Idlewild [Hardcover]

'The essential upgrade for the Matrix generation. Sagan has a ferocious imagination and he knows his field...a great human story'

'Cool SF/thriller territory...Good fun, Definitely worth it. And Nick Sagan will bear watching in the future.'

'Definitely worth it. And Nick Sagan will bear watching in the future'

'Delivers a mystery which gathers pace nicely as the pages turn and his alternate realities mess with your mind'

'Dreamwatch recommends!'

'Idlewild builds, not just in tension but in what it demands from the reader'

'The book is already attracting a lot of attention...because it's bloody good'

Smart, stylish near-future thriller fusing the fierce imagination of THE MATRIX with the chilling social vision of MINORITY REPORT...Set in the day after tomorrow, IDLEWILD opens as a young man awakes with amnesia. He cannot remember who he is and doesn't recognise where he is. All he knows for certain is that someone is trying to kill him. Unsure who he can trust, he becomes reacquainted with eight companions, all of whom are being trained at a strange special school, run by an elusive, enigmatic man named Maestro. As he tries to uncover the identity of the faceless person - or persons - who is after him, he begins to unravel a series of truths, of puzzles within puzzles. It soon becomes clear that more - much more - than just his life is at stake...

It is a not-too-distant future in our all-too-recognizable world. It is the late twenty-first century and a deadly virus has seeped into human kind's genetic make-up. In only a few generations this plague will have wiped us off the face of the planet, but we're not going down without a fight. Teams of scientists, geneticists and programmers race to find a cure, but time is not on our side and our only hope lies in one last, desperate gamble . . .

Eighteen years later and ten children are about to come of age. One of them, a young man, is suddenly startled awake. He has no memory. His surroundings mean nothing to him. All he knows for absolute certain is that someone is trying to kill him. Unsure who he can trust, he is reacquainted with his companions, all of whom are being trained at a special school run by the elusive Maestro. As he tries to uncover the identity of his would-be killer, it becomes clear that the ramifications of his investigation are far greater than he could ever have imagined - that it's more, much more, than just his life that is at stake . . .

Smart, stylish, terrifying and thrilling in equal measure, Idlewild fuses the fierce imagination of The Matrix with the chilling social vision of Minority Report, and introduces a singular new literary voice.

The son of the celebrated astronomer Carl Sagan, Nick Sagan graduated from UCLA Film School and has written for Hollywood for ten years, producing screenplays and TV scripts. IDLEWILD is his first novel. He is married and lives in Ithaca, New York, where he is at work on a new novel, MEMORY'S STAIN.