This is a story based on the development of a new medical procedure that can harvest time from a donor and transfer it to another - the theory being that someone can choose to sell some of their lifespan to make money to improve their own lot at the expense of a few years, and similarly a buyer can extend their own allotted time on the Earth by purchasing a little extra.

While this may not be a new idea in the realms of fiction, this is the kind of storyline you normally come across in a book firmly in the science fiction genre. It's not a surprise then that I was expecting this to be a thriller with a hard sci-fi edge, in the Michael Crichton mould. What is surprising is that while it certainly does have echoes of Mr Crichton they are rather of the more reflective kind than he is normally associated with, and to spice things up nicely, somewhere along the way, they have also been firmly spliced onto a John Grisham legal drama - so more of a love child of the two shall we say?

How much is life worth? Should the rich be able to buy ‘life’ from the poor? In this moral, ethical, practical medical science fiction novel we’re forced to examine our own beliefs as a poor couple from Brazil sells years of their lives so those years can be bought by the richest 1% to prolong their lives. Best friends face off in this excellent moral drama.

Fast-paced scientific thriller about the moral vagaries of developing a breakthrough technology that could rocket mankind’s progress but at horrific expense to certain populations. Owen Martin delivers a very well-written book that quite believably invokes both the slums of Rio and the moneyed world of white shoe lawyers and upper society in New York; the characters have depth and the details realistic. The premise of the story - large pharma finds a way to harness longevity by extracting “time” for money from poor segments of society, and on-selling them to the rich - reminded me of a more condensed version of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park (but with human subjects), mixed with the social commentary and unrest found in Nathanael West’s The Day of the Locust. Although this is a shorter book, the characters are well developed and even the putative villain gets a sort of empathetic portrayal at the end. I was impressed by the author’s command of technical business aspects - market structure, trading conventions, patent law - and while he did not delve deeply into them, you could sense the story may be written by a current or ex-practitioner of finance or law. The story meanders into moralizing more than a few times but the author does a good job of pointing out that “wrong side” in this case can make sound, fair and compelling arguments too.

Overall, an engaging read. Thank you to NetGalley and RedDoor Books for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. I truly enjoyed it.

this book is amazing, what a subject, right won in the end. a little more detail would have been nice about the producer that was imprisoned and his family were campaigning to get him out...did they? the people involved were taking street children to these trials..were they prosecuted? was there compensation for those left with little life and illness? what happened to Gabriel and wife?

I loved the sound of this book and couldn't wait to start reading it.However it didn't really grab me ,so much so that I stopped reading it, and went and read another book that I enjoyed straight away.When I came back to read this book it still wasn't grabbing me, I didn't really like the characters they were okay but I found it all a bit slow and boring to read.and I struggled with it.I can only hope other readers enjoy it more than I did.

Fascinating!
I whizzed through this unique book
The story is based around a new ‘procedure’ that basically gives the option to sell time from your life to someone who is willing to pay for it, so, for example a very poor person in the poorest of nations would be happy to sell a set amount of their life to say a billionaire in America...and that is where the problems start, greed and non compliance of legal issues re trials
The book starts ( and quite a lot of it is based ) in the Favelas of Brazil, the raw and real descriptions of which had me there experiencing every sense and imagining how scary it would be to live your life there, we meet Gabriel and Isabella deemed to a life of poverty who are offered enough money to build a fine life, if they partake in these trials, of course they have no real idea what they are agreeing to and what side effects they may encounter....
Enter Julia Madison, a lawyer from old money, part of the 1% er’s, she goes to Brazil for a year ‘out’ to work with the people of the Favelas,what she discovers rocks her world and everyone else’s as she tells the rest of the world what is really going on
Their are political elements from very current issues in the book but not given in the preachy, high handed way they are given in some books of late ( think Brexit opinions, the environment etc ) and this together with a very easy to follow story, a real flowing writing style, easily identifiable characters and a seriously interesting idea made for a different and enjoyable read
My only moan would be a very quick ending where I would have instead liked to see more on what happened to the characters after the main event, that said it’s a great book
10/10
5 Stars