going, and I kept pushing it aside in favour of lighter reads. Then, pow, Covid-19 happened and there was my sense of focus out of the window! Suddenly I had more time than ever before to read but nothing was holding my attention. I picked Q up, and, honestly, it was miraculous. I was instantly sucked in. I was through several chapters before I even became conscious that I was reading.

The lead character, Elena is a teacher and mother of two girls. Anne, the eldest is an all round grade A student. Freddie, the younger, not so much. In our world that wouldn’t matter, but in this world everything revolves around your Q or Quotient score. The Q score, however, is more than just an intelligence test, it is also calculated by attendance, lateness and other factors such as salary and Q score of other family members. Your Q score has a massive impact on life, from allowing you to jump the queue at the supermarket, down to which parent gets custody in a break up.

When Freddie fails her monthly Q tests and is packed off to a state school in Kansas. Elena is devastated and sabotages her own Q test in order to go bring her home. Of course it’s not as easy as that.

The narrative is punctuated by flashbacks to Elena’s youth. Choices and regrets are a major theme. As are a twisting of current values. The current mantra of Children’s workers, ‘No child left behind’ has become, “No child left behind means all children suffer.” Abortions are now encouraged and expected. The reminiscences of Elena’s ailing grandmother, about Nazi Germany highlight the urgency of Freddie’s situation adding a nail biting tension to the book while serving as a reminder of the perils in allowing freedom to slip too far and the stealth by which it can be taken.

The writing is intelligent but not heavy going. It sucks the reader in and before the end forces you to witness Elena having to make some horrifying choices. By then, of course, you are far too emotionally involved to let go.

The premise of Q is a manmade crisis and very different to the deadly disease currently ravaging humankind, but many of the emotions of fear, and loss of control are the same. I found this book to be the perfect buffer between needing to find a connection with reality, but also needing to escape for a while.

Wow. Where to begin? I fell head over heels in love with this book and the author. Not only was it beautifully written but the plot was fantastic and carried along a colourful array of characters. I really liked Elena as the protagonist of the story and while I agree she had her flaws, what is more relatable than that? I thought she was quick-witted and honest, intriguing and yes, ruthless. I liked the opportunity we had to delve into Elena's past and this really helped pull the book together and understand her better. The rest of the characters were also really interesting, from wonderful Oma to awful Malcolm. I thought the subject matters were fascinating and really thought-provoking - they stayed with me long after I put the book down and led me to do my own research into the matters. I'll be telling everyone to read this books - and finally checking out Vox!

Thanks NetGalley for my ARC of this book.