Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Déjà Vu
    Unavailable
    Déjà Vu
    Unavailable
    Déjà Vu
    Ebook285 pages3 hours

    Déjà Vu

    By Ian Hocking

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    In the year 2023 Saskia Brandt, detective with the European FIB, comes back from holiday newly single, tired and full of sadness. Heading straight back to the office she finds no peace, only her receptionist dead and no suspects. Given only 12 hours to clear her name she sets to work on unravelling the mystery, one that proves greater than the sum of its parts.

    David Proctor is just an academic eating his breakfast until he gets a phonecall telling him the prototype computer Ego he has been loaned is now the only one left. Meanwhile someone has broken into his house, someone who wants him to go back to the lab where his wife died in a bomb attack 20 years before.

    As the mysteries and intrigue envelop Saskia and David they are forced to unpick their own pasts. Because in Déjà Vu you find that things aren't as they seem, truth is a matter of perspective and that the past can change just as quickly as the future.

    Déjà Vu is a taut science fiction thriller that will keep you guessing, a gripping read and a sharp reflection on identity in a digital world.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUnsung Stories
    Release dateAug 11, 2014
    ISBN9781907389245
    Unavailable
    Déjà Vu

    Related to Déjà Vu

    Related ebooks

    Science Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Memories Of A Miracle

      Dec 1, 2023

      Memories Of A Miracle
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Emperors of Existence

      Dec 28, 2018

      The Emperors of Existence
      9 min read

    • Article

      Marina’s Mission

      Jan 26, 2022

      Marina’s Mission
      7 min read

    • Article

      Karolina

      Jun 15, 2019

      I first saw Karolina outside the Sumesa on the corner of Avenidas Oaxaca and Álvaro Obregón. She was smoking a stubby cigarette, a sled-like backpack hitched to her shoulders. I stopped short, felt my heart lurch. Could it be? Karolina was my brother

      31 min read

    • Article

      Marina’s Mission

      Jan 26, 2022

      Marina’s Mission
      7 min read

    • Article

      Everything But The Kitchen Sink

      Oct 10, 2021

      When Mary Little walks into her kitchen on Tuesday morning, the sink is under the window. At first she can’t even find it. She looks at the space where the sink is supposed to be, at the end of the island, and the sink is gone. Her son, Ben, sits the

      18 min read

    • Article

      STEPPING Out

      Mar 4, 2020

      STEPPING Out
      9 min read

    • Article

      POISON ON Pink Paper

      Dec 23, 2019

      POISON ON Pink Paper
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Scarlet PEBBLE

      Feb 28, 2024

      The Scarlet PEBBLE
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Traveler Part 1

      Sep 1, 2020

      Jamie wandered aimlessly, kicking a broken chunk of sidewalk, following the chip of cement as it skittered and bounced through leaves and off curbs. In a trance, she walked down unknown blocks and around unfamiliar corners, her mind so far away that

      9 min read

    • Article

      Ice cream DREAMS

      Aug 11, 2021

      Ice cream DREAMS
      8 min read

    • Article

      The heartbeat OF PARIS

      Apr 10, 2024

      The heartbeat OF PARIS
      9 min read

    • Article

      Suffering the Consequences

      Oct 22, 2021

      Suffering the Consequences
      6 min read

    • Article

      Ice cream DREAMS

      Aug 4, 2021

      Ice cream DREAMS
      8 min read

    • Article

      J. Jezewska Stevens

      Dec 15, 2017

      The party was a failure. I can’t even tell you what a failure it was. There are no words. Only a great pain in my chest when I wake up. On the veranda. It’s better when I sit in the chair. Oh, but then I can see around. The gauzy curtains, pushed by

      15 min read

    • Article

      A Change Of Verbs

      May 10, 2021

      A change of verbs can be a boon to a man’s life. Such was the thought that seized Simon McCalla in midbite of his double-toasted English muffin. It was Friday, precisely 7:52 AM by the clock on the range. “I said, what time is it?” yelled his wife fr

      22 min read

    • Article

      Ein Berlin, Remembering The Wall, And My Own Past

      Feb 26, 2018

      THE FIRST TIME I LEFT BERLIN I WAS A VERY SMALL GERMAN person with an American mother, a German father and a very odd accent in English. I sounded like I’d been raised by 19th century nuns, or Jackie Kennedy. (This is what happens when you learn a la

      3 min read

    • Article

      6667 Hollywood Boulevard

      Jul 2, 2019

      6667 Hollywood Boulevard
      7 min read

    • Article

      Quantum Radio

      Feb 22, 2023

      Quantum Radio
      5 min read

    • Article

      Frost FAIR

      Jan 18, 2023

      Frost FAIR
      11 min read

    • Article

      La Otra Historia

      Jun 30, 2022

      La Otra Historia
      14 min read

    • Article

      Getting Up

      Oct 15, 2022

      Getting Up
      20 min read

    • Article

      Six Dart Out

      Sep 10, 2023

      Marc figured the girl was a vegan. Her puke had overflowed the sink and run onto the floor—tomatoes and rice marinated in microbrew lager. He’d told Vegan Girl to slow down, but her friends had won the turning-21-peer-pressure battle. Admittedly, Mar

      9 min read

    • Article

      Magnets: Carried through time, lovers seek their purpose.

      Feb 6, 2014

      Moon Colony B, 2213 Former Ponzi-schemer Mary Pillar digs through a trashcan. It smells like rotten eggs and milk. She is elderly and homeless, living in an alley between two eco-efficient skyscrapers. Dust particles dance around her. She has lost ev

      11 min read

    • Article

      The Juggler’s Wife

      Jun 9, 2020

      The situation in itself is not unique. There was a man who hated his job and wanted a new one. There was a man who was sick of his boring job and wanted an exciting job instead. This man was depressed, but he saw a way out. He thought this way out wa

      24 min read

    Reviews for Déjà Vu

    3.5/5

    53 ratings14 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      I received this book from LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review....I have to say that I really enjoyed this book. The constant back and forth of the timelines and characters made you really pay attention, but kept you very entertained. The story line was really interesting and kept you wanting to see what happened next!
    • 4/5
      Deja Vu by Ian Hocking is the first book in 'The Saskia Brandt Series".Set in the year 2023, the story begins in Berlin. Saskia Brandt is returning to her office after a breakup with her boyfriend Simon- who was upset that her job with the FIB (Federal Office of Investigation) was always calling her away. Having returned two days earlier than expected, she wonders where her secretary is. Computers in this future have very advanced AI and conversations with them are the norm. Which leads Saskia to ask both where her secretary is and why the air conditioning is off of her computer. Though it is extremely intelligent, its answers are not very helpful. But Saskia is able to solve the puzzle quickly when she finds her secretary's body in the fridge- with a stab wound below her left ear. Realising that she is being framed, she goes to her superior, Beckman, and tells him what's happened, to which he replies that she needs to deal with it herself. Being charged with murder in this world leads to different repercussions than our own. If you are found guilty (which generally you are), you are executed (if you're lucky) or subjected to a brain wipe (which leaves you as a very literal, programmable blank slate).Trying to find evidence that could prove her innocence, she manages to find and enhance a still shot of the murderer's face (off of the blade he used to kill her secretary). When the image comes back, her world falls apart. She's staring at a photo of herself. Scrutinising her mind for the missing memories of killing the woman, she's met with the cold truth that her whole life is fabricated. She has no memories of who she is that weren't created and implanted by someone else. Beckman informs her that her mind was erased three weeks ago- after she was found guilty of murder- and that this was all a test to see if she could be part of a special group. One trained to hunt down other killers. He gives her a choice- work for him (receiving false memories and becoming his puppet) or be executed. With little choice, she accepts and is given her first mission.Meanwhile in Nevada, Jennifer Proctor has invented the time machine. She works with the same facility that her father, David, used to work for. He lost his job after he was accused of planting a bomb in their own base in 2003. The explosion killed his wife and cost him his career, though he was acquitted of the charges. David has been called to Scotland, to the deserted base to find his old friend, Bruce- who has broken into the labs. What he finds is a dying man. Both men wanted to destroy the project they were working on twenty years ago, but have been unable to. David plans to rectify that. This time, he is the one who plants the bomb- killing Bruce in the process and making David a wanted man, armed only with his pocket-computer (a prototype) called Ego and a drawing his daughter made when she was younger, he must depend on his wits and the help of a mysterious woman and her cryptic messages. Saskia is now after David Proctor. She meets Klutikov, a Russian agent who is also a puppet like her. He tells her about the microchips in their brains, that transmit the false memories and knowledge they possess. If her chip fails, so does she. Her mind and body do not come from the same person. Her body is that of a killer she never knew and she is a parasite plugged into it. Even her being, what she calls herself, is just a bunch of donor memories. Teamed up with an older Detective in Edinburgh, Pihilp Jago- who she affectionally nicknames Scotty, they search for the elusive David Proctor. Throughout, Saskia keeps seeing random flashes of another woman- the woman this body belonged to, but they are too disjointed and vague. All she comes away with is a woman's name- Ute. Does she want these memories? Does she want to meet Ute- who the press nicknamed the "Angel of Death"?There are a lot of Greek and Shakespearean references scattered throughout this book. In particular, the three fates- who cut your string when they deem that your life is up. Quite fitting seeing as Saskia's life is in another's hands. I also got echoes of something else. For anyone who has seen Joss Whedon's Dollhouse series, this holds a lot of similarities. The obvious one being, wiping the minds of people so that you can insert new ones that make them anyone. They can have any skill, they can be anything their creator desires. Time-travel (which is present in this story) is always tricky to work with. The unavoidable paradoxes can leave crumbling holes in the plot. Here, it is done well. The points align, while still leaving necessary things ambiguous. There is still that question of whether you can actually change anything in the past or whether it has to happen because it's already happened. Best not to dwell on it too long. If you're looking for a scientific, deeply detailed explanation of time-travel and the many issues around it, this is not that.I don't have too much to say about the characters. The one character who really stood out to me was, as you might expect, Saskia. The thought that your personality, your mind, your being is all a digital splicing of other people is extraordinary- both in its obscureness and in the fear it creates. That you are an intruder, a stranger in your own body must be a terrifying thing. What would you do? Would you want to know who the other half of your 'self' had been?The ending was a conclusion. What I mean is, all the strings are brought together and the questions answered. The reader is brought full circle, back to the very beginning. There's nothing more to really say. It was a little anticlimactic. The penultimate big reveal gives us the whole picture of Saskia, in all its dramatic glory. But afterwards, the story fizzles out and just ends. There is the finale, where everything is wrapped up, but so much of the pace is lost, that it just sits there. I'm not sure whether I'll carry on with the series. I found the concept intriguing, but the plot less so and with the reveal of Saskia's backstory, I'm left wondering if there's any more that I want to know. Overall, a good read. If you're a fan of action, sic-fi or the paradoxes of life- this is for you.Disclaimer: I received this book from the author. This is not a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% my own.
    • 4/5
      Book One of the Saskia Brandt Series. "Every effect has a cause. What goes around- comes around". And in this techno-thriller it does. It is a little hard to get into the rhythm of the story at first but once you get the gist of how it flows it's a great read. There were a few scrambled up sentences page 44 "The same reason her recruited you" and page 50 "Who you are?". I am looking forward to reading the next in the series.
    • 4/5
      Talk about mind games. I enjoyed the book even though i had already read Flashback. Which i might add i will read again to connect the stories. Saskia has a very interesting if not scary existence finding that everything is not how it looks. I like the strangeness and twists in the book. thank-you Ian for allowing me to read this book.carmenmaranda
    • 4/5
      Reviewed as LibraryThing early reviewer.Story synopsis: This interesting story is set in the near future in Britain. Saskin Brandt has been assigned to track down a rogue scientist to save the status quo. However, she discovers that her mind has been modified, most likely against her will, and a kill-switch inserted in her brain. She must find a way to save herself and man-kind without creating a temporal paradox. Review: The first chapter is a bit confusing in that it is difficult to follow the story, but eventually 'all is revealed'. The main character is a complicated mixture of hero, villian, victim and is also a bit nuts. As the story develops, its complexity increases, taking this book from a 'nice little science fiction tale' to an intellectual puzzle. As with all good books, the reader is left wanting to read more. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series. Technically, the three formats for the book (Kindle, epub and pdf) all work well. I found it harder to read in the pdf than in the other two formats. The author's notes at the end were not as sparkling as the book. He states that the fisrt part is from a blog post. The second section is his awareness of moving his work to ebooks. While parts of each have some interest, the majority seems to be one long whine about not being recognized for working hard. The book stands on it's own, then is diluted by this additional information. Information about the writing process and from where ideas spring is interesting and should be kept; the rest is superfulous.
    • 4/5
      Disclaimer: I received a free copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.Rating: 3.5/5 Review: First Lines: Saskia Brandt emerged from the shadow of the Brandenburg Gate and narrowed her eyes at the evening.Deja Vu is a fast paced techno-thriller that hooked me in from the very beginning.The book is set in 2023 and follows the lives of Saskia Brandt and David Proctor. Saskia is an FIB Agent who is under orders to capture David, who is a suspect in a number of murders.The characters were the real stars, as far as I'm concerned. I loved how they were written in contrast of each other.Saskia is unsure of her identity, her past and strives to make sense of the strange phrases that seem to reach out to her. She has a chip in the back of her head which basically provides her with whatever knowledge she needs (think Matrix). This, inevitably, raises the question whether any of her knowledge is her own. She is a very complex character and the revelations of her past were probably my favourite parts.On the other hand, David's story largely dwells in his past; memories of his daughter, the bomb blasts that destroyed his work. I would've liked to know more about the virtual reality that he'd created.I liked that the writing style was a tad bit choppy and clinical which enhanced the futuristic feel of the book. However, this also made it a bit tough to follow at a few points.The world that Hocking created was quite interesting with time travel made possible and a virtual world being created that brought up all sorts of moral dilemmas. And, of course, tons of cool gadgetry which included self-diagnosing refrigerators and a credit card sized personal computer that can only be described as omniscient.The explanation for time travel was a rather simplistic one and steered clear of paradoxes, which was a bit disappointing but probably better for the story as it mostly works in the background.My only problem with the book was that it didn't maintain it's pace throughout. At some parts it was a veritable page turner but at others it slackened.In conclusion, it was an enjoyable read and I look forward to reading the sequel, Flashback.
    • 5/5
      I can say that I really liked this book. The author's stated goal was to write something that would be hard to put down and he has succeeded without resorting to cheap gimmicks. The story is full of action, but it is not a mindless adventure. The technology is cool and intriguing without exaggerations. The concepts regarding consciousness on one hand and time travel on the other are also well thought out. The approach taken with time travel follows a self-consistent timeline, but also presents some bootstrap/predestination paradoxes that can make your head spin. The story revolves around two characters, Saskia and David, but as a reader you won't learn much about what makes them tick besides what is absolutely necessary. Even after the end of the book, there is lots of mystery surrounding Saskia, but it does not feel like a trick to sell you the next book (although you will probably want to buy it).The style of writing might be unusual for some due to short sentences, few embellishments and a lopsided focus on action rather than descriptions and background. Apparently, there was a bad review about this somewhere, but, personally, I did not find it distracting.Note: I received this book free from a giveaway.
    • 5/5
      Deja Vu was a compelling read. The story is fast-paced and while some parts are predictable, the writing is easy to follow and very engaging. I wasn't sure about reading a "techno thriller" even though I usually read cyberpunk literature, but Deja Vu was definitely a fun read.And, I would definitely read more by Ian Hocking. His style of writing made for a very enjoyable and quick read.
    • 4/5
      Very fast paced techno-thriller with enough twists and turns that you cannot put it down. Sometimes there is so much action, you have a hard time keeping it all straight in your mind. Quite a good read for the thrill junky.
    • 4/5
      I received this book for free in return for an honest review.This book was fast paced, action packed and had enough mystery to keep me guessing right up until the very last word was printed. The characters were well developed and the story itself had enough complexity to keep your mind active throughout the whole book. I must admit, it has a very Dan Brown feel to it, but moves at what I feel to be a much quicker pace.Whilst the technology described in this book is advanced, I do believe it is quite plausible that they could be in existence and I would definitely recommend this book to my friends!
    • 5/5
      While searching for new books to read in another of my sporadic sci-fi phases, I downloaded two random titles on Kindle - the first, recently reviewed, was promising but failed to inspire, and the second was Ian Hocking's Deja Vu. Talk about hit and miss - what a difference! I sailed through Hocking's intelligent, smoothly written mindboggler of a futuristic mystery in a day, but not because the story was short or simplistic - I simply couldn't stop myself. The first chapter tied my brain in a knot, and I was hooked from there. Also, the heroine, Saskia Brandt, is far more complex than most of the tortured, ass-kicking loners that I usually encounter in cyberpunk/dystopian future novels - granted, she ticks all those boxes, but with another persona lurking beneath the surface.I think the best summary of the plot is this: if you are one of those people who cannot comprehend the time travel paradox in Terminator ('Who is John Connor's real father?'), then Ian Hocking's novel will give you a headache. I found the cyclical circumstances and overlapping timelines absolutely fascinating, but most of all, I connected straight away with the characters: Saskia, the German Nikita-esque agent, David Proctor, the English scientist she is sent to locate, droll northern detective 'Scotty' Jago - even David's artificially intelligent computer, Ego (great name). Hocking's writing is a clever fusion of ordinary observations and futuristic detail, beautifully described and instantly believable, and the story expertly paced. Between Saskia's unsettling introduction in the first chapter and the final race against time, the tension builds steadily, without skimping on narrative detail. Truly an entertaining and satisfying read.I am slowly becoming a devotee of British sci-fi - I just wish new authors were easier to 'discover'! Author Ian Hocking bemoans his frustrating writing career in an excerpt from his blog, resenting the fact that his novels - Deja Vu and the sequel Flashback plus two others - were left in limbo with his agent while other, 'lesser' stories hit the shelves, until he discovered self-publishing with Amazon on Kindle. I can understand his frustration - this well-written, thoughtful, homegrown book definitely deserves to be wider known.
    • 3/5
      Déjà Vu is a novel with a twist, it is more along the sci-fi genre that I do not normally read. At times reading it I felt like it was a little too over my head, and it would suit my husbands reading habits more so than my own. You have a thriller, time traveling, crime, with some computer thrown into the mix. He has created a world that is different than any other I have read.
    • 4/5
      Saskia Brandt works in a toxic office environment.Called back from vacation, she soon finds a dead woman in the fridge with herself as the prime suspect. Ultimately, she discovers she did kill the woman, her memories of that vacation are fake, and her boss regards her as his personal property and exerts a creepy control over her very will. “Your arm is my arm”, he tells her and lays out some rules to avoid execution: she’s not to leave the European Union, try to discover her true past, reveal her nature to anyone, or refuse anything he wants to put in her head.After a similarly situated agent covertly reveals some of her nature – including an enigmatic reference to her arrest as the “Angel of Death”, Saskia is sent to track down the story’s other viewpoint character, scientist David Proctor. He’s returned to the ruins of a lab he’s suspected of sabotaging when he worked there 20 years ago.And thus begins a lean, efficient, suspenseful story that is a chase thriller, a time travel paradox story braiding the worlds of 2003 and 2023 together, and a rumination on free will and the nature of identity. Saskia, we shortly find out, has an artificial personality overlaid onto her original brain. She may be an agent for the Federal Office of Investigation but she intuitively accesses all sort of esoteric knowledge and combat skills that may belong to a past life.But Saskia is no typical, implausible warrior babe. Understandably puzzled and aghast at “her” life at times, and, of course, deeply troubled by the puzzle of her past and identity, she has moments of clarity and suicidal despair, fights to make moral choices after the very notion of her self has been violated.My only complaint with this novel is that, at times, the dialogue was a bit too arch and lean. Otherwise, I thought it a clever mix of scientific and philosophical speculation with nonstop action. Sure, I thought of other authors who have worked classic time travel stories but none with a character like Saskia.
    • 3/5
      “It is 2023. Scientist David Proctor is running for his life. On his trail is Saskia Brandt, a detective with the European FIB. She has questions. Questions about a bomb that exploded back in 2003. But someone is hunting her too. The clues are in the shattered memories of her previous life."Déjà Vu is Ian Hocking's first novel as well as volume 1 of his Saskia Brandt series. First published as a paperback by the UKA Press in 2005, it just came out in 4 eBook editions, one per novel plus a 3-in-1 omnibus edition. It's a complex tale of time travel, artificial intelligences and uploaded personalities which almost, but doesn't quite, come together for me. I like the way that Hocking handles the paradoxes inherent in his tropes and found his characters to be both believable and compelling. Now that he has his foundations laid, I rather hope the other books complete their main stories instead of leaving it all hanging as this one did.For all that, it's a fast paced excellent read somewhat reminiscent of Gibson's cyberpunk genre. And a bool I read in a single sitting — not that it's short, just that I couldn't put it down. Which for book lovers is an indication of the quality of the read. Recommended.