Early Reviewers

The underlying structure of the world’s information is decaying.

Linguist Helen Cherbourne comes to this astonishing conclusion after every piece of digital technology on Earth goes dark. As social order collapses, Helen races to find a scientific explanation for what’s happening. Joining her effort is Giles, a computer scientist she barely knows, one who bears an unwelcome resemblance to Helen’s childhood friend Gabriel Lemont, the quiet boy who grew up and fell in love with Helen and then died trying to impress her.

Helen and Giles make a series of remarkable discoveries about the information decay phenomenon, revelations that challenge some of their most basic assumptions about human history, but any clue to its origin or a way to defeat it eludes them. The phenomenon soon spreads beyond digital information and starts to attack encoded information of every kind. Even the written word disappears.

As Helen and Giles set out across a disintegrating world on a desperate search for answers, Helen’s thoughts draw her back to Gabriel and to half-remembered details of his death. The faded memories hint at a startling connection between the information decay and Helen’s own past and force her to accept the simplest of truths—she will need more than science to save those she holds dear.