Review 481: Love Minus Eighty

Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

In the future, little under 100 years from now, the recently dead can be resurrected. Or if they were in a cryogenic stasis they can be revived decades later. People end up taking insurance to be frozen for 1,000 years. Younger women who died in an accident end up in a facility which allows rich men to come and “date” these dead women who are woken up for a few minutes at a time. The women are nick-named bridesicles. It’s expensive and horrifying for the deceased. After several dates the man may think they are a good match and pay to revive the woman, they marry and she is again trapped as she is tied to him, unable to divorce. It’s so creepy!

The story has three points of view, one woman, Mira who is the oldest one in the bride-program, and it definitely wasn’t her choice. We have Rob who accidently hits a woman with his car one night after a devastating break-up with his girlfriend. She ended up dying from the accident and in the facility, Rob changes his entire life to go ask for her forgiveness. We also have Veronica, a dating coach without any connection to this program, but she and her co-worker/friend become friends with Rob and their lives become intertwined.

The plot and story is well done. I was captivated by the story and this invented future. Why it may seem wonderful to bring the recently dead back to life, this status some women were put into was horrible for them. The story also had some interesting technology in it, like screens that pop-in and follow people living their life, a reality tv-show played out in real time. Although it too can be faked with coaches feeding people their lines. There also seems to be some assumption that intelligence diminishes in the future.

I listened to the audiobook version, which had three narrators, one for each point of view. They all did a great job and this was one of those books that seemed enhanced by audio.

Initial short review:

Quite enjoyed this and was leaning towards rating as 5 stars, but not quite there.
Book rating: 4.5 stars