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Dare to Know by James Kennedy is a 304-page sci-fi novel set in the near future, a future where anyone can know their exact time of death down to the second, if they have the money to pay. Our narrator is the most talented salesperson at Dare to Know, the first company to offer this service. During its heyday, the narrator was highly valuable and had a great life with his wife and two sons. Now, other companies have popped up to undercut Dare to Know, with less accuracy of course, but working for Dare to Know is no longer as lucrative as it used to be.
Now, divorced, estranged from his sons, and broke, he’s driven to break the one cardinal rule of the business: never look up your own death day. His prediction: he should’ve been dead 23 minutes ago. The only person who can confirm its accuracy is Julia, the woman he loved and lost during his rise with Dare to Know. He must travel across the country to see her and must confront his past and the choices he’s made along the way.
I absolutely loved reading this book, although there were definitely some confusing moments. A lot is happening, especially at the ending. I would also maybe mark this as a dystopian novel as well, because it does get a little dark. Also, the idea that a company can predict your exact time of death and is selling that information for millions of dollars seems pretty dystopian to me.
Overall, it was a very interesting read and was not at all what I expected, in a good way. This book slowly descends into chaos, and at the end I didn’t know what was really happening in the story. I was very surprised with the ending; it seemed very trippy. I have a theory that the narrator was having a psychotic episode and he’s an unreliable narrator.
I definitely recommend reading it if you’re into sci-fi. It gave me the same vibe as Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, where it just gets crazier and more convoluted as the story progresses and different threads come together at the end. It’s also the type of book that maybe is good to reread because there is a lot going on. I’m sure I missed some things with my first read through.
Overall, I give Dare to Know 5 stars.
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