Book Review ~ Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Thomas Sweterlistch

SUMMARY ~ “Yesterday can’t last forever…

A decade has passed since the city of Pittsburgh was reduced to ash.

While the rest of the world has moved on, losing itself in the noise of a media-glutted future, survivor John Dominic Blaxton remains obsessed with the past. Grieving for his wife and unborn child who perished in the blast, Dominic relives his lost life by immersing in the Archive—a fully interactive digital reconstruction of Pittsburgh, accessible to anyone who wants to visit the places they remember and the people they loved.

Dominic investigates deaths recorded in the Archive to help close cases long since grown cold, but when he discovers glitches in the code surrounding a crime scene—the body of a beautiful woman abandoned in a muddy park that he’s convinced someone tried to delete from the Archive—his cycle of grief is shattered.

With nothing left to lose, Dominic tracks the murder through a web of deceit that takes him from the darkest corners of the Archive to the ruins of the city itself, leading him into the heart of a nightmare more horrific than anything he could have imagined.”

WHOA!  I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of TOMORROW AND TOMORROW directly from the author, Thomas Sweterlistch, aka my brother-in-law, a few months ago.  “Whoa” is the word I kept repeating to myself as I read this intense, dark, skillfully written, deep, creepy, heartbreaking, detailed and extensive book.  I continued to pinch myself from the first page to the last because I was continuously amazed and impressed with Tom’s writing.  The imagination on this guy blew me away!  Tom is a sweet, quiet, shy and soft-spoken man who adores my sister and my little niece, loves his adopted home of Pittsburgh, and has a great love and understanding for the classics, poetry and philosophy.  All of these things shine through in this world and story he has woven together. 

The main character, Dominic, is a tortured soul.  He’s one of the darkest, saddest and devastated characters I’ve ever read.  My heart poured out for him as his heartbreaking story unfolded.  The world Dominic lives in is one he wished didn’t exist.  He longs for the days of old, when his since-obliterated home town of Pittsburgh still stood in the hills and along the tangled rivers of western Pennsylvania.  The life he misses was shared with his beloved and sorely missed wife and their unborn daughter.  Fortunately and unfortunately there is a digital version of his, and many other’s, Pittsburgh that can be visited from the comforts of their new homes across the world via an extensive network called “The Archive”.  This access creates an addict of sorts of Dominic.  The detail with which Tom has written this experience is nothing short of impressive.  The imagery that is created from his words allows the reader to experience Pittsburgh through The Archive as Dominic does.

Pittsburgh isn’t the only city that Dominic finds himself in.  My hometown area of Washington, D.C. plays a definitive role in Tomorrow and Tomorrow as well as a couple of other well-known world cities.  (You’ll have to read the book to find out which ones!) Dominic finds himself in these cities, trying to figure out a mystery that is dark, horrific and disturbing.  The thing is, the mystery is so crazy and terrible because it could easily happen in real life!  Tom’s writing enveloped me in this world he created, this mystery I joined Dominic in trying to solve. 

Politics, murder, digital magic and a hint of a world that isn’t too far from our reality is what is waiting for you in the pages of Tomorrow and Tomorrow.  Vibes and echos of MINORITY REPORT and SEVEN kept running through my head as I read.  I swear I am not just saying these things because Tom is family.  I stepped out of my comfort zone of prefered genres when I read this book and it still haunts me today as I see scenes clearly in my imaginiation.  I continue to be amazed by Tom’s talent and am so thrilled with the accolades he and his debut novel are receiving on the eve of its release, Thursday July 10th.  You can learn more about Tom on his website HERE.

Rating: 5 stars