Consider me confused. The book starts with a thrown race, and our hero investigates and spies on a man making bets. He figures out the man is making mConsider me confused. The book starts with a thrown race, and our hero investigates and spies on a man making bets. He figures out the man is making money through nefarious methods, which are explained in some level of detail. And then, the book goes off in a different direction, as if this first big mystery, which is left unsolved, was just to introduce some characters. The Francis method involves mixing plots involving horse racing with other well-researched topics. In the past that included glass blowing, computer hackers, the veterinarian business, and more. This one had that horse racing bit at the beginning, but pretty much left it behind for some focus on, where I to take a guess, international tax theft, the use of Google to search the internet, and, in general, the Cayman Islands, where, it is explained in the book, there is no horse racing. The horse racing content was sadly lacking beyond the first third of the book, and really made no sense anyway.
Another of what I'd call the Francis formula is to put your protagonist through torturous pain, repeatedly, and with descriptions that cause even the most ardent crime fiction readers to wince in solidarity. I don't think Felix quite has the skill here that his Dad had. Close, and will likely match it soon, but a smidge too clinical here.
So although I found the plot disconcerting, I find promise in the hero-torture. Boy, that doesn't sound right!...more
I can't say I got much out of this. I kept hearing that sometimes you are in a valley and sometimes you are on a peak, and peaks are better places to I can't say I got much out of this. I kept hearing that sometimes you are in a valley and sometimes you are on a peak, and peaks are better places to be. You want to get to peaks more often, but understand you might end up in a valley sometimes. Seemed kind of inane, or at least over simple. This was a very short audiobook, but it was stretched by adding some questions and answers by the author. And it was still short....more
Watching yourself slide down a slope, knowing it's happening, and feeling you can do nothing about it. A kind of out-of-body experience. Were this wriWatching yourself slide down a slope, knowing it's happening, and feeling you can do nothing about it. A kind of out-of-body experience. Were this written today, it might be about Trump and called The Cable News Network. When you want to believe the worst, your mind can make up plenty of stories, given real and imagined inputs, to get you there......more
Seemed a bit drier than some of the earlier works. Looking forward to finishing this series off with the next one. The scalpings by the Indians continSeemed a bit drier than some of the earlier works. Looking forward to finishing this series off with the next one. The scalpings by the Indians continue. You really start to feel for the remote settlers....more
This was right up my alley. I really enjoy those realistic-ish near future speculative stories like this, and I also really like using fiction to explThis was right up my alley. I really enjoy those realistic-ish near future speculative stories like this, and I also really like using fiction to explain things. Both worked here. But, as other reviewers noted, this felt a bit off kilter. Others felt it was just not great writing. I felt it was more telling of the Chinese perspective as opposed to the American perspective we get every day. I noted that some of the characters in the story seemed more at home in a controlled economy and environment, more so than most American characters would feel in the same situations. It made me wonder if sharing that perspective was the point of the book....more
An enjoyable Harlan Ellison story, made more enjoyable by the author himself narrating and commenting at the end of the story. The story is about a loAn enjoyable Harlan Ellison story, made more enjoyable by the author himself narrating and commenting at the end of the story. The story is about a lower class addict on a doomed planet being forced into a life or death situation because he is most likely to act like a rat and try to escape. What's funny is that Ellison nails the voice of this bottom-dweller and delivers a theater-worthy performance. A very unlikely plot but made fun by the way Ellison voices the thoughts of the "little man". ...more
I tend to find that reading books more than 100 years old is difficult in following the casual pace of the style of writing. Here, no problem. Irving I tend to find that reading books more than 100 years old is difficult in following the casual pace of the style of writing. Here, no problem. Irving writes his stories and essays in an interesting manner. My favorite story was the one about the three daughters. ...more
I decided to read the Foundation novels in chronological order, and before this I read Asimov's two precursor novels about Harry Seldon. I greatly enjI decided to read the Foundation novels in chronological order, and before this I read Asimov's two precursor novels about Harry Seldon. I greatly enjoyed those books, which were just odd enough. I also liked the literary feel of those books, that felt like the writing from an Analog short story, where you had generally one deep thought and wove a whole story around it without engineering levels of meaning so prevalent in literary novels. Asimov kept that up here, by breaking the story into a few illustrative short stories. But I did miss the longer story arcs from the prequels, and I greatly missed the characters, who have "aged out" of this chronologically distant set of tales., While this one wasn't my cup of tea, it didn't scare me off of reading the next one -- I want to see what the worlds have in store. ...more
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