Rating:  Summary: ...read this one! Review: ...The Dark Fields" hardly fits the cookie-cutter format of your average fiction of this genre. If you had to put it in a box, I'd call it Science Fiction.... Glynn's narrative voice for protagonist Eddie Spinola is strong and distinct, his New York (in a not too distant future/alternate future?) is detailed, alive and edgy, peopled with a well-drawn cast of supporting characters. I wish Glynn had done more with Ginny Van Loon and Donatella Alvarez, both strong female characters woefully underused. Nonetheless, a very satisfying read. ...Alan Glynn is writer to watch.
Rating:  Summary: Enthralling Review: A fantastic exploration of the desire to be more, be better, be everything to everyone... the seduction of intellectual, social and financial POWER. Glynn has a great one here - looking for more.
Rating:  Summary: A good first novel Review: A good first novel by Alan Fields.Eddie Spinola is a copywriter working for Kerr and Dexter Publishing. One day while walking down the street he runs into his ex-brother-in-law. It's been about ten years since they've seen each other, so they chatted a bit. The next thing you know Eddie is given a pill to try. This 'supposed' smart pill apparently does make him smarter but it also has some deleterious side effects. Death seems to surround this drug whether it's murder or the side effects. The first half of the book seemed to move rather slowly, but the second half picked up the pace and made the book well worth the read. The whole concept of a smart drug was very intriguing. Eddie Spinola's character was likable but I didn't really care if anything happened to him. He was naïve about the drugs side effects and thinking ahead. The ending was left somewhat open. A good first novel with a not so good cover. Recommended
Rating:  Summary: Makes you yearn for your own MDT Review: An engaging read. I loved the premise, but didn't necessarily buy into how the main character made use of his newly obtained abilities. The book could have used a bit more polishing I think, but regardless, it definitely kept me interested. I would love to read a sequel about a world where the MDT kinks have been worked out, and it's as common as a daily vitamin.
Rating:  Summary: Makes you yearn for your own MDT Review: An engaging read. I loved the premise, but didn't necessarily buy into how the main character made use of his newly obtained abilities. The book could have used a bit more polishing I think, but regardless, it definitely kept me interested. I would love to read a sequel about a world where the MDT kinks have been worked out, and it's as common as a daily vitamin.
Rating:  Summary: Better than I expected. Review: Frankly, I thought the blurbs on this novel damned it with faint praise. Some writer said it was a good "start" for Glynn. Someone else called it "slick." I was expecting it to be kind of a silly romp. Instead, I thought the idea of this drug posed interesting questions. So what if it kills you. Life is terminal. I want some! I had no fault to find with the writing style. It was fast and transparent. That is a lot more difficult to achieve than many realize. This is a very good thriller.
Rating:  Summary: Better than I expected. Review: Frankly, I thought the blurbs on this novel damned it with faint praise. Some writer said it was a good "start" for Glynn. Someone else called it "slick." I was expecting it to be kind of a silly romp. Instead, I thought the idea of this drug posed interesting questions. So what if it kills you. Life is terminal. I want some! I had no fault to find with the writing style. It was fast and transparent. That is a lot more difficult to achieve than many realize. This is a very good thriller.
Rating:  Summary: Better than I expected. Review: Frankly, I thought the blurbs on this novel damned it with faint praise. Some writer said it was a good "start" for Glynn. Someone else called it "slick." I was expecting it to be kind of a silly romp. Instead, I thought the idea of this drug posed interesting questions. So what if it kills you. Life is terminal. I want some! I had no fault to find with the writing style. It was fast and transparent. That is a lot more difficult to achieve than many realize. This is a very good thriller.
Rating:  Summary: Well written, gripping... and a very disappointing ending. Review: Glynn knows how to construct a thriller -- his writing is literate, evocative and really gives you a sense of the world in which the story is set (with the exception of it's attempt to convey a world in which the U.S. is seriously considering invading Mexico, which was laughable). On the plus side, the story weighs serious moral issues of drug use, and digs deep into philophical musings about the nature of human addiction. Twists and turns abound and he knows how to build suspense by teasing readers with tantalizing fragments of information and doling them out in controlled, expertly measured rations. However, after withholding the goods for 300+ pages, when we finally want to know what the heck has been going on and who's behind all this, Glynn gives us the same thing he's been giving the entire novel: a few tantalizing morsels, which quickly turn to frustating morsels because they resolve so little. Actually, if one thinks about it, the final "phone conversation" in which he's supposed to find out what's really been going on creates many more gaping holes and questions than it answers. This book was one of the fastest reads I've ever had, but Glynn's editor should have told him that his set-ups need a pay-off, and simply ending on a seriously bleak note does not a complete story, or literate novel, make.
Rating:  Summary: Wow... Review: I began reading it that day, and read through it all in two. Definitely a page turner, with an amazing message. I could completely empathize with Eddie (The main character) and could understand all of his actions, definitely an author I'll be keeping an eye on.
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