Book Review: The Tomorrow Code by Brian Falkner

Tane and Rebecca aren't sure what to make of it. A sequence of 1s and 0s, the message looks like nothing more than a random collection of alternating digits. Working to decode it, however, Tane and Rebecca discover that the message contains lottery numbers... lottery numbers that win the next random draw!

Suddenly Tane and Rebecca are rich, but who sent the numbers? And why? More messages follow, and slowly it becomes clear-- the messages are being sent back in time from Tane and Rebecca's future. Something there has gone horribly wrong, and it's up to them to prevent it from happening. As they follow the messages' cryptic instructions, Tane and Rebecca begin to suspect the worst-- that the very survival of the human race may be at stake.

MY REVIEW:

This book caught my attention by the back cover description quite frankly. I had it somewhere in the "to read" pile, but there was no sense of urgency. I happen to be in the mood for something different, and I ended up picking this one out for heck of it. Once I started reading, the book actually sucked me in. I usually know within the first 50 pages or so whether or not I want to continue reading the book and this was one I was not putting back on the shelf. I really liked it a lot!

So, here is the quick run down-- Tane and Rebecca are in high school and have been friends since they were little kids, best friends for that matter. Tane is your average kid for the most part, other than being wealthy, with an older brother nicknamed "Fatboy" after the Harley. Rebecca on the other hand is a bit different. She lost her dad, who was a super smart scientist in an accident. Her mom, also a scientist, has really taken his death pretty bad and does not work anymore, and kind of just watches t.v. all day and doesn't really pay too much attention to what Rebecca does. In fact, Rebecca finds herself taking care of her mom as if she was her parent.

Tane and Rebecca get into a discussion about the future and Tane comes up with an idea that Rebecca actually thinks twice about. Using quantum foam (which is a physics concept), they figure out how to receive messages sent back from the future through a receiver. Initially, they do receive some codes, but they are nothing more than a bunch of numbers that mean nothing to them. When they use Tane's new "super" computer on an endless feed that works 24/7 trying to intercept codes, they start to receive more and more.

Eventually they "decode: the first message to find it contains numbers. Not any ordinary numbers, but numbers they conclude to be lottery numbers, but when the numbers are supposed to win, they do not know. They enlist Fatboy (since he is legal age for the lottery) to buy the tickets until the winning numbers come out for 1/3 of the prize IF they do indeed come out. So the very next lottery they hit big and win around 6 million.

The next message they decode tell them that they need to buy some sort of newly invented, high tech submarine, although they have no idea why or what it is to be used for. All 3 of them agree to make the purchase and see what happens.

As they keep decoding the messages, they eventually find out that the messages are coming from themselves sometime in the future. They decode them 1 by 1 and end up finding out that their lives and the lives of millions are at stake if they do not act upon these messages that they keep receiving.

As to not give the whole entire book away, and to cut to the chase, there is an accident in a lab that creates a strange white fog. This fog not only grows in size at a ridiculous rate, but also produces "organisms" within that basically just eat away any human that comes into its path. Or rather, any human that it decides to go towards their path. So after involvement with the military, some scientists and a whole lot of people killed (not graphic at all), Tane, Rebecca, and Fatboy figure out the final message that their future selves send. It is the message with instructions that can stop this seemingly unstoppable deadly "fog", that threatens to spread over all of New Zealand and eventually all of Earth.

Through the book, a minor fling/romance goes on with Rebecca and Fatboy, although this upsets Tane and it isn't until close to the end that he realizes why. Surely, he can not have those types of feelings for Rebecca, his long time best friend, can he? Once they get that final message on how to put an end to the danger, the question is whether it is too late or not? The fog has killed many and when they do have the solution, it has already reached them.

Will they be able to save themselves, what's left of New Zealand, and the entire human race? I will tell you this... as I expected a "fairy tale" ending, it did not quite work out that way. The obvious would be that Tane, Rebecca, and Fatboy all survive, beat this horrible bio-disaster and live happily ever after. I will leave you with this, they do NOT all live, and the ending was a thrill ride. The last 5 pages or so were impossible to put the book down. A very good plot with parts that had me on the edge of my seat and parts that had me really interested in the technology and scientific aspects of the book. I love anything about the future and time travel, so this one was sure to please.

If you follow my reviews you probably have got accustomed to my "style" of reviewing. I am thorough with the plot, but I will never reveal the ending. Also, remember that we will not post reviews for books that are any less that what we would compare to a 4 to 5 star rating. If a book review is not posted on our site, it does not mean that we do not like it, it just might not have been read. What you are guaranteed to know is that if you see it here, we loved it! Thanks again and we have a bunch of cool stuff lined up!

Dave