Flashback is my favorite Dan Simmons novel in more than a decade (since The Crook Factory).

It is set in a dystopic near-future, and the characters blame the U.S.'s fictional collapse on poor policies by Obama. This is a political view I hope I will never share, and I attribute it to the bleak fictional setting rather than to Simmons himself, in contrast to many of the reviewers on Amazon. But really, the interesting gambit here is the invention of a cheap drug called flashback that allows many Americans to live entirely in the past by re-experiencing high-fidelity memories of their choosing. The protagonist is a seemingly hopeless flashback addict, who must overcome his addiction to solve a set of murders and reunite with his son. It turns into a thriller where he gradually realizes that he is a pawn in a larger game and needs to find a way out.

Simmons is always worth reading, and this is the best combination of readable and compelling that he's achieved in a long time.