Spin by Robert Charles Wilson -- book review

Spin is a science fiction novel that is both high concept and highly literate. It is a novel of galactic breadth, but the story is told through the intersecting lives of three people, who are about 12 years old as the novel begins.

The three kids are Tyler Dupree, the son of a housekeeper at "the big house" and the twin children of E.D. Lawton--Diane and Jason. Diane and Jason are bright, well-educated, and well-off. Tyler is bright, but not as bright as Jason--who is being groomed to inherit his father's position and wealth. Tyler is a little in love with Diane, even when they are 12, when the first big event of the novel takes place.

One night, while the adults are enjoying a party in the big house, Tyler, Diane, and Jason are having a kids party in the basement rec room. Jason has a new pair of astronomical binoculars he wants to try out, so all three kids go out into the yard to have a look. Suddenly, while they are looking at the sky, the stars go out. Thus begins the "spin". Which is the name the scientists and media have given to the phenomenon. Not only have the stars gone out, but satellites no longer work, and the astronauts on the space station have lost touch with the Earth.

Spin is told in chapters that alternate between "the present" when Tyler and Diane are adults and are hiding from authorities (while Tyler undergoes some sort of illness/physical transformation) and the past--chapters which chronologically bring the story up to the present, telling us what has happened to each of the main characters along the way.

And what a lot of things do happen. Jason works for a quasi-governmental agency that does Spin research; Diane has joined a millenarian religious cult; Tyler has become a medical doctor. The ways their lives are impacted by the Spin are emblematic of the effects the Spin has had on the worlds' population. Everywhere people are questioning their purpose, the future, and the meaning of life on Earth--and they are wondering who did this and why. They come to call the creators of the Spin Hypotheticals. They wonder if their actions will interest or enrage the Hypotheticals. They even wonder if the Hypotheticals really know or care about their existence.

The plotting is ingenious, but the characterization and development of narrative tension are more than a match. Spin is a terrifically involving work of science fiction. I'll be reading more books by Robert Charles Wilson, just as soon as I can get my hands on them.

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