A photographer returns to a near-future Britain after the death of his wife in a terrorist incident in Afghanistan. And finds that Britain has, itself, been suffering terrorist attacks. But no-one knows quite what is happening or how. Just that there are similarities between what killed the photographer's wife and what happened in West London. Soon he is drawn into a hall of mirrors at the heart of government.
In the First World War a magician is asked to travel to the frontline to help a naval aerial reconnaissance unit hide its planes from the German guns. On the way to France he meets a certain H.G. Wells.
In the Second World War on the airfields of Bomber Commands there is also an obsession with camouflage, with misdirection. With deceit.
And in a garden, an old man raises a conch shell to his ear and initiates the first Adjacency.
Industry Reviews
"Taking place against a kaleidoscopic backdrop of Earth's past, present, and future--not to mention dimensions somewhere in between--the novel is a wonderful, stand-alone statement about the resonance of history, memory, and love. But for attentive, longtime fans, there are Easter eggs that reference many of his past novels, including The Prestige, which only adds to the grand intricacy of Priest's multifaceted vision." - AV Club Best Books of 2014 "Incredibly detailed and vivid." - Lit Stack
"Priest dabbles in a puzzling, intriguing work worthy of the sort of highbrow magic act it endeavors to perform." - Leviathyn
"A great read." - ScienceFiction.com
"When The Adjacent finally explodes into a head-spinning blast of blurred reality, Priest contains the fallout -- then he orchestrates it all a stunning denouement, one that readers accustomed to his unforeseen-yet-inevitable twists might not even be prepared for...Priest hides the answers to his metaphysical mysteries just up his sleeve, waiting for the most jaw-dropping time to spring them." - NPR
"Christopher Priest is very talented when it comes to telling stories and "The Adjacent" is no exception." - Imp Mag
"A fascinating writer." - Big Shiny Robot
"Interesting fantasy." - City of Films
"Unraveling it all is completely fascinating." - San Francisco Book Review
"Science and magic, as in many of Priest's works, are combined and focused together into a strange amalgamation of cold emotion and fiery passion creating a hurricane of a book." - Geek Girl Project
"A gripping novel." - Project Fandom
"Featuring the twists, turns, and puzzles we've come to expect from Priest." - Barnes & Noble Book Blog
"A chiller...meant to disturb." - Wall Street Journal
"all visions, illusions, mystery..".."a chiller...meant to disturb" - Wall Street Journal
"Stunning." - Locus Magazine
"Priest knows exactly what he's doing -- and is doing it brilliantly" - Chicago Tribune
"A wonderful piece of fiction, an intricate puzzle that asks the reader to pay
close attention and to read not just the text, but the subtext and its implications" - Booklist
"An absorbing and complex yarn of altered realities and twisted timelines, where nothing is quite as it seems ..." The Guardian
"One of the best novels of the year" SFX Magazine
"The Adjacent is puzzling, brilliant, frustrating, page-turning, disturbing and absorbing." WERTZONE
"A beautifully written novel." SCIFINOW
"Intoxicatingly freewheeling." Metro
"Thoroughly engrossing, and throughout Priest's scene-setting is impeccable. His descriptions of the workings of Bomber Command in the WWII section are worthy of Len Deighton. In the futuristic strand, he ... creates a mood of oppressive menace." Starburst Magazine
