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Book Summary and Reviews of Unthinkable by Brad Parks

Unthinkable by Brad Parks

Unthinkable

by Brad Parks

  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Published:
  • Jul 2021, 351 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

From international bestselling author Brad Parks comes a new thriller about an ordinary man who may be able to save the world as we know it - but to do so, he must make an impossible choice.

Nate Lovejoy is a self-proclaimed nobody, a stay-at-home dad who doesn't believe he's important to anyone but his wife and their two daughters. So it's a shock when members of a powerful secret society kidnap and spirit Nate away to a mansion at the behest of their leader, Vanslow DeGange, who claims to know the future. He's foreseen that a billion people could die―unless Nate acts.

It seems improbable, especially given what DeGange says will set this mass casualty incident in motion: a lawsuit against the biggest power company in Virginia, being brought by Nate's wife, Jenny.

Nate quickly smells a scam being perpetrated by the power company. But at every turn, it becomes apparent there's more to DeGange's gift than Nate wants to acknowledge. A billion people really could die, and Nate might be the only one who can save them.

All he has to do is the unthinkable.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Would you kill your spouse if that were the only way to prevent a billion other deaths? ...A textbook one-sitting read whose fiendishly inventive details only intensify its remorseless momentum." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"[A] tense thriller...Parks makes suspension of disbelief to his premise accessible via solid prose and characterizations. Readers who enjoy jaw-dropping but credible plot twists will be enthralled." - Publishers Weekly

"This fast-paced novel, narrated in alternating chapters by Nate and Jenny, has twists and turns that'll keep readers guessing. Recommended for readers who enjoyed Parks's other stand-alone works, as well as fans of Harlan Coben and Linwood Barclay." - Library Journal

"Unthinkable is a fast, furious, fun and deliciously twisty tale told with the deft and accomplished hand of a veteran storyteller. Nate and Jenny are truly a duo to root for, and there's a substantive issue at the core of the story about which we should all be better informed. Parks has belted another one out of the park with a focused swing of the bat." - David Baldacci

"A mind bending thriller with a gripping, twisted plot you will second guess until you reach the stunning end. Unthinkable is addictive." - Melinda Leigh, #1 Wall Street Journal and Amazon bestselling author

This information about Unthinkable was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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More Information

International bestselling author Brad Parks is the only writer to have won the Shamus, Nero, and Lefty Awards, three of American crime fiction's most prestigious prizes. His novels have been published in fifteen languages and have won critical acclaim across the globe, including stars from every major prepublication review outlet.

A graduate of Dartmouth College, Parks is a former journalist with the Washington Post and the Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey). He is now a full-time novelist living in Virginia with his wife and two school-age children. A former college a cappella singer and community theater enthusiast, Parks has been known to burst into song whenever no one was thoughtful enough to muzzle him. His favored writing haunt is a Hardee's, where good-natured staff members suffer his presence for many hours a day and where he can often be found working on his next novel.

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