Identity Changes

Five years ago, Eric Moore participated in a revolutionary experiment called a Memory Transfer: he had the thoughts and experiences of another transplanted into his brain. After receiving memories from a respected neurosurgeon, Eric is able to speed his way through medical school, and has since become a well-respected brain surgeon in his own right with budding telepathic powers. Meanwhile, his mother has married the surgeon he received memories from, but their marriage has fallen into lackluster routine. Eric’s sister, Sandra, seems to have telepathic abilities of her own, and consequently has become an item of interest to Alfred Schultz, a doctor who helped with Eric’s transfer and has since begun using this technology for his own nefarious purposes. Alfred develops a fascination for the entire Moore family, but his obsession may eventually be his downfall.

The new novel Identity Changes certainly presents a unique premise. Author Joseph seems to have taken a whole bunch of common “futuristic” ideas and combined them in this novel, with a few new ideas of his own: telepathy, memory transfers, and the ability to truly live vicariously through the eyes of another. The writing style leaves something to be desired, however, and a lot of the dialogue comes across as dry and stilted, and over-explanation is abundant. Some of the subject matter may come across as disturbing to the casual reader; the author seems to have a fascination with sexual voyeurism, incest is a central issue, and one particularly disturbing scene, a gruesome gang rape and double murder, is described from three different perspectives. Additionally, the author uses his book as a platform for “getting on the soapbox” on several occasions, spending pages expounding on women’s rights, global warming, the wars in the Middle East, and more. The right reader would enjoy Identity Changes, but it’s not for everyone.