Review: Signal by Patrick Lee

Sam Dryden, former Special Forces specialist, was living the quiet life, buying and fixing up old houses in a quiet town on Southern California.  All that changes when he receives a desperate phone call from a former colleague and friend, Claire Dunham.  That phone call sends his quiet life into a spiral, involving him in a deadly, and unbelievable, situation.

Claire is in possession of a machine, a radio of sorts, that allows the listener to hear broadcasts from the future, nearly a full 11 hours in advance of it happening.  Unfortunately, a similar machine is in the hands of a group that plans on using to advance their political motives, even if it involves murder.

Quickly, Sam and Claire, aided by an FBI agent who just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, embark upon a mission to destroy this machine, no matter the cost.  They have to get creative, for the other machine is able to predict their moves, hours in advance.

This is most certainly not the follow-up to Runner that I was predicting.  Lee has managed to add an element of, dare I say, science fiction, creating a techno-thriller that his completely unlike anything I have read. He certainly takes a risk in this effort, for fans will most certainly be looking for that “traditional” thriller for which Lee is known.  In my opinion, this is a risk worth taking, for Lee has created a genuinely unique and intense thriller that kept my attention the moment I started reading.

Be prepared to abandon all free time, and perhaps some of your not-so-free time, once you start reading this book. Once I started, I couldn’t put it down. Though it sounds cliche, it’s true.   I can’t wait to see what risks Lee takes with his next thriller! Highly, highly recommended.