First Fiction Fridays: The Society of Experience by Matt Cahill

What: The Society of Experience (Wolsak & Wynn, 2015)Who:Matt Cahill is a Toronto-based writer and psychotherapist. He has contributed to Ryeberg, BlogTO and Torontoist and published a short thriller, Snowshoe, with Found Press in 2014. The Society of Experience was officially launched in October 2015 by Buckrider Books, an imprint of Wolsak & Wynn.Why You Need to Read This Now:What’s a frustrated writer to do when his famous-author father suddenly dies? Take part in a questionable experiment run by a shadowy organization, of course. At least, that’s what Derrick van der Lem, protagonist of The Society of Experience, does. In Matt Cahill’s astounding debut novel, an underachieving and rather aloof antihero suddenly finds himself at the centre of the action, forced to trust a beautiful stranger and confront not just the mysterious Society of Experience but also his own troubled psyche.Part mystery, part Phillip K. Dick, The Society of Experience is a haunting mind-bender. What are the Society’s true intentions for Derrick? Is time travel real, or just another of the Society’s inventions? And can Derrick piece together the mystery – and piece back together his life – in time to change his future?Matt Cahill draws a dark but richly nuanced world where redemption seems questionable and the hero undeserving, but we can’t quite help hoping it will happen anyway.* * *Thank you to Wolsak & Wynn, especially Emily, for sharing this thrilling new novel with us! If you missed it, Lisa de Nikolits interviewed Matt about his new novel and how it came to be earlier this week.Love discovering new authors? Check out all our past First Fiction Friday picks here.