Joseph Zizza
There's a good story in here, but it's weighed down by philosophical musings from 15 year olds, completely incredible speeches by middle-aged mothers, painfully obvious “hidden” truths and a very heavy dose of guilt-ridden and tormented characters who drink, drug and screw their worries away. I kept going, but rolled my eyes several times, especially during the anti-climactic denouement.
I read this because I read somewhere that it was the “scariest” thriller ever. It's not. It's a professional and well-executed novel about a child murderer. There are quasi-supernatural elements that I suppose make it slightly different, but it didn't grip me like the best thrillers do. Competent rather than exceptional.
Incredibly readable and absorbing, this feels less like a thriller and more like a very sad memoir. Initially, when I saw it was nearly 600 pages, I was sceptical that my interest could be sustained for that length, but it was an effortless and enjoyable read without being escapist or shallow. Characters with personality, depth and flaws, and a story that is complex and feels true. I look forward to Tana French's other books, which I understand are even better.
I didn't like this as much as I did when I read it 30+ years ago. There are elements of misogyny and racism in the story and the main character is selfish and emotionally closed off in a way that makes his telepathy seem hard to credit. It's a great idea, but in practice, the character generates no sympathy and it's hard to care a great deal about his loss of a capability he never had the grace to use for anything but selfish objectives.
Not quite on a par with Dick's masterpieces, this is still a fascinating study in psychological horror, the flimsy premise of which involves tourists falling into the proton beam of a “bevatron”. As usual, the “science” is not the point. I would recommend people start with Man in the High Castle, Ubik and Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, but this, along with Penultimate Truth and Now Wait For Last Year and A Scanner Darkly, constitute core work.
Ten books into Powell's 12 novel Dance to the Music of Time cycle and the quality has not slipped. This novel sequence isn't talked about much (compared to Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, or even Song of Ice and Fire) but it is a great accomplishment and deserves status as possibly the greatest novel sequence in English. Subtle, light in tone and incredibly insightful psychologically, it is an extraordinary document of life in Britain in the fifty years 1921-1951, encompassing the literary and music worlds, politics, war and romance and much else. Highly recommended.
In my opinion, the best of the Orphan novels thus far. This is probably because there are multiple story lines going, which both maintains interest through variety and ramps up the suspense. Hurwitz continues to have a fascination with the names of topflight everything, almost like product placement, so if you're into guns, or vodka or tactical gear of all sorts, he's done the research and will bore you with the details. But I suppose this aids verisimilitude for those who are in the know in these areas, but I couldn't care less. Pumped up the tension and the adrenaline rush of physical confrontation are what these stories are about, and what makes them entertaining, a sort of Jack Reacher on steroids. Lots of fun.
A novel of historical significance, but tedious to a modern reader. It varies between Victorian melodrama and deary domestic and observational detail which is both uninteresting and unnecessary to the plot. The denouement is completely lacking in suspense and the whole second half of the book seems an anticlimax. The big secrets of the story are ones that seems insignificant by contemporary standards, and the use of devices such as “brain fever” seem quite hokey and dated. I'm glad I read it, as it is of historical importance, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who is not a mystery nerd like me.
