The Merge by Grace Walker

 

The Merge by Grace Walker.

Published 6th November 2025 by Magpie.

From the cover of the book:

Once the process begins, there can be no going back, we will always be together…

Laurie is sixty-five and living with Alzheimer’s. Her daughter Amelia can’t bear to see her mother’s mind fade. Faced with the reality of losing her forever, Amelia signs them up to take part in the world’s first experimental merging process for Alzheimer’s patients, in which Laurie’s ailing mind will be transferred into Amelia’s healthy body and their consciousness will be blended as one.

Soon Amelia and Laurie join a group of other merge participants: teenage Lucas, who plans to merge with his terminally ill brother Noah; Ben, who will merge with his pregnant fiancée Annie; and Jay, whose merging partner is his unwilling addict daughter Lara.

As they prepare to move to The Village, a luxurious rehabilitation centre for those who have merged, they quickly begin to question whether everything is really as it seems.

**********

Sixty-five year old Laurie is learning to live with Alzheimer's, but her daughter, Amelia, is finding it impossible to face the thought of losing her mother to the disease. For Amelia there is only one answer: signing up to an experimental procedure called the Merge, where their consciousnesses will be combined inside one living body - even though this has yet to be tried on anyone suffering from Alzheimer's.

In order to undergo the procedure, Amelia and Laurie must enter into a period of adjustment alongside other potential Combines to ensure they are compatible for merging. Soon, they are learning to accept exactly what this ground-breaking method will mean for them both, and their fellow candidates - teenager Lucas, who hopes to save his terminally ill brother, Noah: Ben, who plans to merge with his pregnant fiancée Annie: and Jay, who is desperate to help his daughter, Lara, conquer her addiction.

But as the group prepare to head for The Village, where the recently merged recover, they begin to question if this is really the solution they are looking for...

I am always searching for a speculative novel that hits the perfect unsettling 'Ira Levin' spot, and I am delighted to tell you that Grace Walker's chilling debut, The Merge, definitely makes the cut! 

Against a deliciously Dystopian, near future settling, where humankind is reaping the toll of its consumerist folly, Walker spins a tale with a highly original premise, where the answer lies in halving the burden upon the world by combining the minds of two people in one body. Sold on the notion of sacrifice for the greater good (and the privileges that come with life as a Combine), the process of merging is taking off - although there are many who are fundamentally, and loudly, opposed to the idea, including those close to Amelia and Laurie.

However, with Laurie's Alzheimer's taking hold, and the promise that merging can also cure what ails you by blending you with another's healthy body, Amelia is convinced this is the only way to save her nearest and dearest from fading away. And she is not the only one. However, the induction process throws up a lot of unnerving questions for the candidates, which Walker uses beautifully to gradually settling an icy chill in the pit of your stomach about what they are getting themselves in to.

The first part of the story flips back and forth between Laurie and Amelia, before heading to disturbing scenes at The Village, and Walker pulls you gently into the subversive layers of her plot through oodles of lovely emotional content, rich in insightful explorations of dementia, memory, and loss. You find yourself revelling in a story full of themes about complex dynamics around parent-child, sibling, and romantic relationships that the sudden shift towards full-on speculative drama almost takes you by (very pleasant) surprise. The twists are fabulous, with absolutely first-class writing from Walker in every respect!

The pace is very much sophisticated slow-burn for most of the novel, rather than relentless thrills, but the accomplished build-up is so worth it when the pay-off arrives. This is easily one of my books for 2025, and I am salivating at the prospect of the sequel which I am certain is on the horizon.

The Merge is available to buy now in paperback and ebook formats.

Thank you to Magpie for sending me a copy of this book in return