Consistently inverts familiar situations and makes them spiritual learning moments; even the fan-satisfying shocker climax...
Elder suspense master Matheson's masterpiece, far stronger than his famed chillers (Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, 2002, etc.).
The author combines classic man-against-nature and man-against-maniac tales, then fastens them to the armature of his main character’s spiritual belief system, building fearlessly long God-centered dialogues between hero and madman as if Dostoevsky were wandering around in Stephen King’s The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. Naming other literary echoes, let’s add that the classic rock-face climb from Deliverance gets reprised, as well as Daniel’s ordeal in the biblical lion’s den and Richard Connell’s oft-filmed short story, “The Most Dangerous Game.” Bob Hansen, 44-year-old novelist and sometime screenwriter, wants to write a book about backpacking in the northern California wilderness. Bob and wife Marian have dined thrice with Doug Crowley, 42, an out-of-work action-film actor (he last did a Ford SUV commercial), and his wife Nicole. But then Nicole divorces Doug for catting around, or perhaps because together neither can deal with their druggie son’s gun-in-mouth suicide. Survivalist nut Doug offers to take Bob on a heavy three-day hike to his cabin, where Marian will wait for them. Intimidated by his host, a perfectionist about gear and modes of wilderness survival, Bob sees himself as a flop hiker by campfire on Day One. Doug’s remarks cut ever deeper as we discern that this “malignant narcissist” is pathologically jealous of Bob’s success as writer, husband, and father. Later, Doug reveals his abused childhood and a failed liquor-store robbery that sent him for two years to a reformatory, where he was raped. He does the same to Bob and tells the writer to take off with a three-hour lead; Doug wants to hunt and kill him, then rape (or marry and sodomize) Marian. Solo Bob then faces the endless, outlandish hardships God drops on him as he races to save his wife.
Consistently inverts familiar situations and makes them spiritual learning moments; even the fan-satisfying shocker climax is enriched with irony. First-rate suspense.Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-765-30271-3
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
A thrilling and satisfying sequel to the 1969 classic.
Over 50 years after an extraterrestrial microbe wiped out a small Arizona town, something very strange has appeared in the Amazon jungle in Wilson’s follow-up to Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain.
The microparticle's introduction to Earth in 1967 was the disastrous result of an American weapons research program. Before it could be contained, Andromeda killed all but two people in tiny Piedmont, Arizona; during testing after the disaster, AS-1 evolved and escaped into the atmosphere. Project Eternal Vigilance was quickly set up to scan for any possible new outbreaks of Andromeda. Now, an anomaly with “signature peaks” closely resembling the original Andromeda Strain has been spotted in the heart of the Amazon, and a Wildfire Alert is issued. A diverse team is assembled: Nidhi Vedala, an MIT nanotechnology expert born in a Mumbai slum; Harold Odhiambo, a Kenyan xenogeologist; Peng Wu, a Chinese doctor and taikonaut; Sophie Kline, a paraplegic astronaut and nanorobotics expert based on the International Space Station; and, a last-minute addition, roboticist James Stone, son of Dr. Jeremy Stone from The Andromeda Strain. They must journey into the deepest part of the jungle to study and hopefully contain the dire threat that the anomaly seemingly poses to humanity. But the jungle has its own dangers, and it’s not long before distrust and suspicion grip the team. They’ll need to come together to take on what waits for them inside a mysterious structure that may not be of this world. Setting the story over the course of five days, Wilson (Robopocalypse, 2011, etc.) combines the best elements of hard SF novels and techno-thrillers, using recovered video, audio, and interview transcripts to shape the narrative, with his own robotics expertise adding flavor and heft. Despite a bit of acronym overload, this is an atmospheric and often terrifying roller-coaster ride with (literally) sky-high stakes that pays plenty of homage to The Andromeda Strain while also echoing the spirit and mood of Crichton’s other works, such as Jurassic Park and Congo. Add more than a few twists and exciting set pieces (especially in the finale) to the mix, and you’ve got a winner.
A thrilling and satisfying sequel to the 1969 classic.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-247327-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Cheap fun: a guilty pleasure few monster-addicts will be able to resist.
A witty, grisly debut about the secret adventures of a Florida sociopath who murders only bad guys.
Dexter Morgan makes his living off the blood of the dead—literally. A “blood-splatter analyst” for the Miami Police Department, Dexter works only on the messiest cases, nearly all homicides and quite a few the work of serial killers. It takes one to know one, too, for Dexter has a very deep and well-guarded secret: He’s been bumping people off for years. Dexter knew from an early age that he was somehow different, and his father, Detective Harry Morgan, had picked up enough abnormal psychology on the job to recognize the signs. Harry tried to help Dexter out by suggesting that the boy might want to make a virtue of necessity by concentrating his murderous energies on the truly wicked people of the world—and Dexter agreed, beginning with the hospice nurse who was systematically overdosing Harry with morphine. From that day forward, Dexter (and his ghostly imaginary friend, the Dark Passenger) have done well by doing bad, disposing of a long line of pedophiles, killers, sadists, and thugs. A consummate professional, Dexter has never left a shred of incriminating evidence behind, but lately he’s begun to worry. A copycat killer is on the loose, leaving a string of victims strewn about the dark byways of Miami bearing the trademarks of Dexter’s handiwork in an obvious attempt to lure him out of hiding. Dexter can play his hand close to his chest, but unfortunately for him one of the cops assigned to the new cases is his sister Deborah, who knows nothing of Dexter’s extracurricular activities. Part of Dexter wants to come of the cold and play with this new guy on the block, but he feels an obligation to keep his sister from being implicated. It’s not just thieves, after all: There’s honor among murderers, too.
Cheap fun: a guilty pleasure few monster-addicts will be able to resist.Pub Date: July 27, 2004
ISBN: 0-385-51123-X
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2004
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