Especially good if you've already read "14"

Any additional comments?

Peter Clines is quickly becoming my favorite thriller / mystery / horror writer. While "The Fold" is a stand-alone novel much of mysteries that where solved in "14" are revisited in this book and serve as a foundation for the new mysteries in this book. You don't have to read "14" to understand "The Fold" but I believe you will find the solutions to the mysteries of this book more satisfying with that back ground. At first I thought "the fold" was completely new standalone novel that had no connections to his other works. Then I read what I thought was a cameo/shout out to some green iridescent roaches. That put a grin on my face. I don't want to say anything further so as not to spoil anything but I really suggest reading "14" if you haven't done so. As a note of warning, I would not read "The Fold" 1st and the "14". Some of the things discussed in "The Fold" are answers to the main mysteries the protagonist and his friends are trying to solve in "14".



Neither though is this book a true sequel to "14". Maybe it could be considered a spin-off Though as a stand alone book and you could enjoy it by itself. The closest experience I've had with something like this was watching Stargate Atlantis. I had never seen the original Movie or StarGate SG1 series before watching season 1 of Stargate Atlantis. I really enjoyed Stargate Atlantis so while I waited for season 2 to premier I went back and watched SG1 and the original movie. Doing that made Atlantis at the more enjoyable for me as I started to pick up on a lot more background things that I wouldn't have noticed without watch the earlier show. "The Fold" and its predecessor "14" bring out that extra information and world building in that same way.



Unlike "14", "The Fold" starts of with a more thriller vibe. To me the book really felt like I was listening to a Lincoln Child / Douglas Preston type novel for the beginning 2 hours.Our protagonist "Mike", who is blessed/cursed with a high IQ & Idetic memory being sent to investigate a secretive project being funded by DARPA, (unlike our everyday day joe hero of 14 just falling into the middle of a mystery). After those first 2 hours, the mystery kicks into high gear and all the things I loved about the way "14" was wrote started to appear. The character development and character relationships appear and you slowly see it change from the protagonist curiosity being the driving force to the entire group becoming interested working together.



This book is in my personal opinion a lot rougher than "14". If your expecting the same formula as "14", the core elements of it is there but there are also many changes. This time your even working with a governmental oversight viewpoint right from the start rather than just a group of friends. Does this make it better or worse than "14"? To answer I would go back to the StarGate analogy. I know some people really loved Atlantis & others where die hard SG-1 fans. IMHO, they where both good and I while I did have my own favorite of the two, both shows complimented each other so well that I could enjoy either show. That's what "14" & "The Fold" are in a sense. Two stories that compliment each other. You'll probably having a favorite among the two but having already read "14" will make you enjoy "The Fold" all the more, especially if you go in with the knowledge that it will feel quite different at least to start with, but all core elements that made "14" so good will eventual find a way into the story.



As for narration/voice acting. Ray Portor continues to give a stellar performance. If I see his name as narrator and it's a genre I like it's nearly an automatic buy. I can't think of anybody I've listened to with his narration that was a disappointment. It's kinda like Micheal Kramer and epic fantasy. I've been willing to purchase epic fantasy 20+ hour books whose authors I've never heard of and their plot summary I only find vaguely interesting, just because they do such a good job with narration, I'm willing to take a risk. Ray Portor is easily in my top 5 narrators and he does his gives his regular outstanding performance in this book.



So if you haven't read "14" I suggest you read that and then come back and read "The Fold" to maximize your enjoyment of the story. If you didn't like "14", I also suggest you give the "The Fold" a chance because it's just different enough from 14 that whatever you may not have like from "14", might have been replaced with a different writing style that you may enjoy more. Finally if you were expecting a "14" continuation/clone may I suggest you read at least halfway through before giving up. I believe all the things that made "14" such and enjoyable book are in "The Fold" in some form or another even if it's not immediately obvious. I do hope that Mr. Clines eventually picks something to put in the titles of these books to show that they are connected so future titles that occur in this "world" will be easy to spot. I do apologize if I rambled a bit in this review or came across as vague but found it extremely difficult to talk about any similarities between both books or make direct comparisons without spoiling any of the story/mystery. To give you an idea of how much I enjoyed "The Fold", I finished it in one non-stop binge and as for "14" I think I read it at least 6 times in the past year. All I can say is that I hope you will give both "The Fold" & "14" a try and that you enjoy it as much as I did.