Unforgettable

Stone’s debut is a neat little high-tech thriller that doesn’t quite live up to its title. Nat Morgan is a CIA agent with a unique gift (or curse): he doesn’t register on his environment. People forget him after a minute, and computers and cameras don’t record his presence. He gets involved with beautiful Russian ex-spy Yelena on an apparently simple mission, and she leads Nat into increasingly complicated adventures. The two of them aid a defecting Iranian physicist in stopping the activation of a self-aware quantum supercomputer, the Prophet, that would not only be able to monitor all possible events but could control the future. Most of the book’s fun is in watching Nat figure out how to use his “talent”—how, for example, did he get the CIA to notice him in the first place? He’s an ingenious and sympathetic hero who earns readers’ goodwill and expectations for a strong ongoing series. (Jan.)