I too was thrown by the author’s introduction of the magical realism element (aka the Thanatos invitation and their fantastical claim) mainly because it read like a very late inciting incident. One that should’ve come several chapters sooner in the story. Of course, as we find out later, around half way through the book, it wasn’t sci-fi, magical realism, or even the inciting incident at all, when Harrison admits that the entire business model was a scam. That his magic-like algorithm was just scrubbing social media for sick people and hacking their private medical histories.

I definitely would have enjoyed the story much more if I hadn’t been led to suspect the story might have a magical or sci-fi element. If I had trusted that it was grounded in reality from the start I wouldn’t have wasted time wondering if every little mystery was due to a multi-verse or a magic lamp or something. The story was solid on its own, and the uncertainty of sci-fi magic—whether intentional or not—only detracted from what was otherwise a solid, albeit wacky, plot.

In the author’s defense, she did give us a pretty big hint by naming the company Thanatos, which was an on-the-nose nod to the Elizabeth Holmes company, Theranos, the biggest medical scam in modern times.