– I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review. –
To be published by St. Martin’s Press on 06 Mar 2018
Goodreads | Amazon
What if the drink you just spilled, the train you just missed, or the lottery ticket you just found was not just a random occurrence? What if it’s all part of a bigger plan? What if there’s no such thing as a chance encounter? What if there are people we don’t know determining our destiny? And what if they are even planning the fate of the world?
Enter the Coincidence Makers—Guy, Emily, and Eric—three seemingly ordinary people who work for a secret organization devoted to creating and carrying out coincidences. What the rest of the world sees as random occurrences, are, in fact, carefully orchestrated events designed to spark significant changes in the lives of their targets—scientists on the brink of breakthroughs, struggling artists starved for inspiration, loves to be, or just plain people like you and me…
When an assignment of the highest level is slipped under Guy’s door one night, he knows it will be the most difficult and dangerous coincidence he’s ever had to fulfill. But not even a coincidence maker can see how this assignment is about to change all their lives and teach them the true nature of fate, free will, and the real meaning of love.
I chose this book because…
When I was little, I was really into spy and detective stuff. My family and I visited a spy museum once, and I remember thinking, But how do the spies know which clues to pick up? What if an unsuspecting civilian accidentally dislodges/taints the clue and then the spy won’t be able to find whatever they were looking for?? (I was thinking of a situation where spies needed to correspond with each other secretly.) Basically, I was thinking about chance and coincidences. So I was immediately intrigued by this novel when I read the blurb. Also, when this novel first got on my radar, I had just finished binge-watching Nikita for the first time with my family, so I was really in the mood for a story like this.
Upon reading it…
It was hard for me to get into the story because the characters just felt like… characters. They didn’t feel real to me. I couldn’t tell what these Coincidence Makers were exactly. They weren’t quite mythical and weren’t quite human. The Coincidence Makers sort of seemed mythical because of the way they distanced themselves from humans and made humans seem so simpleminded, but the Coincidence Makers also sort of seemed human themselves in the sense that that there seemed to be an omniscient power over the Coincidence Makers that organised and delegated them in such human (and frankly, underwhelming) ways, and also in the sense that they just seemed normal in general. Furthermore, I wasn’t convinced by their methods of coincidence making and I felt like it was all based on pseudo-psychology, whereas I was more looking forward to reading hardcore specifics about how these coincidences were orchestrated.
I was also confused about who the main characters were for awhile when I first started the novel, because the storylines were disjoint in the beginning; they felt like they were supposed to be connected, but they didn’t go anywhere (at least not in the near future), so I was confused and I didn’t feel any suspense leading up to the great reveal, except for knowing that there was going to be great reveal, which I knew there would be because everyone on Goodreads mentioned in their reviews how everything came together in the end (without revealing any spoilers). And they were right-ish. Everything came together and happened in one chapter towards the end of the novel. For most, this great reveal made the slow pace meaningful. But for me, I was almost a little annoyed; it felt like everything that happened before the great reveal was just a placeholder for that moment, especially since I didn’t feel any suspense leading up to that moment. It’s kinda like how I felt about seasons 2 and 3 of How to Get Away With Murder (I didn’t watch any further; actually I didn’t even get through season 3), in which nothing seemed to happen all season, and then BAM it all happened in the finale. It makes stories feel drawn out.
All that said, I appreciate the concept of this novel though! I was getting a little bit of Now You See Me (2013), a little bit of Sundays at Tiffany’s by James Patterson, a little bit of Looking for Alaska by John Green, and a little bit of Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell—Now You See Me for the illusionists who plan for weeks leading up to the big show/coincidence, Sundays at Tiffany’s for that mystical and romantic touch, Looking for Alaska for that skewed idea of love, and Cloud Atlas for how seemingly unconnected things cumulate to reveal the main event. The Coincidence Makers is much easier to read than Cloud Atlas though haha. If you’re intrigued by the concept of this novel, I would say to give it a try for yourself and see if the writing style is for you! It’s an easy enough read. Also, the majority of reviews on Goodreads are super positive, so it’s definitely worth a shot! I think I just set my expectations too high; the plot really did seem right up my alley! If you’re just looking for a light read, rather than, say, to enlighten you about your childhood musings about spies, this one is solid.
(highlight to reveal spoilers and more opinions… just needa get some things off my chest)
Yo the part where Guy and Emily got together tho. And then Guy basically dumped her (I mean, as far as you can dump someone when you’ve hardly been with them). Aren’t coincidences supposed to bring out something already there? So shouldn’t the orchestrated coincidence only have revealed a feeling (Guy’s feelings) already there? And once that was realised, whether or not it was orchestrated, it uncovered a truth (of Guy’s feelings). So how does it make sense that he reverted right back once he found out the coincidences were orchestrated? Unless he’s that blinded by his “love.” In which case, I’m over it!! I was getting some major Looking for Alaska vibes and frustrations. Don’t waste time with a guy like that man.
Also Emily quit because of a boy?? Dumb. Maybe if I felt more connected to her beforehand, if I knew more about her, and not necessarily about the things that happened in her past, but at least about her tensions and feelings, then maybe I would have been able to sympathise.
★★★☆☆
Every now has a before.
Just like that, in a second, everything changed? Life was not supposed to treat you this way. Life was supposed to slowly bring you the tidings, good or bad. It shouldn’t throw stones into your pond and point to the circles disturbing the water’s tranquility with a malicious smile.
She smiled. It’s a good smile. That is, a smile is good in general, right?
One must not, simply must not, try to define people in a single word. People are too complex. Falling into the trap of adjectives is the first stage of distorting your perception of the person for whom you are making a coincidence. Words are always small traps of definition, but adjectives are especially dangerous, like swamps.
How beautiful it was to sit opposite a tree swaying in the wind, with a cup of coffee and croissant in hand, with a past, and with a future, and with a present.
Ohhh, that need to see him happy about little things. The uncontrollable need to give yourself to someone just to know that you were capable of illuminating something within him.
He doesn’t believe in the perfect woman, but is unwilling to accept anyone but her. He’s a real romantic who doesn’t expect love to exist in the world.
People treated love like something you “believed” in, as if it were a religion. And in this religion, you accepted the belief that somewhere there was a sort of cosmic connection between people that was different in essence from any other type of connection, and that in the framework of this connection you devoted yourself to worshipping someone else.
People wanted to convince themselves that they feel. Recognition of the fact that this was nothing but a chemical reaction, a small electric surge among neurons, made them feel too mechanical somehow.
She was in unfamiliar territory, in which the color of the air was a bit different and light traveled at a different speed.
He had met her when he was still a young entrepreneur full of ambition, when he still went to conferences for the lectures, and not only to be seen. When his ideas were the thing that motivated him and not the inertia of accomplishments.
Someday, in the future, someone will tell you all sorts of stories about what love is. Don’t believe what they tell you. Love is not a boom, it’s not explosions and effects. It’s not fireworks in the sky or a plane flying by with a large banner. It’s slowly poured under your skin, quietly, without you even noticing, like anointing oil. You just feel a type of warmth, and one day you wake up and discover that under your skin you are wrapped with someone else.
A new love is never created all at once. This you already know. It happens slowly, step by step, one drop after another.
Not everything you do has to be dramatic, like landing on the moon. Small and ordinary actions are also important.
Love demands change. Love demands work. Love isn’t a piece of candy you get for being a good boy so you have something that makes you feel good. It’s hard work. The hardest in the world.
When the right person is beside you, you feel a sense of belonging anywhere.
No one wanted to imagine me as I am, and I didn’t understand why. I’m not enough?
Love derives from friction between two people. Like matches, like an ice skate, like falling stars that light up when they scratch the air, we need friction in order for something to happen in our lives.
There are two types of people in the world: those who see in every choice the possibility to gain something, and those who see in every choice the concession they need to make.
There is always a difference between checking the possibilities and mapping the obstacles.
The difference is simple: happy people look at their lives and see a series of choices. Miserable people see only a series of sacrifices. Before every action you take when making a coincidence, you must confirm which type of person you’re working with—the hopeful or the fearful. They look similar. They are not.
Time is a space, not a line.