Rating: 
Summary: Reality Farce: 24/7 by Jim Brown
Review: "To win your heart's desire, you must face your greatest fear."The catchy slogan of the latest show in reality television with death being the ultimate outcome in this terrible debut novel from news anchor, Jim Brown. Vassa Island is the stage for twelve contestants bidding for two million dollars and their heart's desire. With 638 cameras arranged around the island and twelve contestants, the race is on to be the final contestant. Dana Kristen is the last contestant added and if she wins, she just might save her own child's life and get her into a medical study in Switzerland. Her daughter, Jenna, is slowly dying from a form of Muscular Dystrophy and a new possible drug is being studied in Switzerland. More than the money, Dana desperately wants to get her into that study. She soon regrets fighting so hard to be one of the twelve when just minutes into their live world wide broadcast, the host and entire broadcast team collapse and die horrible screaming deaths in front of them. They are informed by an electronic voice that he is now in control and that each day the world will vote for one of them to die. The others will live on, after receiving an injection to control a designer Ebola virus circulating in their bloodstreams for another twenty-four hours. The game will continue as before but now instead of just losing, they face the prospect of losing their life. And whoever is in charge now has managed to make the viewing public accomplices to murder. What does it say about a society that will judge twelve contestants and knowingly vote to execute them one by one? Unfortunately that question and others that this novel raise are never addressed in any way, shape or form. While full of action that really moves the story along, there is little substance behind this novel. The characters are stereotypical, the writing is average at best and the sequence of events is predictable. The "twists" that fill the last fifty pages are of the kind one finds in a really bad movie of the week. Instead of condemning the reality television concept, Jim Brown seems to raise various societal questions and then swat them away as he profits off the concept. As such, he becomes part of the problem he seems to condemn. All he needs is some catchy theme music that would play as the novel was opened and he would have a sure winner on his hands. No doubt the action filled computer game and new series can't be far behind.
Rating: 
Summary: You'll be reading this book 24/7!
Review: 24/7 is a gripping page-turner and IMPOSSIBLE to put down (Kept me up til 3 AM!) The story is great, whether you're a fan of reality TV or not (and I'm decidedly not), and the characters are VERY involving and interesting. Hey, Jim Brown - MORE PLEASE!!!
Rating:
Summary: A chilling thriller
Review: 24/7 is America's latest reality television show where twelve contestants are flown to the deserted island of Vassa in the Caribbean. Challenges confront each participant and every three days the audience votes on which person is eliminated. The final survivor wins two million dollars and his or her heart's desire. Dana Kirsten, a last minute substitute, wants to win because she has a ten-year-old daughter living on borrowed time with a doomsday clock ticking away if she fails to obtain experimental treatment in Switzerland.
On the first day of the stay at Vassa, the TV people are all killed by a mysterious ailment. A voice calling itself Control informs the contestants that an Ebola-like virus infects them all. On the day that a contestant is scheduled to be eliminated, a temporary antidote will be administered to the survivors. The winner will gain the ultimate prize, his or her life.
This mind-boggling thriller is a technologically aged version of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None". Jim Brown has written a complex fast-paced story line populated by three-dimensional characters. The audience will root for some of the cast members to escape death and will feel sad when many do not. This novel contains more twists and turns than a meandering river or a mountain road. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Well
Review: Action, suspense, drama, this book has it all. I was immediately drawn to the lead female, Dana a strong, independent working class mom who goes toe to toe with the men and proves a female characters can be sexy and smart without being a lawyer or FBI agent or the like.
The surprises and twist are not stop right up until the end.
Rating:
Summary: It's got it all.
Review: Action, suspense, drama, this book has it all. I was immediately drawn to the lead female, Dana a strong, independent working class mom who goes toe to toe with the men and proves a female characters can be sexy and smart without being a lawyer or FBI agent or the like.
The surprises and twist are not stop right up until the end.
Rating:
Summary: Not at all like Survivor
Review: As a fan of reality tv, especially Survivor, I was excited when I found this book. I was so disappointed when I started reading it. This book is nothing at all like Survivor. In fact, this book is more about biological terrorism than reality tv. I know a lot of people gave this book good reviews, but it just wasn't at all what I was expecting. I don't recommend this one at all.
Rating:
Summary: Jurassic Park meets Survivor?
Review: Blech. I bought it used. Thank goodness. Let me make this short. The characters have very little life to them. Dana is so sickeningly sweet that it's obvious she's the bleeding heart sap of the story, and we're supposed to fall immediately in love with her wacky, charming ways, despite the fact that she's on a dangerous island fighting for the life of herself and her daughter! Wee! The supporting cast is VERY bland, and the person that pointed out that the names coincide (Nora = nun, Charles = CPA, Dr = Whatever his name was, etc) hit it right on the money. I was debating as to whether this was clever ha-ha tongue in cheek humor or just plain bad writing, and then I decided on the latter. The book reminds me overall of a very Crichton-esque "What-If" story made to pander to the legions of Survivor fans. Being a Survivor Fanatic myself, I was very disappointed. There's little to recommend this book to fans of the reality tv show, as the author pretty much skips over most of the pretense of this, and gets right down to the murdering. I can't help but feel that the author was trying to get to the same gripping level that Jurassic Park had, but in Jurassic Park we actually liked the characters, and the setting was very fleshed out. Not so here. Very disappointed here, as I had really high hopes for the book because it scored so high here.
Rating:
Summary: Barely Readable - Even on a plane from India
Review: Even after reading this, I would say you are less wasting your time watching them than reading this. The ideas in this book were very extreme, WAY past the point of being believable. I think the author can be good enough given time. However, the whole plot here is outrageous, overdramatic and completely unbelievable. Just to try to get across his point that people can get carried away with television interaction. We get it, thats why we are reading anyway, isnt it???? Jim Brown should definitely leave the use of technology in his dramas to someone that has that knowledge like Clancy. I would have jumped to 4 stars had this been a realistic scenario. Here is a sample quote from his afterward you should read to guage his scientific genius: "What if I told you...That the moment you cracked the spine of this book you unknowingly released thousands of nano-bots (microscopic machine) that entered your bloodstream through the pores of your hand..." yada yada about what these nano-bots are doing then suprise! He says "Eerie huh? Don't worry, the technology is not here--yet. But it will be,..."
Rating:
Summary: A great novel in every way
Review: From start to finish 24/7 is a superb novel. The action is breathless and the writing so crisp that you feel like you're watching rather than reading the story. A large cast doesn't keep Mr. Brown from giving each character their own unique voice. And the heroine is a gem that I hated saying goodbye too. The plot twist and turns are so genuinely unique that they leave you gasping. Each time I thought I had it figured I was thrown another curve. Overall an excellent book. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Very interesting premise; horrendously butchered by Brown.
Review: I came across 24/7 at a book store and was imediatly intrigued by the premise; twelve reality show contestants fight for their lives when the show is taken over by a madman. And even after finishing it, i still find the premise intriguing, but unfortunatly, this is not a good book. The writing is very weak with horrible similies (waves splashing the shore like a Roman flogging a Catholic. what was he thinking?) and cheesy conversations among the characters. Jim Brown's writing is choppy and really gets annoying after a few chapters. The story switches between characters every page or two. The characters are all very flat and predictable. the single mother fighting for her handicapped daughter's life, the vetrinarian with the heart of gold, the geeky computer nerd, the georgous yet shallow blond, the sexy hero guy...(give me a break) the list goes on and on. I truly didnt even care much what happened to any of the characters, which is very rare for me. I was also annoyed by the outragous events that took place. I had the book figured out about half way through. When Brown reveals some startling revilation there was more of a yawn that a gasp of surprise. The one think that i did find interesting was the small parts about the viewers and their reaction to the show. (the viewers vote to "exile" a contestant every day at noon and the loser dies.) Overall, 24/7 was a very poorly written novel with a great premise. If you can use your imagination and try to add another layer of depth to the story as you go, 24/7 might be a bearibly read. Possibly pick it up if you have a long flight and no other choice.
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