An unknown force becomes one of the world's deadliest weapons by taking people's happiest memories and having them physically appear in reality only to cause havoc and death. This is a stunning sci-fi thriller storyline, featuring two fascinating protagonists - former MI6 ageni Suni Mao and military agent Adam, both queer with superb chemistry..While the story does slow in the midway, it is a fascinating read. We follow along as the duo tracks the mystery, and discover that they are the only ones who can resist its power. Despite the slower pace in sections, this book has lots of witty dialogue and an original plot, along with a duo at its centre. #prophet #helenmacdonald #sinblachè #netgalley

In “Prophet” we meet fun, unpredictable investigator Sunil Rao, and his straight-laced, reserved, agent partner Adam Rubenstein, as they begin to investigate the appearance of strange objects. When these materialised objects are linked to people going into comas, or even dying, it quickly becomes clear that the two men will need to work out what is causing the objects to appear, and stop more from emerging.

The concept of this novel is so intriguing – that nostalgia could be weaponised and our most cherished memories be used against us is a chilling one, to say the least. I loved this notion, and I greatly enjoyed the relationship between the two main characters, which developed slowly but with real intrigue throughout the book. I would say that my attention wavered in the middle, and the story was drawn out somewhat. However, the ending was satisfying, and I would read more by these authors.

My thanks to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for the arc to review.

This was an interesting read, a genre bend of sci fi, spies and romance. As a sci fi reader, the plot and how it got developed let me quite flat, but the romance between Rao and Adam made me stay for it!

This was a strange book that was fun at times, but not really well laid out.

The plot was all over the place, and felt like the first half was good, and then it all just went downhill from there. I wanted to like this, but it just didn't feel that structured. There is diversity in the characters, but it felt too bland when paired with the limited plot and structure of it all.

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for the e-arc!

I'm not usually a fan of sci fi, and I must admit this book lost me at times but it was intriguing and the sci fi was mixed in with mystery and the relationship between Adam and Rao.
I liked the main characters, they were well written, and the quirkiness of the plot. Great writing too although there was a bit too much military for my personal preference so at the end I'm still not totally sure what I thought of it.
If it's your genre then you'll love it.

I was sent an advance proof copy of Prophet by Helen Macdonald; Sin Blaché to read and review by NetGalley. Wow! What an amazing novel! Realistic, tender, terrifying, emotional, emotive and totally compelling! I got sucked into the story right from the start and the urge to keep reading never left me until the very last page! Fantastically written, and to me it was utterly believable. A definite must read!

The premise of a hero who knows the truth when he hears or sees it is intriguing and his ability to heal those who have been contaminated by “Prophet” is exciting and commendable. I was looking forward to this novel. However, apart from the developing relationships between the two protagonists I found the rest of the novel disjointed and hard going.
Not for me I’m afraid.

Sunil Rao is described as a 'human polygraph' but it more than knowing if someone is lying, he can test a theory in his head and know the truth. Adam Rubenstein is an American soldier, described by Rao as a 'robot' due to his unfeeling demeanor "{he} turns dead behind the eyes...steel down to the bone. Unfeeling". They've had to work on missions before and now they have been brought together on the latest operation.

EOS Prophet is a substance that has been developed to induce nostalgia in the recepient. Ever-changing, the substance is evolving so that the recipients have started to generate EPGOs: EOS Prophet Generated Objects, which they are drawn to and render them incapacitated.

I don't usually read sci-fi but I was drawn in by the relationship between Rao and Adam. It's got to be said that Rao is an arse, but I found I couldn't help but like him. I also liked Hunter Wood and the relationship she had with Adam, I would have liked more of her at the end. Nostalgia as a weapon was in interesting concept. I found the story disjointed in places and the I struggled to follow so just kept going until I picked up where the story was.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for the opportunity to read the ARC.

Rao a dysfunctional man prone to bought of drunkenness and aggression is employed by intelligence services because of his ability to determine if someone is telling the truth.
He is protected by his colleague and friend Adam a member of the DIA.
They are called to investigate a set of strange circumstances at an American air base where objects have being appearing somehow connected to nostalgic events in the past of Airforce personnel.
The people are attached emotionally to the objects the removal of which causes trauma.
Has there been some contamination on the base.
A combination of Sci Fi and mystery drama that kept me reading until the end.
Not like anything I have read before but the style reminded me a bit of Dean Koontz.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for granting me an arc.

Prophet wasn't bad, albeit a little confusing. I struggled to keep up with which characters the chapters were about when it switched between timelines. There seemed to be chapters for Rao, Adam and someone called Jo.

I loved Rao and Adam's relationship as they tried to work out just what was happening to the world. They complimented each other well. Unfortunately for me it just didn't quite hit the right spot but I'm sure plenty of people will love Prophet.

Sunil Rao is brought in by US forces to investigate when an all-American diner pops up overnight in a British field. His unique talent is the ability to spot lies and fakes, and he soon realises that this diner is not, however improbable its sudden appearance, a real diner, but a construct formed of someone's idea of how a diner should look. It's apparent quite early on that the high-ups in the US military have some idea of what's going on, and Rao and his partner/minder Lt Col Adam Rubenstein (who he's worked with before) are soon off to the US, to meet with the people behind the secret Prophet project, which twists memories to control its subjects, but which is getting dangerously out of hand.

While this started off with an original idea that feels more like fantasy than anything else, the way the story progresses is like a military espionage drama - a little bit X Files, a lot of A Few Good Men or The Presedio - so not quite what I'd expected which wrong-footed me at first, and I found it difficult to get into the story and care about our two heroes, Rao and Rubenstein. The plot seemed slow to advance, with a lot of time spent in military conference rooms or laboratories, debating what is happening, who's behind Prophet, laying down military plans, with the 'higher ups' trying to obscure the issue rather than help to solve it.



The relationship between the two men also takes up a considerable amount of the book, as it delves into their pasts, and the feelings which Rao is happy to openly acknowledge while Rubenstein remains a very prim and proper model soldier. Would the story have been better without this aspect? I'm not sure. It slows the progress of events, although the ending would need considerable re-thinking without it.

Wow, I had an open mind for this book as I wasn't quite sure where it would lead. It was utter brilliance. I spent most days looking forward to being able to read what I could of it, it had such amazing twists and turns. Rao I utterly adored and his blossoming feelings with Adam. Adam, I truly felt for. Such an enjoyable fantasy read. Not one that I usually go for but glad that I did! Thank you to the author, publisher and netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a breath of fresh air. I kept hearing about it and requested it then worried it might be too out there when I read some reviews but it is fantastic- I truly couldn’t put it down (as such there should be a Heath warning not to start it before a big meeting the next day at work….)

3.5 stars rounded up.
We start with something a bit weird. Out of nowhere, an American Diner has appeared in a remote British field. Bit weird indeed. It is swiftly followed by the manifestation of a whole bunch of other things. An eclectic mix of all sorts of things. The only connection between them being that they could serve as happy memory links. The people linked to them then start to suffer...
Sunil Rao is drafted in to investigate. Along with his partner/minder Col Adam Rubenstein. Sunil has one really interesting string, he is able to detect when someone is lying. A great asset to an interrogation. He can also sense when objects are fakes - another good skill to have with these manifestations...
But he is not without his weaknesses.
Does all this sound even more weird? Well... I thought so. This is a book where you have to have your wits about you all the way through. A book where you have to hold on to quite a bit of confusion before it all starts to link up and make sense. But it is a book and a story that is worth the effort. Moreso it is also Sunil's story of redemption and of his relationship with Adam. Their pasts intertwined and their presents as they try and make sense of what is going on. In fact, for me, they story was more about these two characters, and contains some quite horrific history both separately and shared. They really carry the book and they do it very well.
Pacing was a tad hit and miss but then it also kinda matched the disjointedness of the story so, there's that!
All in all, a strange and maybe complicated read that, at the end of the day, I did enjoy, and would recommend with caveats. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

The premise of this sci-fi spy drama was intetesting. However, the slow narrative, awful dialogue, over long descriptions out me off and I failed to finish. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

An all-American diner appears overnight in a remote British field. It's brightly lit, warm and inviting but it has no power, no water, no connection to the real world. It's like a memory made flesh - a nostalgic flight of fancy. More and more objects materialise: toys, fairground rides, pets and other treasured mementos of the past.
The cause, a chemical known only as Prophet - a weapon, curse or blessing? who created it? why? and can anyone stop it affecting everyone worldwide?
These are the key questions to which answers are revealed over the 480 pages of this slightly disturbing dystopian novel.
Not a bad story, Some really interesting if rather scary ideas but for me it just felt far too long. Towards the end it also felt a bit bleak - and to tell the truth I would probably have left the Americanised happy ending out - for me it just didn't feel right.

When Helen Macdonald followed H Is For Hawk with a collection of essays on nature themes, plus the occasional documentary likewise, that was pretty much the career trajectory I expected. That their next book proper would be a co-written science fiction novel, not so much. And not some nice respectable cli-fi or a message-heavy YA outing - a proper hefty chunk of the weird shit, opening with the appearance of an American diner in a Suffolk field, a diner which even aside from its means of arrival is somehow...wrong. Initially that wrongness is something on which a character with a superhuman knack for identifying fakes is picking up, for reasons not fully clear to the reader, but soon we're getting examples, examples which shouldn't feel as skin-crawling as they do, but the authors evidently have a knack for poking at humanity's uncanny valley response. The obvious point of reference would be AI art, except that I'm not sure publishing lead times are sufficient for Prophet to have been written in response to the current furore, so in that sense it seems pretty... prophetic [dons shades, theme tune kicks in].

Alas, that side of the story then gets sidelined in favour of investigating who's behind it all, which involves lots of tense encounters in conference rooms, and which I've seen justly compared to a Christopher Nolan film, except minus that annoying not being nearly as smart as it thinks it is, and very much minus the weird sexlessness. The authors have been quite emphatic that Prophet is meant to read like fanfic, and it very much does, the stoical American badass and the Anglo-Indian disaster bisexual hopelessly longing for each other and never managing to do anything about it. Which is fine, so long as you read in environments where it's OK to shout 'JUST KISS!' at your book, but I did find myself wishing that the situation around them had kept the existential horror a little higher in the mix, the techno-thriller lower. What can I say? Weaponised nostalgia is a hell of a concept, but the plot which accretes around that still relies heavily on a conspiracy of unaccountable, self-aggrandising bastards, and I get enough of that from living in this timeline. Still, the final stretch goes fully balls to the wall again, and if you're going to have a book drag anywhere then I suppose better the middle than the beginning or end, right?

Also, there was one curious, thematically relevant ornithological detail which I kept expecting to get mentioned, by way of a nod to Macdonald's previous work, and it never did.

(Netgalley ARC)

I tried really hard to persevere with this book but half way through I just had to give up. I did not take to any of the characters and am not a sci-fi fan which did not help. Too far fetched for me, sorry

A collection of short stories that encapsulates the microcosm of Korea. Each story pierces to the heart of the matter and no one escapes the magnifying class. The women in the stories are Korean but they are the stories of women from all over the world and the stories resonated with me. An enthralling book that regardless of where you are from that women are strong and resilient.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

There was a great book in here struggling to get out. Some of the writing and character work was super interesting, and after a while I was more interested in that than the X-Files type mystery that drew me to the novel in the first place. The narrative jumps around a lot as well, so I found it hard to get too invested in it.