While thick at times, this tale about a sinister company eventually delivers plenty of atmosphere and action.
A debut sci-fi novel focuses on a powerful corporation and its dark quest for control.
Judging by his serious demeanor and his ability to wash Tylenol down with whiskey, Jonathan Romero might seem like any stressed businessman. The company he works for, however, is far from ordinary. With origins that date back to Colonial times and resources that include an immense collection of “occult and philosophical treasures,” the Strand Corporation of Philadelphia engages in activities that even the most morally bankrupt executive might find shocking. Working to steal ideas, patent them, and sell the rights, the company has come a long way from its founding principles. As Romero reflects, rather sourly (particularly as he is suffering from a brain tumor), “The founding fathers of The Strand Society would turn over in their graves if they were to observe the travesty built upon their ideals.” Utilizing people called “Conductors” for “hacking dreams” and a beautiful, H.R. Giger–loving assassin named Macaria to eliminate any threats, Strand has quite the method to its madness. Meanwhile, a writer named Blake William garners the attention of the company, particularly after a former Strand employee named Alex Tannersly (an ex-Conductor whom the corporation has been “hunting” ever since he left) attempts to contact him. William commands success as a writer but he fears he might be losing his mind. What does someone like Alex want with William? Dense with explanation, there is a lot for the reader to absorb. No sooner is Romero finishing his Tylenol than Conductors and a Watcher are being discussed and Macaria’s origins explained. Once things get going, though, the plot is rife with spookiness and “dark atmospheric doom metal.” Incorporating the gothic and the William Gibson–esque, the story reveals that many complex things are possible in this world of dream hacking and murder for hire. While lacking the intricate, futuristic pizazz of Gibson’s Neuromancer, this novel features its share of adventures as well as escalating oddities. A sense of suspense is maintained, allowing readers intrigued by an unlikely hero like William to be decidedly curious as to how this caper will end.
While thick at times, this tale about a sinister company eventually delivers plenty of atmosphere and action.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dark Revelations Media
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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