A sharply defined future world elevates this energetic SF adventure.
A soldier fights to keep youngsters safe from his elite, genetically enhanced paramilitary unit in Pearse’s debut SF novel, the first in a series.
In the 24th century, the people of Earth continue to struggle after World Wars III and IV wiped out most of the population. A paramilitary group protecting the North American Continental Bloc’s only inhabitable city of Avalon launches the Independent Initiative, a military defense program. Irishman Sloan Whelan, one of the Independent unit’s 10 “genetically manipulated” soldiers, regenerates quickly and never gets sick. While trekking across the NACB’s so-called deadlands he runs into meek 19-year-old Chase. He vows to safeguard the boy and other child survivors whom the government has inexplicably targeted. Once it’s clear Sloan has abandoned his post to help the kids, the Avalon Police Force and the other equally skilled Independents come after him as well. Avalon may be the last place Sloan and the young survivors should go, but that’s also the location of his family, whom the APF will surely threaten next. Pearse masterfully sets an unwavering pace. The narrative rarely strays from Sloan, Chase, and the kids, who constantly move for better shelter or to elude enemies. In between the action scenes, which come in bursts, details about this future Earth and the Independents (what’s in those body-enhancing injections?) gradually come to light. At a glance, Sloan is the muscular, irresistibly handsome hero that readers have seen before (“Sloan didn’t have a scar or blemish; every inch of his body was perfectly defined, and his physique was flawless”). But this curious man has ties to the Irish mob and the Yakuza, and his bond with Chase is both believable and endearing. Unfortunately, the others in Sloan’s unit, who hail from around the globe, have little time to shine. But as this is a first installment, and sequels may offer opportunities for their further development. To ensure the appeal of those forthcoming books, the author ends this opener with a superb cliffhanger.
A sharply defined future world elevates this energetic SF adventure.Pub Date: June 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780995983953
Page Count: 414
Publisher: Tinytooth Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.
A 16-year-old savant uses his Groundhog Day gift to solve his grandfather’s murder.
Nishizawa’s compulsively readable puzzle opens with the discovery of the victim, patriarch Reijiro Fuchigami, sprawled on a futon in the attic of his elegant mansion, where his family has gathered for a consequential announcement about his estate. The weapon seems to be a copper vase lying nearby. Given this setup, the novel might have proceeded as a traditional whodunit but for two delightful features. The first is the ebullient narration of Fuchigami’s youngest grandson, Hisataro, thrust into the role of an investigator with more dedication than finesse. The second is Nishizawa’s clever premise: The 16-year-old Hisataro has lived ever since birth with a condition that occasionally has him falling into a time loop that he calls "the Trap," replaying the same 24 hours of his life exactly nine times before moving on. And, of course, the murder takes place on the first day of one of these loops. Can he solve the murder before the cycle is played out? His initial strategies—never leaving his grandfather’s side, focusing on specific suspects, hiding in order to observe them all—fall frustratingly short. Hisataro’s comical anxiety rises with every failed attempt to identify the culprit. It’s only when he steps back and examines all the evidence that he discovers the solution. First published in 1995, this is the first of Nishizawa’s novels to be translated into English. As for Hisataro, he ultimately concludes that his condition is not a burden but a gift: “Time’s spiral never ends.”
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.Pub Date: July 29, 2025
ISBN: 9781805335436
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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