This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Merge will be released on November 11, 2025.
Over the last couple years of reading, it’s become very clear to me that I enjoy stories that play with memory in unusual ways. So even though Grace Walker’s debut novel comes from a litfic imprint instead of my usual genre publishers, I saw that it touched on Alzheimer’s and an experimental technology to merge minds and immediately requested a copy of The Merge.
The Merge takes place in a dystopian future UK where environmental concerns have spurred the development of technology by which two people can be merged together into one body with a blended mind. As overpopulation fears rise, so does the pressure to use the Merge to cut one’s environmental footprint in half, with heavy taxes levied on the unmerged that get even heavier if they choose to have a child. The novel is split into two parts, focusing on a trial designed to test merging as a treatment of various physical and mental ailments. The perspective alternates between a mother and daughter undergoing the trial, with the former suffering through the early stages of Alzheimer’s, unable to rely on her own memory, and the latter an anti-Merge activist forced to reevaluate her ideals in light of her mother’s illness.
The first half of the story mostly consists of exploration, as both lead characters try to get as much information as they can about the procedure. Is something untoward happening behind closed doors? Are people being coerced to merge? What becomes of the individual identities after the procedure? Can it truly make good on the promise to cure Alzheimer’s? This segment introduces a handful of other pairs undergoing the trial in the midst of addiction, pregnancy, or even cancer, with a host of different hopes and fears about the end of their solitary life and the beginning of their merged existence.
These secondary characters bring diversity and texture to a narrative that could’ve easily developed a sort of tunnel-vision, with the leads’ questions blocking out external details. But while the leads want to build connections and camaraderie among their cohort, the biggest story-driver in the novel’s first half is their quest to know their own minds. Neither is exactly certain about how the other feels going into the procedure—with both leads having a history of skepticism—and one of the two cannot even be certain of her own mind. Certainly, there’s some degree of investigation going on, but The Merge opens primarily as a story about the yearning to truly know oneself and one’s family when neither is as easy as it once was.
The family story has plenty of narrative punch, with inescapable worry that one party will fail to remember important developments and the looming specter of the Merge lending an immediacy to what could’ve otherwise become a meandering, literary tale. But while that family tale never really goes away, the second half takes on much more the guise of the dystopian thriller. This isn’t necessarily surprising—I can easily recall at least three instances in the last year where I wrote a review complaining that an intriguing start had devolved into a thriller in the back half—but it’s something I’d expect to really sully my enjoyment of the book.
And The Merge indeed has a couple thriller elements that I don’t much care for and kept me from falling in love as thoroughly as I otherwise could’ve. But even if there are a couple flaws, the shift in pacing and plotting are largely successful, paying off the threads introduced in the first half while adding a frantic intensity that makes it difficult to put down. Part of that stems simply from the thriller elements being set up wonderfully. The slower-paced opening half gives the reader time to invest in both primary and secondary characters, and the back half makes full use of those attachments. But the real show-stopper here is again the memory loss. It may not be an unusual plot device in science fiction, but it’s rarely so effective in creating such a thrilling atmosphere. One lead’s unreliable memory becomes increasingly distressing as the book progresses, creating a claustrophobic atmosphere in which she feels boxed in not only by external events, but also by her own mind. This only compounds the plot-related tension as the novel nears its climax, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat for the whole of the back half.
But while The Merge may be thrilling from a plot perspective, it’s no slouch from a thematic perspective either. The focus on overpopulation threw me a bit—it’s certainly well-represented in dystopian science fiction, especially older works, but I hear more fears about falling fertility than overpopulation these days—but once you accept the novel’s underlying concerns, it lays out a world that’s terrifyingly plausible. Perhaps merge technology is unrealistic, but the way that social and financial pressure is applied to coerce people into life-changing decisions while maintaining the illusion of free choice? That’s all too real.
I promised some thriller complaints, and they mostly come into play in the ending. Make no mistake, it’s a finish that’s gripping and emotionally satisfying, paying off major plot arcs and justifying the reader’s investment. But it also leaves a lot unexplained, and some questions regarding how exactly the climactic state of affairs has come about linger even after the book ends. That claustrophobic perspective I praised so highly generally keeps the big questions from breaking immersion during the read itself, but they do create some mixed feelings on reflection. There’s a lot that’s fantastic here, but I’m not sure every aspect would survive spending too much time thinking about it.
Still, the parts that are fantastic carry the book a long way. The characterization is excellent, the world is chillingly real, the plot is thrilling, and the older lead’s memory loss is utilized wonderfully to build tension and lead into the speculative element. As a debut novel, it’s extremely promising. As a novel, full stop, it’s still one of my favorites of the year.
Recommended if you like: (adult) dystopian thrillers, complicated family dynamics, dementia stories.
Can I use it for Bingo? It’s hard mode for Published in 2025 and Parent Protagonist. It’s also a Book in Parts.
Overall rating: 17 of Tar Vol’s 20. Five stars on Goodreads.