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: The Simple Pleasures... 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.
Rating:  Summary: An entertaining read but little more Review: I bought this novel based on the synopsis and customer reviews I found here. I usually like techno-style, sci-fi thrillers with a realistic edge. The Dark Fields is certainly not a bad read but it lacks that extra something which makes it truly unique or unforgettable. It's fast-paced and original, but never gripping. Especially the end I found a bit predictable and disappointing. Still I'm looking forward to Glynn's next book.
Rating:  Summary: Fast and engaging Review: This book takes off like a shot and accelerates to the last page. I also had the previous reviewer's experience of being drawn into the furious, manic pace of the lead character. This is an amazing story and one of the better books I've read this year. WOW!
Rating:  Summary: A Reminder Review: This story has been told in many guises, and its truth remains. Icarus reaches for the sun; man aspires to godhead; Adam eats of the tree of knowledge. Eddie Spinola discovers MDT-48 and makes a Faustian agreement with that post-Christian Satan that is his own dark side. Power, greed, and an insatiable need for recognition (attention) fuel his rise and inevitable fall. Classical structure assists the narrative as the voices of the Greek chorus (Melissa, his father, Van Loon, his good angel) whisper to him throughout. In his hubris, he doesn?t hear. This book is a good telling of an old tale. It?s predictable, but we can use a reminder of this sort now and then.
Rating:  Summary: The Simple Pleasures... Review: What makes a good book? Is it the message, underlying or otherwise? Is it the stringing together of provokative, honest words and sentences? Is it simply the story? The Dark Fields is, simply put, a page turner. It needn't be anything else to be successful. There are messages (or a message) in this novel and it isn't the most well written thing that I've read, but what the book lacks in literary prowess it makes up for in hypnotic storyline, characterization and descriptors, all of which are done quite simply. You'll never have to read a page or paragraph twice. The contents focus on the nature of ambition and all of it's inherent dysfunction. The rise and fall of Eddie Spinola can be tracked and even mirrored without the use of designer drugs, and that includes reaching the point of no return, where ones personal playing field is forever skewed and to reach what was once a just starting point becomes the ultimate goal. The things people do, huh. I loved this book for it's simplicity and I was engaged from beginning to end, which is all I'll ever ask for in a book.
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