The Passage by Justin Cronin

Part Inception, part Interstellar and part Matrix is the best way to describe this novel. This mysterious book defies categorization. But it definitely sent me on a wild ride as a reader.

The dwellers of a futuristic archipelago reside on one of three islands: Prospera, the Annex or the Nursery. Prospera is for the well-to-do and for the creative types such as artists and musicians. They only live as long as their implanted monitor reads their vitals above 10% and then they're ferried off to the Nursery, where they're "retired" and may come back as a new "iteration". No one on Prospera can have babies but they can apply to become a "ward" and obtain a child to raise starting from the age of sixteen. The Annex is for Support Staff who are born in the old-fashioned manner. For them there are no do-overs. Little is known about the Nursery OR about the world outside of the islands other than that Earth has gone through what is vaguely described as "the Horrors".

Proctor Bennett was an iteration that came to live with his guardians at the age of sixteen, as is custom. As an adult his job is to be The Ferryman. Proctor is content in his prestigious role but bits of previous iterations float to the surface (he has learned) and take the form of nighttime disturbances, which Proctor has struggled with his whole life. When he is tasked to ferry his elderly father to The Nursery and his father panics and goes running, he says, "You're not you. The world is not the world." The man also utters one single word which propels Proctor toward learning the truth: Oronias. Proctor learns that the word is related to the name of a Greek god of the sky or heavens.

Unrest is growing in the Annex. A group of malcontents has organized themselves into a clandestine movement called Arrivalism. Facing the daunting Facsimiles (robots) and Watchmen whose job is to keep order on the islands at all costs, Proctor and a handful of rebels are ready to take on reality as they know it. They're ready to overthrow the elite class of Prospera and learn the truth.

Complicated and reminiscent of the Tipping Point theory, the characters uncover the terrifying truth as I tried to keep up and also to tell myself that this could never happen in real life. Chilling!