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The Susan Effect (2014)

by Peter Høeg

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1886143,636 (3.64)7
'The Danish author is back on form in this literary thriller'Selected as a Book of the Year in 2017 in the Mail on Sunday SUSAN SVENDSEN HAS AN UNUSUAL TALENT. She is an expert in finding out secrets. People feel oddly compelled to confide in her and unwittingly confess their innermost thoughts. Her whole life, she has exploited this talent, but now her family is in jeopardy and there is a prison sentence hanging over her head. Then Susan gets a timely offer from a former government official- use her power one more time and have all charges dropped. To get her life back in order, she must track down the last surviving members of a secret think tank, the Future Committee, and find out the details in this committee's mysterious final report. But there are some powerful people determined that the report is never revealed.… (more)
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» See also 7 mentions

English (3)  German (2)  Danish (1)  All languages (6)
Showing 3 of 3
The saving grace of this book is the strangeness of the characters. The main character, Susan, should have annoyed me to no end, but she is also very interesting. Her family is completely dysfunctional, and there are all completely egomaniac, but it keeps the story very interesting.

That said, this book is still only barely 3 stars for me. The plot itself started out good, but kind of degrades into the absurd toward the end. There is a certain amount of suspension of disbelief necessary to accept the 'effect' from the title as science, but that is not the problem. The problem is that the 'scientific' ideas that the author wants to sell are very… naive and that the scientist, especially Susan, are not credible. I have met many types of scientist in many fields and just, no.

Slight spoiler:

In my opinion it was completely unnecessary to give Susan a rape story as a background. It had no effect on the story expect having her family throw sarcastic rape jokes into her face at later points, which she accepts. Wtf? Can't female characters be weird, mean or strange without that 'reason'. ( )
  Sue_Z | Mar 22, 2022 |
I usually avoid books labelled as thrillers, but this is Peter Hoeg, so it can not be an ordinary thriller, can it?

Susan, a quantum physicist, has special abilities—like Høeg’s Smilla in Smilla’s Sense of Snow and Kaspar in The Quiet Girl. In this case, she “inspires candor,” and those in her presence feel the need to confess their secrets to her. Her entire family—her famous composer husband (who also is gifted) and their precocious teenaged children—together are something to be reckoned with.

The story begins with the family being pulled out of Burma and or India following some trouble that would imprison them for a long time. But, in return for this rescue Susan is expected to use “the effect” to find out what the last report from a mysterious group called “The Future Committee” says. The now defunct commission had been made up of brilliant, youthful minds who were able to predict future events. Susan agrees under great duress. But someone else seems also to be interested in that same report. Thus begins a non-stop, breathless run through science labs, underground archives and renovated cathedrals with this intelligent, resourceful, innovative and often ferocious scientist. And as the futuristic story becomes more and more incredible, the reader can only laugh and hang on. There are flaws in this book, yes; but I love Peter Høeg’s brain and this was just what I needed to ring in the new year. ( )
  avaland | Jan 4, 2019 |
more of the same
  Lotjes | May 10, 2018 |
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'The Danish author is back on form in this literary thriller'Selected as a Book of the Year in 2017 in the Mail on Sunday SUSAN SVENDSEN HAS AN UNUSUAL TALENT. She is an expert in finding out secrets. People feel oddly compelled to confide in her and unwittingly confess their innermost thoughts. Her whole life, she has exploited this talent, but now her family is in jeopardy and there is a prison sentence hanging over her head. Then Susan gets a timely offer from a former government official- use her power one more time and have all charges dropped. To get her life back in order, she must track down the last surviving members of a secret think tank, the Future Committee, and find out the details in this committee's mysterious final report. But there are some powerful people determined that the report is never revealed.

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