Rating: Summary: An interesting premise fumbled away Review: I was expecting a Thomas Harris type villian, i.e. Hannibal Lecter; what Steinberg gave me was the big spider from "IT". What a let-down. I wouldn't say the book was a complete waste of time, but the action was predictable and the characters were cardboard cutouts. I kept reading on, waiting for Newman to develop into something but it just bogged down into some psycho-babble about man's evolution into something crueler, yet Newman showed the most emotion of anyone. The ending was particularly disappointing. .The literary equivilent of a made-for-TV movie.
Rating: Summary: The word you're looking for is "WOW" Review: I was walking through one of the outlets of a bookshop chain that had gone bankrupt when I came across Gemini Man. Seeing as how everything was 50% off, I picked it up along with several other books. For a few weeks it just sat there on my bookshelf until finally, with nothing left to read, I picked it up. I took it down the shore with me and two days later, I was a Richard Steinberg fan. Even the beautiful scenery of the ocean (and the women that play in it) couldn't pull me away from this book. It was utterly amazing. The whole concept of the book is so new and fresh that you have no choice but to read it. But be warned. Once you pick this book up you won't put it down. It's great from start to finish. A must for anyone interested in a good story with just the right amount of action. The Gemini Man is by far one of the best books I have ever read.
Rating: Summary: A Must Read Author Review: If you, like myself, have been searching for an author that captures you like the early Ludlum, Morrel or Lustbader, then look no further. I enjoyed this book so much that I bought the audio version for a trip to Houston. I have always enjoyed the "antihero" with a dark past, and you can't get much darker than this one. I hope there is a sequel out there in the future!also recommend: All Richard Steinberg's and Steve Alten's books
Rating: Summary: New twist on an old genre Review: In reading the synopsis of this book, you get the sense that it may be all psychological. You couldn't be more wrong. The author blends the action in masterfully. The book steadily builds speed to a rocket finish, with a nice little twist at the end. The psychobabble lingo is present but it's nice to not have to deal with a book of this type miring itself in technology and weapons discussion. The characters develop well and carry the story themselves.
Rating: Summary: Another derivative "thriller" Review: More of the same old "commando secretly recruited by US gov. ultra-secret nasty covert ops unit blah, blah, blah" It seems that the X-Files has influenced the creation of this mutant genre which mixes dubious high tech, quasi science fiction and a little horror. Skip this one...
Rating: Summary: Awful Review: Relatively little suspense; ridiculous characterizations, extremely unlikely plot. Steinberg's _Nobody's Safe_ shows he can write; this book just shows that he needed some more practice after he wrote it.
Rating: Summary: "Close But No Cigar" Review: Steinberg came up with an interesting plot idea. However, his writing ability isn't strong enough to cause you to care about the characters and ,more importantly, about the outcome of the story. Overall, I'd rate The Gemini Man as "fair".
Rating: Summary: Identifying the protagonist will fool most readers, at first Review: Steinberg does an excellent job of setting up a "straw man" protagonist (the female psychologist), then switching reader identification in an unexpected direction. A masterful device, worthy of this finely crafted novel. The unabridged audiotape version is particularly well done.
Rating: Summary: Reads like the Wind! Review: Steinberg has crafted a crackerjack good read. The theme has gravitas, and the plot features nifty twists that keep the pages turning. I particularly liked Steinberg's layered characterization of Newman as harbinger of a new breed of amoral man. The action is swift and has the gritty feel of authenticity. I suspect Steinberg has walked, in one form or another, some of the scenes he creates. The resulting muscular narrative gives us a book brimming with a power and honesty missing from many other works in the genre. Steinberg's no kidder, and he doesn't josh anyone with this, a superb first novel.
Rating: Summary: More of a psychological thriller than an action one Review: The central plot of "The Gemini Man" can be summed up like this: a U.S. covert operative (i.e., a spy/saboteur) with an IQ of 186 and no apparent moral conscience to speak of has just spent six and a half years in a horrible Russian prison. He had been caught after sabotaging a Russian nuclear power plant, causing it to explode and killing thousands of people. Now he is being released to the United States. But the U.S. wants to see if he belongs in society, so it puts in (involuntarily) into a psychiatric ward in Europe, where he is observed by a group of psychologists. He, of course, wants out; after all, he escaped twice from the Russian prison before being recaptured. You might expect that with this set-up, the novel would be a slam-bang action thriller about his escape and revenge against those he perceives as having wronged him. And yet, that isn't really the direction that Richard Steinberg seemed interested in writing about. Instead, much of the novel covers a sort of a psychological chess match between the operative (Newman) and his captors/observers. Along the way, the psychologists tasked with figuring Newman out come up with different theories to explain his seemingly lack of moral empathy, a condition generally described as sociopathic -- which doesn't apply to him because he doesn't have sociopathic tendencies. One psychologist in particular believes that Newman is the next evolutionary step -- a human who is able to act and think without the hinderance of morality, excessive emotionalism, and so on. A sort of Mr. Spock. Or, as you can see from the name, a "New man." Curiously, Newman is not a particularly interesting character, although the psychologists are. One reason for this is that Steinberg writes in a third person omniscient narration, so that the reader is privy to the thoughts of the characters, but he hides much more of Newman's thoughts from us than those of other characters. Thus, we get less of a sense of what Newman is thinking, and hence understand him less. The psychological aspect of this novel reminded me somewhat of Philip Kerr's excellent "A Philosophical Investigation," while the evolutionary debate was reminiscent of Frank Robinson's "Waiting."
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