Complex scientific notions in a story format prove equally entertaining and perceptive.
In this sci-fi thriller, preventing a near-future plague may simply entail getting help by sending messages into the past.
Josh Scribner was a mere teen when he conceived the Beetle, a brain implant to treat seizures or neurological disorders. By 2039, the now-billionaire has come to the terrifying conclusion that Beetles may not be remedying such conditions but actually causing them. Each new implant makes the ailment worse, processing loads of data that affect even brains without Beetles and making everyone sick, including Josh’s daughter, Cierra. Fortunately, his physicist pal Min-Jun Dan has a potential solution: use available technology to send a metal marker back in time and establish communication with someone. In 2015, Air Force veteran and pilot trainer Maria Kerrigan stumbles upon a marker dated 1999 and addressed to Dr. Weldon Qualls at Princeton University. Qualls, a published supporter of time travel, enlists Maria’s assistance, not yet aware of what they’ll be preventing. Further correspondence (P.O. boxes and coordinates for new markers) confirms that an attempt to alter the future is unsuccessful. But there’s something bigger at play, as Josh suspects that some deaths in 2039 may not be from the Beetle itself but active assassinations. At the same time, Maria and Qualls, still in 2015, could be in danger. Thomas and Thurkettle’s (Seeing by Moonlight, 2015) time-traveling novel deviates from most other tales of this subgenre by focusing more on concept than action. This preserves simplicity throughout, even as Josh and Min-Jun discuss “other version[s] of now,” slight changes in their own lives as a result of Maria’s missions. The story also introduces a fascinating dilemma: can individuals retain memories from prior versions of themselves? Maria is initially more engaging than the plot, mercilessly tormented by deaths she caused by piloting drones and conversing with “the Voice” in her head. But the twisty second half is pure exhilaration, adding a clear-cut villain and new, essential characters. The authors’ prose is, like the book overall, intelligent and comprehensive, especially with chic terminology like “gravity wake,” a field created by accelerated particles, the essence of traversing space-time.
Complex scientific notions in a story format prove equally entertaining and perceptive.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-4835-7621-3
Page Count: 302
Publisher: BookBaby
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Unlikely heroes battle a frightening fungus that could wipe out humanity in this taut, mordant thriller debut.
A long-forgotten but deadly organism stored in a deep cave becomes a chilling threat, and a retired bioweapons agent and two security guards are the only ones who can stop it.
Koepp is a very successful screenwriter (Jurassic Park, etc.) and director (Premium Rush, etc.) whose film experience is apparent in this propulsive disaster tale. In the prologue, set in 1987, two agents of the U.S. Defense Nuclear Agency, specialists in neutralizing bioweapons and the like, head for a remote Australian town where debris from the Skylab satellite fell. There, Roberto Diaz and Trini Romano find a bizarre catastrophe: An unknown fungus that mutates with spectacular speed has killed everyone in Kiwirrkurra. Diaz and Romano clean up the mess and contain a sample of the organism, which they deliver to a huge cave under the Missouri River bluffs used by the military as a highly secured storage facility. What could go wrong, right? Cut to the present, when the military has sealed the lowest sublevel of the cave, where the fungus is, and sold the rest of the space to a self-storage company. Add a little climate change to raise the underground temperature, and the novel kicks into high gear. Koepp keeps a tight focus on three characters: Diaz, who is called out of retirement to handle the situation secretly, and two guards at the storage facility. Travis “Teacake” Meacham is an ex-convict trying to get his life back on track. Naomi Williams is a college student with two jobs and a sweet little daughter she’s raising as a single mother. When the two try to track down an unfamiliar warning signal going off in the facility, they find a nightmare. Koepp builds a tight plot as the three race against time and the fungus, a fictional but all-too-convincing monster of an organism that, if it escapes, could bring on global extinctions. Roberto, Travis, and Naomi are engaging, believable characters. Koepp is skilled at sharp, often humorous dialogue, and Roberto’s discovery of the physical barriers to being a hero at age 68 is both darkly funny and an effective source of suspense.
Unlikely heroes battle a frightening fungus that could wipe out humanity in this taut, mordant thriller debut.Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-291643-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Ecco/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
Fans will gobble up this final battle, in which the characters they love fight desperately to save everything they hold...
The action-packed conclusion to a rich and absorbing fantasy trilogy.
Kell has been taken prisoner in White London, trapped in a collar that dampens his magic. His magical connection to his brother, Prince Rhy—the connection that keeps the prince alive—is weakening. Alucard Emery is helplessly watching Rhy, his former lover, fade as that connection begins to break. The White London magician Holland is being slowly taken over by the dangerous, powerful, Black London “shadow king” known as Osaron. And Osaron has his sights set on devouring the magic-rich prize of Red London. But Lila Bard is ready to do the impossible to save Kell and the world—starting by crossing the barrier between worlds by herself, using her own newfound power, for the first time ever. This third and final book in the Shades of Magic series begins where A Gathering of Shadows (2016) left off and keeps up a breakneck pace as our heroes struggle to find a way to stop a magical demon/god who can possess almost any human host. Schwab has created an apocalyptically powerful villain, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Desperate gambits, magical battles, and meaningful sacrifice make this a thrilling read—and there’s even a little time to further complicate and deepen some of the series’ compelling characters.
Fans will gobble up this final battle, in which the characters they love fight desperately to save everything they hold dear. Schwab has fully delivered on the promise of this inventive and captivating series.Pub Date: Feb. 21, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7653-8746-2
Page Count: 624
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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