Rating: 
Summary: Not good Cyber/Science Fiction....
Review: After reading parts of this novel in Time magazine a while ago I finally picked up this book in an airport. If it hadn't been that I had nothing else to do on a long flight there is no way I would have taken the time to wade thru this book. As an effort at Science Fiction or CyberPunk it really is bad, very bad. There are plenty of authors that do justice to this genre, Neal Stephenson and Bruce Sterling for example, Caleb Carr is not one of them.
Rating: 
Summary: Convoluted and far-fetched
Review: From time to time this book showed great potential, but the love affair between Gideon Wolfe and Malcolm's sister seemed like something out of a 1956 B movie. I didn't find Wolfe to have much depth and the rest of the characters were not explored enough. It was just okay and nothing more. I have come to expect much more from Carr.
Rating:
Summary: God awful
Review: A few pages into this book I stopped and thought "what ...is this!?!"
This book seems to be a collection of cardboard characters that have been combined with Mr. Carr's laundry list of complaints about current society and government. I've read Red Chinese propaganda from the Cultural Revolution that was subtler!
Gee, so ya think the Internet leads to a dissemination of bad science and half truths? Why don't you pound it in our heads over and over again throughout the book? No, 25 times isn't enough! Please repeat it like a mantra!
Yeesh.
That and it also reads bad makeover of a Doc Savage novel with a dash of clumsy sexuality added.
I really don't understand what happened after the two "Alienist" books but this was 99% worse than either of those.
I so wanted to like this novel, but it took all my effort to finish it off.
All I can say is "WOW'... much as I would when seeing a car wreck.
Mr Carr, better luck next time.
Rating:
Summary: Jules Verne meets George Orwell- and neither are impressed.
Review: In KILLING TIME, fans of Caleb Carr's seminal thrillers THE ALIENIST and THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS will no doubt experience the same disappointment that I had. When I'd first seen KILLING TIME in the bookstores last year, I was thrilled that Mr. Carr had stretched his wings and attempted science fiction. Since the narrative, characterization and plot in his two thrillers were winners in my book, I figured, How could he fail?Carr found three ways- With his narrative, characterization and plot. If Jules Verne had been transplanted via time machine to our generation, this is what he would've produced. I cannot fathom why Carr's spaceship/submarine is deliberately made to look like something from a turn-of-the-century silent sci-fi film, nor why the characters speak like Henry James automatons. I picture all of them strutting about in puffy shirts and pomaded hair. Nor can I divine why Carr felt it necessary to introduce his own pet paranoias into a book with such a promising concept. With no solution offered, all the reader is left with is a vague sense of "This is what will happen to us", not that many of us are in the catbird seat of Destiny as regards US-Chinese trade relations, The Internet, etc. KILLING TIME could've been turned into quite a winning and intriguing murder mystery if it had been confined to the assassination of President Forrester and the doctored video of her murder. Instead, this incredible story takes a backseat to an ailing little megalomaniac, his nymphomaniacal, homicidal sister, their motley crew of prevaricating nerds and sundry, and assorted psychos. I have been unable to finish it, a rarity for someone who loves good authors.
Rating:
Summary: Is the the same author as The Alienist and Angel of Darness?
Review: I bought this book because I really enjoyed The Alienist and the Angel of Darkness. Those books had memorable characters and complicated, deep plots. They were excellent mysteries that made it on to my "top shelf". This book, however, reminds me of schlocky sci-fi from the 40s and 50s. It reads almost like the plot to a cheesy action movie. It might have been enjoyable if I had not read Caleb Carr's other books and been expecting something different. If you are expecting the same, beware!
Rating:
Summary: An "Almost" Book
Review: As stated in the title of this review, this book is an "almost" book: almost good, almost bad, almost science fiction, but actually none of these. Carr has just enough writing skill and storytelling ability to make this novel passable, but it only rates two stars, nonetheless, because there are too many problems with this story. The biggest problem is that Carr doesn't really understand science fiction; he writes as someone who's heard of it but hasn't really been exposed to it. As a result, his story suffers. In science fiction, there has to be a proper balance between ideas and plot, and the balance is way off here. The premise of the story involves a group of people who are out to save humanity from itself. The leader of the group, although portrayed nobly, is actually a James Bond-style villain: a megalomaniac armed with superinventions and his own little army of subservient geniuses. This bit of silliness is not enough to brighten up a dreary novel, nor is the utterly ludicrous ending. The narrator, one of this band of hero/villains, relates the story as if he is writing a warning to his contemporaries, yet he constantly discusses historic events in more detail than would be necessary, considering his audience. In addition, he is overbearing with his foreshadowing, constantly saying "If only we knew that..." and such things. As stated before, this is a downbeat novel with little to recommend it other than the author's name. Fans of the Alienist may have a desire to read this one, but it's bound to disappoint. Of course, fans of science fiction or just plain fans of good books will be even more disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: And another point....
Review: I couldn't agree more with the vast majority who negatively reviewed this book. But while the majority correctly point out the literary failures and the anti-internet sentiments, none seem to recognize Mr. Carr's "Green" (ie. environmental) and anti-world trade positions. In fact, he appears to support the histrionic viewpoints of the hate-America crowd lead by Professor Chomsky. He doesn't take long to tell us of the polution of the oceans, the evil of the America-Chinese economic ties. A key tale deals with the sacrifice of American servicemen in a "war" to gain Chinese hegemony over Taiwan. When one considers all of the failings of this book, we must wonder if Mr. Carr intended to write a political fable for our times.
Rating:
Summary: What a disappointment
Review: I was a big fan of Caleb Carr having been entranced by the Alienist. It came as a big shock then to be so totally disappointed by the shallowness of Killing Time. I found the plot to be incredible superficial with little in the story to pull the reader along. Rather than turning the pages to discover what was going to happen next, I found myself turning the page hoping against hope that there was some great twist that would leave me shaking my head impressed once again by the author's originality. The characters were not as well developed as the Alienist, there was nothing there to make me think. In particular I was put off by the pseudo intellectual posturing that was woven throughout the book. I still havent figured out why the main character was even in the story. What a disappointment..
Rating:
Summary: What happened to Caleb Carr?
Review: Killing Time, by Caleb Carr is mind-numbingly bad. (Doc Savage rides again?) Zero stars would be more appropriate.
Rating:
Summary: Mad Max written with crayons
Review: As a fan of the Alienist and Mr. Carr's intelligent though often-dark perceptions and literary style, I was eager to read this latest book. I'd rate my enjoyment of it just below getting a root canal with gardening tools. The premise was plausible and the introduction intriguing. But it was stretched to cartoonish proportions. The characters and their development were paper thin and amateurish. Reading it was like watching a Buck Rodgers movie in black and white with the props assembled from odds and ends found in the attic with a soundtrack of dramatic piano music borrowed from an early silent film. ...
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