Kojima finished reading Eric Heisserer’s “Simultaneous” during the flight. He explained that the novel begins with reincarnation and past-life regression before becoming intertwined with a series of murders, and identified its distinctive concept of “simultaneous lives,” in which multiple people in the same generation share a single soul. He said the novel is driven less by its lore or world-building than by its cinematic, Nolan-esque narrative momentum, and also feels cinematic because the threat of an unknown serial killer is confronted by an investigator, a counselor, and an ordinary patient rather than by a vast government conspiracy or institution.
“Finished reading “Simultaneous” by Eric Heisserer during the flight. This is the debut novel by the screenwriter best known for films such as “Arrival (2016).” The story begins with reincarnation and past-life regression, then becomes intertwined with a series of murders. Pursuing an even more sinister serial killer is an investigator from the Department of Homeland Security’s Predictive Analytics Unit, giving the novel plenty of “The X-Files”-style appeal as a science-fiction thriller. What makes the book unique is its concept of “simultaneous lives”: rather than focusing on past or future incarnations, it imagines multiple people sharing the same soul while existing in the same generation. The novel is driven less by its lore or world-building, but rather by its cinematic, Nolan-esque narrative momentum. It also feels cinematic in the way the threat of an unknown serial killer is confronted—not by a vast government conspiracy or institution, but by an investigator, a counselor, and an ordinary patient who find themselves drawn into the fight.”