Five Minds is an astonishingly unique and high-intensity speculative sci-fi thriller that is a must-read if you want to experience something completely new. The best way to describe this book is to say that reading it feels like playing a video game. I felt like I was in this body with these five minds, with my movements being controlled by a higher power and a series of trials forced upon me to make it through the day. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting as it’s definitely more action/sci-fi than psychological. I was hoping there would be more insight into the mental state of these characters and the differences between the five minds, but it is more about their actions and motivations and trials they must face to keep adding lives to their expiry date. Of course, you do get a great insight into these character’s minds at the same time, as Morpuss does a fantastic job of giving these five characters distinctive personalities, all while sharing the same body and appearance. But the book is much more about the world that Morpuss has created and the path these characters must take to survive it. Although this isn’t my typical genre, I do love a dystopian setting and Morpuss’ creation is absolutely brilliant. I was worried that it would take a while for me to understand the concept and get to know the characters, but this all happens very quickly which is unusual for any book, let alone one so original and complex. As a debut novel, this is an outstanding effort by Morpuss. I haven’t experienced a book like this before but I most definitely had a lot of fun navigating this new world. I look forward to seeing where Morpuss will take us next.

Speculative fiction with a cracking, cleverly woven mystery to boot! Who could resist? Not me, that's for sure. I haven't dabbled in a lot of speculative fiction in the past but what I had read has been delightfully mind-bending and from the masters of the genre. Five Minds is no exception. Five Minds proves that Morpuss is up there with the greats. As my daughter would say...Mind. Blown In a bid to reduce the ever-growing population of the earth, measures are put in place where at 17 years old you need to decide how you're going to live the rest of your life. But also, when you're going to die. The choices are simple: become a hedonist, play hard and die young at 41-42. Become a worker, work all of your life and drop down dead of exhaustion...at some point. Become an android, have your mind moved to an artificial body and die around 79-80. Or, the least popular option of all, become part of a commune. Five minds in one body, each taking 4 hours of the day as their own. Chose a host and then, 25 years later, chose another. But live for 141-142 years. That's the decision Kate, Alex, Sierra, Mike and Ben make. From the moment they meet, it's clear there are tensions amongst the group. When Kate makes a risky decision without consulting the others, strange things start to happen and one of the five disappears. Is someone out to kill the commune, or is the threat much closer to home...? There are so many things to love about Five Minds. The author has set the action in a 'death park'. The dark and dingy death parks are where the desperate gather to earn a few more years by eliminating (permanently) their competitor/s in a game of skill, strength or smarts. I loved the setting. It felt grubby and somewhere only those at the end of their tether go in a last ditch attempt to survive just a little bit longer (only to be killed in their first game!). The characters, despite sharing the one body, all stand tall from the page. I was concerned, at points, that it may get a little confusing but that's not the case at all. Kate was my favourite of the 'minds'. She seemed to have her head screwed on (lol!) and be the driving force, which I liked. I also really liked Sierra for her dark and dangerous edge. I shouldn't. She's a terrible person who does some pretty heinous, unforgivable things but I liked the juxtaposition between her and Kate. I felt they were opposite ends of the spectrum. Five Minds is very easy to read, either in one sitting or over the course of several. All I know is that I was always keen to return to this strange and inventive world. Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. Five Minds is like nothing I have read before and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment I spent with it. Cleverly plotted and beautifully thought out. The author's imagination is clearly off the scale and I loved being part of this strange, new world. A pacey, intelligent story with a clever, twisty mystery at its heart. Effortlessly crossing genres, this speculative fiction murder mystery is a must read! I look forward to reading more genre-bending fiction from Mr Morpuss in the future. Recommended.

Five Minds by Guy Morpuss is his debut novel and what a debut it is!! The book takes a fresh view on a not so far dystopian future where we have depleted the planets resources and those coming of age at 17 year olds have a difficult decision to make in relation to their future lifestyle and subsequent life-span. Our MC’s make the choice to become a Commune where five minds are transposed into one body and you live for 142 years, but each person only gets to live for 4 hours each day. Mix into this a murder mystery within this commune and you have a very entertaining read. Guy’s writing style is very captivating and he develops each character exceptionally. He also adds in the concept of ‘Death Parks’ where you have the ability to extend and unfortunately shorten your lifespan depending on the outcome of the challenges presented in death games (think ‘The Running Man’). This is where the story between the 5 characters unfolds, as does the murder mystery. The story runs at a million miles an hour where you just don’t want it to stop. Each revelation changes your direction of thought until the explosive ending. This book packs in all the action you want and need from a sci-fi thriller. This is one of my favourite reads so far this year as it ticks every box: ✓ Innovative dystopian concept ✓ Science Fiction ✓ Edge of your seat thriller ✓ A murder mystery which has you guessing right until the very last pages Read this as soon as you can, you will not regret it! I cannot wait until this author publishes his next book…I can see him scaling my favourite authors list very quickly.

Five Minds is sci-fi, fiction, murder mystery / dystopian novel set in a disturbing future. Having so many elements in one, it reads very well. Very strong 5 stars. From the beginning you can really enjoy the plot and I can not wait for the next book of Guy Morpuss.

Talk about mind-blowing! I’m not usually a fan of speculative fiction but of course I love a good murder mystery. Could Guy Morpuss reel me in to his dystopian futuristic book? from the beginning I was captivated. The narrative drew me into Guy Morpuss’ game playing futuristic world where the prize is time on your life – or in this case lives, and the penalty for losing is death. We are in a future, not too far away, where having woken up to the destruction that we have wrought on the planet, we have come up with a novel idea to address the conservation of future resources. Flying is out for all but billionaires, but the most radical implementation has come in the way that we live our lives. The solution is a novel take on population control. Every child lives their life as normal until the age of 17 and thereafter they are required to choose what option they want going forward. Which option you choose dictates how long you will live – with shorter lives having added incentives. Five Minds is the story of five people who have been selected to share one body as a commune – parcelling out the hours between themselves so each gets 4 hours a day and there is 4 hours downtime. After 25 years the worn out body can be exchanged for another. The commune personalities are chosen to work together. No individual has a say in who is part of their commune. It is possible to add time to a life, but the way to do this is risky. There are Death Parks where participants compete against each other to win added time, but the penalties for losing are severe, so it really is a last resort unless you are a born gambler. These competitions are really tricky puzzles involving VR simulations and I really got caught up in the quests and adventures that our challengers became embroiled in. Kate, Alex, Sierra, Ben and Mike share a body. They have very different personalities and enjoy different activities. They have chosen their parcel of time to best reflect their interests. Each has a distinctive voice and a unique personality; it is simply that they share a body – which makes it interesting when it comes to relationship forming! What makes this work is the level of detail that draws you into this high concept world. It is wholly believable and so skilfully done that it is not hard to accept the concept from the outset. Morpuss creates a world full of flawed and believable characters where it seems not at all unusual that five of them should be sharing a body. They communicate by leaving messages for each other and need to act in concert on big decisions. When one of the commune disappears, the others try to find out what has happened to that person, only to be hampered by the fact that they have no ‘collective memory’. Not all of the 5 commune members like each other, either and there is tension between them which is exacerbated by some rogue behaviour on the part of one member. When it becomes clear that someone is targeting the commune, they have to try and work out who that might be and why, and this forms the crux of this novel which left my head spinning and my mind blown. Verdict: Five Minds is innovative, daring and not a little mind-blowing, but mostly it is a brilliantly plotted and highly original crime thriller. It has pace and verve and never lets the action drag for a micro-second. All the way through I was guessing and second guessing and still my mind was well and truly bamboozled. I inhaled this one. Brilliant, intense and inspirational writing from a debut author to watch!