Dennis Hart is a funny man. He has a style that seems to be between Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard in the witty thriller department. It can be arguedDennis Hart is a funny man. He has a style that seems to be between Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard in the witty thriller department. It can be argued that the plot in Gulf Boulevard may be slightly thin but it is still an entertaining read and it is full of pithy humor. I guess it is ostensibly a mystery but it isn't a whodunnit as much as it is a whogonnadoit. But a funny mystery it is.
So what makes Gulf Boulevard so fun? Like I said, Dennis Hart is quite clever in throwing out hilarious situations and clever repartees left and right. I mean, you gotta love a parrot that can recite every line, especially the obscene ones, from Scarface. But the crowning achievement is the character of Jason Najarian. Jason is a man after my own heart. He's a dreamer whose dream comes true. A sharp but impulsive fellow whose digs and pranks sometimes get the better of him. (Number one tip: Do not throw tomatoes at gangsters) The plot pretty much sinks or swims based on your feelings toward Jason. In my case, Jason wins the day.
It's a good premise. Jason Nazarian hits the lottery jackpot thanks to some M&Ms and moves to Florida to be a rich hermit. However it doesn't work out that way thanks to a busybody real estate agent, a hot Native-American femme fatale, a gold-digging ex-wife, and, most importantly, a mafia hit man who happens to be Jason's neighbor. And here is where the novel hits a minor snag. As good as the premise is, it meanders a bit around the middle and doesn't really pick up steam until nearly the end. Despite all the humor, I was hoping for a little more intensity.
One of my writing teachers told me that the middle makes or breaks a novel. Here, it doesn't break it. The author is too good for that to happen. But as it is obvious that Hart is a really good writer, I was hoping for one out of the ball park. However, being his first novel, there's plenty to be proud of. There is going to be a sequel( of course) so I have high hopes for Hart's next opus....more
Doing Harm is Kelly Parsons' debut novel and it is an excellent start for the physician turned writer. In fNow this is what I call a medical thriller!
Doing Harm is Kelly Parsons' debut novel and it is an excellent start for the physician turned writer. In fact I would call it the best medical thriller I've read since Robin Cook in his Coma days and that's going back a bit.
The premise involves surgeon Steve Mitchell who is seen as an excellent doctor looking forward to an outstanding future. But a bad call in judgement threatens his career. When one of his patients dies after what seems to be another bad call he starts to question the facts and finds out that someone else may be responsible. What follows is a suspenseful cat and mouse game that may destroy his career and family not to mention his life.
That's all you need to know. There are plenty of tense moments and nice surprises. One of the non-surprises is who did it. We get plenty of clues at first and find out early on who the culprit is. Yet this is not meant to be a whodunnit. The tension is in whether our hero can clear himself and expose the killer. Parsons has made his protagonist flawed but admirable and his nemesis evil but frighteningly clever. The author does an excellent job blending his medical knowledge with the action. A little pharmaceutical knowledge might be helpful to the reader but not essential as Parson explain the more technical aspects in a way that doesn't stop the flow of the novel. One of the things I find essential in a good medical thriller is that the author writes about doctors and hospitals in a realistic way and this is no problem for Parson. A realistic environment combined with edge of your seat suspense is what makes this an excellent example of the thriller sub-genre.
This book is being published in late January of 2014 so I can't call it one of the best novels of this year. But I do feel fairly safe in saying it will be a prime contender next year....more
David Schachne told me what I already knew. That anyone who would even go near Mount Everest and battle 18,000 ft elevations is either a masochist or David Schachne told me what I already knew. That anyone who would even go near Mount Everest and battle 18,000 ft elevations is either a masochist or a moron. And I say this knowing I get altitude sickness one foot over 12,000 feet above sea level. From the experiences the author had while trekking to the summit of Kala Pathar (elevation 18,192 feet), I think he would agree with me. Yet he also writes about the value of the challenge and fulfilling your dreams. That is the heart of his book. That is the part I took away from reading this entertaining story and why I found it a worthwhile read.
Schachne has a jaunty, also dark humor style in this book, which is mostly a travel diary. He has a pleasant style that looks back, to what must have been a difficult trip, with amusement and maybe just a little nostalgia. But he certainly took away any desire I had, of which there was little, to take a similar trek. I have learned more about Nepalese outhouses then I ever want to know and his depiction of food poisoning were a little too descriptive. But there are also sweet segments like his interaction with a poor but playful four year old girl oblivious to her poverty. I wish there were more scenes in the book like that.
The thing that makes this book different than others written about the same region is that it gives you a look at what the average person would experience on a commercial trek in the Himalayas. So if you are yearning to trek up a mountain in Nepal, you should read this book to get an idea what you will be up against. With a little luck, David will talk you out of it. ...more
This book is about the brain. In general, the games and tricks our mind plays on us. In specific, it is about the brain of Andrew, a coWhere to start?
This book is about the brain. In general, the games and tricks our mind plays on us. In specific, it is about the brain of Andrew, a cognitive scientist who is narrating his life to a therapist. The vehicle of the book's narrative is a dialogue running through a series of sessions. Why these sessions are taking place is not revealed until the end and even then there are many questions. Andrew is the poster boy for an unreliable narrator. From the beginning there are moments that may be his life or may be his imagination. For instance, in the beginning of the novel he speaks of of hearing voices and walking into a stranger's house. At first he seems to be unsure if it really happened. But soon he is saying it was an actual incident. The therapist keeps asking if it was a dream, not quite sure himself. This scenario plays itself over in many ways. But soon we get a narration that makes sense, at least for a while. Andrew is a brilliant but troubled man. He sees himself as being a conduit for a series of tragic incidents, starting when a hawk carried off his pet dachshund when he was eight. He partially blames his own ineptitude for these incidents yet he maintainz an uncaring attitude and a disdain for his own stoic in-humaneness.
Andrew is a hard man to like. To be frank, he comes across as an arrogant ass. But he is a person we want to understand. I do not think I ever really understood him and that may be a weakness of the story. Halfway into the novel and especially at the end, it appears more and more than some of the events are imagined. There is one event involving the White House that really came from nowhere and I couldn't help wondering if it was a fantasy, not unlike the meerkat island in Life of Pi. But like the therapist, we are never grounded in Brian's own perception of reality. But I am not sure it is fair to blame the author for being vague, especially in a novel that is about the illusions of the mind. Doctorow may have led us exactly where he wanted us. At the end, I got the distinct impression that Andrew may not have been in his final predicament for the reasons he said he is. It's that unreliable narrative thing again. That is my take but I suspect that 100 readers will have 100 different takes on the ending. Doctorow has appeared to have written a novel that is as intangible and unpredictable as our own minds.
So what to make of all this? Andrew's Brain is a fairly simple read, brief at 200 pages, and quite involving. Yet it is also somewhat perplexing and a little maddening when you think about it afterwards. Does our perceptions rely on reality or does reality rely on our perceptions? If you think that is a silly question, you need to spend a little time in Andrew's brain....more
The entire appeal of The Autobiography of Jack the Ripper is this: Is it real or is it Memorex...er...fiction? This work was purported to be discoverThe entire appeal of The Autobiography of Jack the Ripper is this: Is it real or is it Memorex...er...fiction? This work was purported to be discovered in 2008 amongst the possessions of S.G. Hulme-Beaman, a prolific writer of children tales who died in 1932. The manuscript is authored by James Carnac who professes to be the real Jack The Ripper. Conveniently there is no evidence that Jack Carnac ever existed. It may be a pseudonym for the actual Jack. The book's two commentators, Alan Hicken and Ripperologist Paul Begg leads you to believe there are two possibilities. Either it is an early work of Ripper fiction by Hulme-Beaman, the mysterious Carnac or someone else... or it is the actual autobiography of the infamous serial killer. I suggest a third option. It is a modern hoax not unlike the Hitler Diary hoax of the 1970s. The clues are there based on the fact that it reads more like a modern interpretation of serial killer psychology than an early 20th century memoir. Begg states that Carnac brings up facts that were unknown at the time it was allegedly written. Maybe so. It is more likely these two issues exist because it is a contemporary work written by a contemporary mindset. The one thing that would settle the issue of date is missing: an lab examination of the manuscript by a neutral party, mainly to determine paper and ink age. In other words, the method that bought down the Hitler Diary Hoax. Of course, my suspicions are entirely my suspicions and nothing else. But it would be exciting to see the lab rats determine that it is indeed a manuscript of the 20s. If it really is a 1920s example of Ripper fiction or Jack's actual confession, that would be really exciting.
Unfortunately, that is all that makes it exciting. Contemporary or not, The Autobiography of Jack the Ripper is not very good fiction. Much of this can be blamed on Jack himself. JR, as he is often referred to in the book, is rather boring. He is full of himself, whether he is contemplating cutting his uncle's throat, experiencing his first infatuation, or actually doing his dastardly deeds. JR is quite rightly portrayed as a psychopath and we get some interesting soliloquies on the nature of morality that we might expect from a madman. These are the most interesting things in the novel. Yet the actions and conflicts of JR never come to life for this reader. Tack on a rather pat ending that does seem very 1920s and you have a story that probably would not interest most publishing companies unless a gimmick (is it real or...) was added.
Over all, it is not a bad work. Just not that good. Read it for the novelty aspect if you must. That at least kept me going. But I can sleep soundly knowing that the real Jack the Ripper remains a haunting and still legendary mystery. ...more
There is a fine line between crazy and inspired. There is also a fine line between crazy and genius but Valerie Solanas was no genius. For that matterThere is a fine line between crazy and inspired. There is also a fine line between crazy and genius but Valerie Solanas was no genius. For that matter, she probably wasn't crazy. At least, not at first. She was a very troubled woman damaged by child molestation and abuse. She appeared to have had volatile relationships with others, letting them in then turning against them when they turned out to be flawed humans. This defense mechanism had tragic consequences for both her and Andy Warhol, who she shot. While not killed, Warhol was left in a condition of severe physical and emotional damage with physical effects that finally killed him. Solanas' SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men) Manifesto, which was written before she shot Warhol, is the only other thing for which she shall be remembered. Most of her other writings were either unfinished or lost (which brings up the possibility that when she accused Warhol of stealing her play Up Your Ass, she may have not been technically paranoid as this play was found with Warhol's other possessions after his death). As strange and repulsive this manifesto may be, it does attest to the fact that Solanas was a powerful writer. It is at the same time a vicious sexist rant and a crafty socio-political satire. If you are at all open when you read it you will shake your head at the ridiculousness of it but almost thinking, "I can see where this is coming from." Personally, as a man, I'm glad no one took this seriously, But I also understand this was written at a time when feminism was striving while the predominantly white male power structure continued to be in control and I can understand Solanas' frustration. It pretty obvious that Solanas herself didn't take her manifest literally as she would admit to it in her more lucid moments...
"It's hypothetical. No, Hypothetical is the wrong word. It's just a literary device. There's no organization called SCUM...It's not even me...I mean, I thought of it as a state of mind.In other words. women who think a certain way are SCUM. Men who think a certain way are in the men's auxiliary of SCUM.
If the SCUM Manifesto has a lasting philosophy: it is that sometimes things are so unbearable that we can not just "drop out" or ignore. It need to be confronted. Solanas states in the manifesto, "Dropping out is not the answer. Fucking up is.". The SCUM Manifesto was Solanas' way of fucking up. I suspect the work was a cathartic move for Solanas. But it was not a healing one. Solanas spent most of her time afterward in mental hospitals, dying destitute in a welfare hotel. It's unfortunate we have little else to go on to assess her talent. Her brief improvisatory bit in Warhol's film, I, a Man shows that she had a sharp if rough-edged wit. Those who have read or seen her play, Up Your Ass describe it as obscene but impressive. But the SCUM Manifesto remains her most lasting work and an important document of Radical Feminism and over-the-top social observation.
Note: I was given a review copy of The SCUM Manifesto that is published by AK Press who, being an anarchist publishing company, may or may not agree with my assessment. The edition also contains an insightful introduction by Michelle Tea and a concise biography of Valerie Solanas in the afterword....more
David Jerome's novel about an affable loser who sprinkles his father's ashes in 49 states is very funny and quite alarmingly compassionate. The authorDavid Jerome's novel about an affable loser who sprinkles his father's ashes in 49 states is very funny and quite alarmingly compassionate. The author claims that some, though not all of the events, were taken from his own travels which leads me to wonder which ones are for real and which ones aren't. Some critics have complained that many of the events are unbelievable but, having traveled throughout the states extensively myself, I could believe about 75 percent could be based on actual experiences. But since this is a novel, it's a moot point. The main thing is that it is humorous and entertaining and it fits that bill nicely. My only minor complaint is that the thread of the tale moves alone a little haphazardly at points and meanders but this is a travel novel and travels never go how you plan them. I could think of worse ways to spend a summer weekend than lounging around and reading this book. Three and a half stars....more
I was hoping for the best, partly because this is a posthumous novel. Yet I found it rather tedious. I wasn't really sure who this book was geared forI was hoping for the best, partly because this is a posthumous novel. Yet I found it rather tedious. I wasn't really sure who this book was geared for. It is not in the least bit horrific and only slightly humorous. I thought there may be some YA aspects to it, but the scene depicting how a demon uses his tail nixed that idea. Fantasy or urban supernatural? Getting close. Actually it reads more like a parody of romance novels. Yet there are two problems for me with that aspect; 1) I never read romances and 2) A parody of a romance is a bit redundant since today's romances have developed into a parody of themselves. It is best just to say that this novel was not my cup of brimstone.
Note: I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. I hate giving these giveaway books a bad review since I always appreciate the gesture. But what is a honest book reviewer gonna do? Sigh....more
I must admit novels about serial killers are not for everyone. My wife for instance is totally repulsed by my love for the suspense/horror sub-genre. I must admit novels about serial killers are not for everyone. My wife for instance is totally repulsed by my love for the suspense/horror sub-genre. It's hard to explain but there's something fascinating about exploring the seedy underbelly of the human psyche.
So I was very happy to win this self-published debut novel by Christopher C. Payne from the Goodreads First-Reads program. Yet, while reading it, I started to wonder if a writer can go over the line. This hasn't been the first time I've wondered this. American Psycho really stretched the boundaries. However the author was clever enough to turn it into a form of social satire questioning modern society's goals and aspirations.
Payne, however goes for the jugular and never lets go. Like Brett Easton Ellis he drops names and movies implying a separation of empathy from reality in novice serial killer Duncan Moron's life. But Duncan doesn't really become very interesting. He's dull as a regular person and and dull and vicious as a serial killer. His misdeeds are narrated with explicit details and emotional detachment. They become incredibly difficult to read at times. His friend and detective Sudhir is just as pathetic being devoid from his feelings and often incompetent. It is difficult to find anyone in this book that one can care about, therefore the suspense becomes horrific yet as detached from the readers as it is from the protagonists. Add a sudden but inconclusive ending (with the possibility of a sequel) and the reader leaves unsatisfied.
Yet Payne's prose does tend to pull you into the story. He is excellent with descriptions and knows how to keep you turning the page. His self-published book could use a good editor and I suspect that would have fixed many of my reservations. Fans of serial killer novels will appreciate this book for what it is, an attempt to explain the unexplainable. Therefore the three stars.
There probably isn't anything new for anyone with an adequate knowledge of the internet in this detailed but overwrought book on the A first-read win.
There probably isn't anything new for anyone with an adequate knowledge of the internet in this detailed but overwrought book on the possibilities of cyberwar. Like his previous book, the most interesting information comes from his personal experiences in advising presidents on this topic. He really doesn't like George W. Bush but his cynicism that Obama, or any president for that matter, is ready to address the threat is evident. There is much detail on what constitutes cyber terrorism, how it works, and what nations are ready to take advantage of it. However, I found the book too dry and repetitive to really enjoy....more
Reckless is a highly charged thriller set in the financial chaos of the current recession. Andrew Gross packs a riveting style that A first-reads win.
Reckless is a highly charged thriller set in the financial chaos of the current recession. Andrew Gross packs a riveting style that not only kept me at the edge of my seat but is possibly the only book that didn't send me in a serial yawn from words like "hedge Fund" and "subprime mortgage". The author has created two top-notched characters in investigator Ty Hauck and Naomi Blum and the two have some serious chemistry going on between these pages. Hopefully Mr. Gross will place these two together again but for now the reader get a roller-coaster ride through a plot of financial misdoings, high intrigue and murder.
Decades ago, I met a French-Canadian girl in Mexico City who hitchhiked by herself from Panama City to MexicoA first-reads win. Four and a half stars.
Decades ago, I met a French-Canadian girl in Mexico City who hitchhiked by herself from Panama City to Mexico City. I was also traveling through Mexico by myself but I was amazed by her courage as a young woman to travel in an area that was considered to be quite dangerous at the time. Her response was that the only disturbing thing on her trip was being picked up by male drivers who spent the entire ride lecturing about both the danger and the immorality of traveling on her own.
As a lone traveler myself, I found that non-travelers exaggerate the dangers. With a few safeguards and conventional wisdom the dangers can be controlled. Yet the very possibility of hazards is part of the lure to the adventure traveler. Carl Hoffman took that to the extreme by traveling the globe and purposely picking those modes of transportation that are the most dangerous. Whether it was buses that regularly went over a cliff in Bolivia, ferries that regularly capsized in Bangla Desh, or trains that were regularly mobbed and robbed in Africa, Hoffman rode them. Hoffman intentionally throws out the safeguard. When he cannot be persuaded not to take a dangerous bus route in South America, he is told to at least do not travel at night. So he changes his plan and travels at night. Truly insane!
While the plain lunacy of this stunt makes for fascinating reading, the real message lies in the people he met on the way. No matter how dangerous the travel, Hoffman found kind and decent people who helped him and took him under their care. The other message in this book is that what we see as crazy and dangerous is the main mode of transportation for the great majority of the world. This was not "adventure travel" for them but the necessary way to travel and make a living. Things we take for granted while traveling like privacy, safety, and comfort is something out of their reach. The success of this book is to place the reader into this world and makes them realize that this is the norm for the most of Earth's inhabitants. Yes, read this for the escapism of travel but Hoffman does not allow you to lose sight of the social and political message in this highly readable and enjoyable book....more
Reading this book is a very uncomfortable experience. I say that meaning the highest compliment. This fictional story about a four yeA first-read win.
Reading this book is a very uncomfortable experience. I say that meaning the highest compliment. This fictional story about a four year old boy being abandoned by his family and being raised by feral dogs in Moscow is often repulsive and horrifying. The author pulls no punches when describing the filth and the horror. Yet this immersion into a very realistic horror is what makes this story riveting.It is essentially a survival tale but also a strange tale of family and love even if the family isn't all human. This novel often asks us to examine what defines the human and what defines the animal. It may not be as clear as you may think. As uncomfortable as this book may make you feel, It is impossible to put down and remains so until the last paragraph....more
The Executor is a psychological thriller, or more accurately a philosophical thriller, that kept my interest throughout its well-wriA first-reads win.
The Executor is a psychological thriller, or more accurately a philosophical thriller, that kept my interest throughout its well-written pages. The author has created a fascinating protagonist who, if not necessarily likable, deserves sympathy and even a little admiration. Without giving any of the plot away, the interest in this story lies not with what he does but how he rationalizes and process his decisions.An odd but successful ploy for a suspense thriller. Those who crave action will probably not find this novel satisfying. But if you like a story with a well-developed protagonist and a novel that doesn't take the usual turns, then you will be well rewarded. I was especially thrilled by the crisp and thoughtful prose whose only flaw is in the annoying changes from from third person to second person in the climatic scenes. No, I have not read anything by his more famous parents, Faye and Jonathan Kellerman but I will be looking for Jesse Kellerman's three previous novels....more
The good news is the author Dan Wells has created one of the most interesting protagonisst I've read since...well...DexThere's good news and bad news.
The good news is the author Dan Wells has created one of the most interesting protagonisst I've read since...well...Dexter. The other good news that John Wayne Cleaver is not a Dexter wanna-be but an unique take-off on the serial killer idea. Cleaver is a 15 year old boy who is obsessed with serial killers mainly because he realizes he has the same characteristics. He sets up a lot of rules to keep him from being the monster he thinks he is. Living in a morgue probably doesn't help. It also doesn't help that there may be a serial killer on the loose and no one in town knows more about them than John Wayne Cleaver. The kid is smart, witty and a little weird but he narrates this story in a way that allows us to understand what a serious dilemma he sees himself in. You can't help but root for the kid.
The bad news is a little harder to explain without spoiling the plot but I'll try. About a third of the way through the book, there is a major twist that turns this tale from psychological thriller to horror novel. It was way too abrupt a turn for me and took away from some of the fascinating psychological issues our hero was going through. I found the change to be unsettling and would have been happy if the book stayed in the realm of psychological suspense.
Yet the character of John Wayne Cleaver wins out at the end and is the main reason to read this book. There are some interesting questions the author brings up that could spice up any book club discussion regarding the nature of evil and what makes us human. John Wayne Cleaver struggles with these questions and obviously will struggle with them in the next two books of the trilogy which I will wait for in anticipation....more
Originally published in 1933, True North tells of Elliott Merrick's journey with his wife into the northern wilderness of NewfoundlanA first-read win.
Originally published in 1933, True North tells of Elliott Merrick's journey with his wife into the northern wilderness of Newfoundland as they spend a season with trappers. Merrick's accounting of this journey read much like Thoreau in his forsaking of the city to live a "simpler" life in the Canadian North. Yet, while the author rhapsodizes wilderness living he does writes realistically about its challenges and dangers. The detail in this memoir is amazing . Merrick catches both the environment and the day-to-day challenges with stunning vibrancy. This is a book that will be be enjoyed by fans of wilderness adventure, travel writing and historical aficionados for its capturing of a lifestyle of both trappers and Native Canadians that is probably endangered if not already extinct.
This brief but dense book may not be the easiest read but it sets out to do what it is meant to do and does it extremely well, hence A first-read win.
This brief but dense book may not be the easiest read but it sets out to do what it is meant to do and does it extremely well, hence the four stars. Bennett gives a detailed look at why third parties have it so hard in the Untied State and how the two main parties, Democrats and Republicans, stack the field against any competition. I do not necessarily buy the "Tweedledum/Tweedledee" argument that the parties are no different from each other. Yet it can be said that the two parties are so immersed in keeping power that they are willing to sell their values, and henceforth the people, to preserving a perpetually corrupt system. Bennett goes to the beginning to show how the founding fathers encouraged a system of free ideas and multiple parties. He then explains various bills, particularly FECA in 1973, that proceeded to do the opposite. He is quite persuasive. His Libertarian ideology does tend to get in the way a bit but his overall ascertain for the need of dissenting viewpoints through third parties is quite convincing. The foreword is written by Ralph Nader who is as far as you can get from a Libertarian. As a card-carrying liberal I tend to favor public campaigning funding. Yet I find his arguments on how public funding favors a two party system causing me to reconsider. He also has some nice chapters on the 2008 campaign and how multiple party systems fare in other countries. This book may have a narrow interest factor but those who read it will have plenty of information to digest....more
I've been reading an unusual amount of historical thrillers this year. Eyes of The Red Tsar is set in Stalinist Russia and it is a eA first-reads win.
I've been reading an unusual amount of historical thrillers this year. Eyes of The Red Tsar is set in Stalinist Russia and it is a entertaining but flawed mystery. This book appears to be the first of a series. The author puts together a strong protagonist named Pekkala with a number of Sherlockian skills like quick perception and a photographic memory. Yet this first novel of the series lacks the pacing and action I would expect from this type of tale. While I found it quite readable I did find myself occasionally acclaiming to our intrepid investigator; "What? How could you miss that?". I suspect Russian history experts may cringe at some of the liberties Mr. Eastland takes to move on his plot. However, as historical thrillers goes, it was quite enjoyable and should satisfy the average mystery buff....more
A Circle of Souls is best described as a supernatural thriller. It is a pretty good psychological suspense noA first-reads win. Three and a half stars
A Circle of Souls is best described as a supernatural thriller. It is a pretty good psychological suspense novel dealing with the murder of a child by a ritual killer. At the same time, a young girl is admitted to a children psychiatric center and may have the knowledge from her dreams to solve this crime.The strength of this novel lies in the interaction between child and her psychiatrist. The author, Preetham Grandhi, is a psychiatrist specializing in children and adolescent behavior and his knowledge of this is what makes this story come alive. Having worked in psychiatric facilities, I can attest to the authenticity of these scenes. However, once away from that setting Grandhi is not on solid ground. His action scenes are awkward and the secondary characters such as the polices and detectives seem one dimensional. Yet he has an imaginative story and when the hospital scenes are on center stage, the book sizzles. I also like the addition of Indian mythology and metaphysics within the storyline. Overall, it is a solid debut novel and an entertaining supernatural suspense tale. ...more
Received this ARC as a win from Goodreads. It is not a graphic novel as I thought but a 200+ page novel with occasional illustrations. Put out by HeavReceived this ARC as a win from Goodreads. It is not a graphic novel as I thought but a 200+ page novel with occasional illustrations. Put out by Heavy Metal so you know it will be full of Sci-Fi, violence and sex. In other words, a hormonally challenged college boy should be the one reading this.
Instead they got this only slightly more mature 59 year old bookworm to read this while my wife gives me strange looks as she glances at the lurid cover...
So I finished it and it is pretty much what I expected from the first ten pages on; A R-rated cyberpunk sexploitation pulp novel. The writing is rather pedestrian with a few clever moments. The plot is fairly predictable to any one who ever picked up a Heavy Metal magazine and probably predictable even if they have not seen HM material. The plot is also quite chauvinistic. In the book, there are essentially two type of women; dumb sex object or smart sex object. The fact that this novel is only part of the story, leaving me on a cliff hanger as a hook to book 2, didn't help my assessment especially since I really don't care about what happens.
To rehash what I said in the first paragraph, this is adolescent fantasy stuff not really suitable for anyone over the age of 25 or without a penis. The chauvinistic attitude will either bore or offend most women. For the narrow audience I described...well...most of them might give this book a generous three stars for titillation value. As for me, barely two stars....more
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