This wasn’t a book I would normally choose, but I felt like reading something different and this was definitely that. This was a sci-fi / crime mash up in a future you could almost imagine coming true. As human’s health becomes better we are all living longer. This is great for individuals but not for the state as people living longer means using more resources and something has to change. Can a time limit be put on life? If no one lives over the age of eighty the world can sustain it’s population. The flyer for a Death Park was an ingenious opener that tells you straight away the sort of world you’re entering. I felt a certain kinship with Squid Game here - not that I’ve watched much, because I don’t like watching violence. I did smile though at the terms and conditions of this park and what might happen to you inside it’s gates. This is not Alton Towers! The only way to continue living is extreme. People can choose to live as a commune - but not the sort you imagine. This is not everyone living in one space, but five separate entities living inside one of their bodies. In this case Alex, Sierra, Kate, Ben and Mike live inside Mike’s body and have co-existed for 25 years. It’s like the ultimate Big Brother, held inside one person. This idea was unique and so awful that I had to stop and think for a moment. My brain is pretty noisy as it is, and I’m only one person. How could one body cope with the constant clamour of five people? Is Mike the executive entity since everyone is living in his body or does everyone have a say? I wanted to know whether people could choose who lived inside them, to gather people whose views and outlook are aligned with yours. Or are you simply allotted a number and and assigned to a group? This was such an awful idea I was simultaneously repulsed and intrigued. How the hell had this worked for 25 years?! You could be sharing your body with someone you hate, even worse they could be a murderer. Every five years, a ‘commune’ can enter games at the Death Park. The incentive is to play a game that wins them extra time, which they can use to find a new host body if their own is wearing out. Of course the downside is that they may have their time cut short. This is where the book turns into a good, old-fashioned murder mystery. After a game, one of the commune has disappeared. But where? Are they dead? But who did it? Was it a another commune member? This could be an outside or an inside job. This is a brilliant and unique update of every murder mystery where several characters are marooned and slowly picked off one by one. Except here they’re all inside one body. Who will catch the murderer and how will they search. This is a highly unique and superbly realised debut novel that leaves you thinking about your mortality. If faced with the choices these characters are what would we do? I know I couldn’t live inside a body with others, because I can barely find anyone I can bear to go on holiday with. So I’m left with living the high life but dying at 42. Or would I want to upload my mind into an artificial body - something I’ve occasionally wished for as someone with a chronic degenerative illness. This is an intelligent and original dystopian crime thriller and I was glued to every page.

Like no other book you have ever read. Very clever combination of sci if, thriller and crime. Very well written and characterised. The five separate voices are unique and there is a humour running through their contributions. Definitely deserves the description of a page turner. Very enjoyable and refreshing read.

I really loved this novel! I was hooked almost immediately, and read it in a few sittings! There's a already a lot of reviews singing the praises of this book, so I'll just add my voice to the din and say that it is truly amazing! I already can't wait to read what Guy Morpuss writes next!

Guy Morpuss delivers a powerful story that is a strange blend of crime thriller and scfi fantasy and which had me on the edge of my seat till the very end. A tantalizing glimpse into a future world where time itself has become currency and the Earth's spiraling population has finally been controlled by allowing people to share bodies and become communes. Five minds sharing one body and with each mind living for a select number of hours each day. Enter Alex, Kate, Mike, Ben and Sierra who have spent the last twenty five years sharing the same body, sometimes in harmony and sometimes bickering and locked in bitter arguments. With there current body coming to a end and in need of more time for there next life, the commune has traveled to a Death Park where years are gambled on the roll of a dice and deadly games are played all for the prize of extra time. It is here that Kate meets the mysterious Amy Bird who offers Kate and her commune a whopping extra twenty years in exchange for a simple favor that could come with a heavy price and when one of the commune disappears apparently wiped (murdered) the search begins for the remaining four minds to discover the truth. What have they got themselves into and more importantly is one of them a murderer? A compelling novel with rich characters and a tantalizing mystery, I really enjoyed this story from start to finish but would probably advertise it more as Scfi fantasy than an actual crime thriller as the science fiction elements do dominate the story. A really gripping story which had me hooked from the very beginning, clever and inventive and filled with fascinating ideas and concepts that will have even a casual reader wanting more. Brilliant and a Big thank you to the publishers for sending me a advanced copy. Here's hoping for more from the inventive Guy Morpuss.

Title - Five Minds Author - Guy Morpuss Release Date - 2021 Page Count - 310 Read Time - 8hrs Rating - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars I had heard so many wonderful things about this book so I couldn’t wait to dive right in as soon as it dropped through the door. Such high expectations and boy this book did not let me down. Guy Morpuss has weaved an intelligent and imaginative futuristic world reminiscent of Blade Runner and Ready Player One (albeit an adult version). In this world at the age of 17 people have to make a choice as to how they will live the rest of their life; workers, cyborgs, hedonist, commune or death. In this story our protagonists; Kate, Sierra, Alex, Mike, and Ben, have chosen a commune meaning that all five personalities live in the same body with a combined lifespan of 150 years. Each personality gets to live a 4 hour period each day, they can’t communicate directly with one another other than via a chat system that they can read during their awake period. When one of the group inexplicably disappears from the mind the rest are in a race against time to identify the culprit, one of them…but why and who is next. A great debut from Guy, it really does pull you in and makes you feel like you are watching the story enfold in front of you as if you are watching in on the movie screen. The intricate world will feel familiar as the author has drawn inspiration from sci fi of old but that gives it a sense of authenticity and nostalgia. Amazing, amazing, amazing - 5 stars.