Deprivers: Library Edition

Rating:
Summary: A raw, compelling and thought-provoking work
Review: He turned a handicap into a high paying career as an assassin for hire. Robert Luxley has a "talent" that allows him to paralyze a person with one touch for fifteen minutes, enabling him to make a clean kill. He doesn't know that there are others like him suffering sensory deprivation syndrome (SDS) until he meets Cassandra. She too is a Depriver who wants his help finding her twin brother Nicholas, kidnapped by a radical group of Deprivers.

While Cassie's brother is in captivity, he learns that the government is on the verge of discovering them and outing them to the general public. The extremists, led by Governor Tynsdale, want federal laws mandating that Deprivers register and wear gloves at all times. When Nicholas breaks free of his confinement he meets Cassie and their underground group at their New Jersey house. They and other deprivers fly to Holland to announce their existence before the government can put their own spin on SDS.

DEPRIVERS is a raw, compelling and thought-provoking work of science fiction that leaves readers very unsettled because they project the official treatment of Deprivers onto what has happened to groups in post 9/11 society. The audience will believe that the government will stereotype all Deprivers into one group, spun as dangerous and thus rationalize second class citizenship. There are many heroes in this book who use whatever weapons at hand to diffuse tensions and hostilities between Deprivers and normals.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: I loved this book. This idea is excellent--the syndrome created by the author is seems like it could be for real. The premise is scary and the characters are excellent. I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a good pageturner!

Rating:
Summary: You people must be smoking something
Review: If I could have given this book half a star, I would have. That half star would be for a good premise. However good premise might be, the book is horrible. The characters are half developed (at best) and to steal a line from Dune, there are plots within plots within plots. While this might seem good on the outside, out of the dozen or so subplots, only ONE is resolved, and even that one is written poorly. I would have to say that there are better ways to waste two hours of my life than to read a book this bad.

Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: Steven-Elliot Altman's Deprivers is as frightening as the Hot Zone and reminiscent of the Aids scare of the 80's. Told through compelling characters it seems like it could be true, or right around the next corner.

Be careful who you touch. You'll get more than cooties.

Highly Recommended!

Rating:
Summary: X Men Meets the Fugitive
Review: This book is classic X-Men, you just need to substitute the word "Depriver" for "Mutant." Actually, the mutation is that in near future some people will develop the ability to deprive other of particular senses (sight, taste, balance) by touch. Once the government finds out about it, they want to pass registration acts and require deprivers to wear gloves. Like I said, its X-Men Revisted.

In part two of the book, a "normal" who married a depriver is on a quest to find out who killed his wife. Again, this strikes me as straight out of the Fugitive.

The derivative nature of this book notwithstanding, it's not a bad read. The pace moves quickly and some of the characters are moderately interesting. Makes a good book to read on a plane.

Rating:
Summary: X Men Meets the Fugitive
Review: This book is classic X-Men, you just need to substitute the word "Depriver" for "Mutant." Actually, the mutation is that in near future some people will develop the ability to deprive other of particular senses (sight, taste, balance) by touch. Once the government finds out about it, they want to pass registration acts and require deprivers to wear gloves. Like I said, its X-Men Revisted.

In part two of the book, a "normal" who married a depriver is on a quest to find out who killed his wife. Again, this strikes me as straight out of the Fugitive.

The derivative nature of this book notwithstanding, it's not a bad read. The pace moves quickly and some of the characters are moderately interesting. Makes a good book to read on a plane.

Rating:
Summary: Thrilling, thought provoking action!
Review: When the touch of another can change you forever, you are forced to wear your most private thoughts on your sleeve. This is the case with the characters in Deprivers and it makes the action all the more compelling for the personal choices motivating it. From a felon made to consider the ethics of crime to an agent of justice tempted to trade his morals for vengeance, the inhabitants of this world fully reflect the spectrum of fear and courage each of us must face in light of a mortal consequence, be it terrorism, the AIDS epidemic, racism or religious persecution. If you prefer a little meat on the bones of your thriller, this is the book for you.