I was immediately enticed by the premise of this book, and had been meaning to pick it up for ages.

It was pretty good, but there were a lot of places it could have been better. Mostly, the format of this book couldn't get out of it's own way. While the prelude discussing the way the book had come to be was quite well written and very intriguing, the story itself fell flat under the obligation that the earlier section had foisted upon it. The narrative leaps around from a first person "journal entry" perspective, to a third person "narrator" perspective, which I found, at worst, confusing, and at best it pulled me out of the story and reminded me that I was reading a book. Additionally disappointing was the lack of resolution for the story started in that prelude. Once the novel proper starts, the author isn't mentioned again, even though he was left in rather dire straits, and I had rather gotten to like him.

There's also the fact that this kind of "journal narrative" structure is always a bit suspect for me: How do these people remember so much of what happened to them during the day, so that they can write down all of these details, including the exact wording of every conversation they had? It's a catch-22. If the author wrote the way people actually write their journal entries, the story would suck, because most people aren't novelists and authors. However, if they add more details, it kills the veracity of the gimmick. I say that the whole "Fictional Journal" thing just doesn't really work, and people should give it up, but I admit, it might be possible to do it right, and I just haven't read the right story yet.

Other than that, I thought the book was great, the premise was wonderful and the places where I wasn't being beaten over the head with the medium really worked well. I would certainly read a sequel, but with the hope that the author would pick a more tenable perspective and stick with it.