Rating: 
Summary: Below average from Mr. Simmons
Review: Sadly, in my opinion this is an example of wasted premise. This could be a great book, one of the quality novels Dan Simmons got us hooked on. However, there are quite a few things that did not make it work in this reader's opinion.
First of all, the protagonist. He never quite connected with me, for several reasons. For one, a guy with several thousand books only reaches for Marcus Aurelius and (if I remember correctly) Euripides in the whole months of time the plot encompasses - either he got slow on reading in his middle age, or he was buying the stuff as thermal isolation. And the shelving system is somewhat extreme even for me (ask my wife - she claims mine is wholly irrational).
Secondly, the Dalat passage is rife with editorial/fact-checking mistakes. One of NVA tanks mysteriously morphes from a T-55 into T-72 (as far as I know, the NVA never had any of the latter), and those tanks are supposedly armed with 73-milimeter cannon (now that calibre weapon was mounted only on the early Soviet AFVs, the BMP-1 model). A quick check with Jane's Fighting Vehicles would avoid the unpleasantness. Apparently, only Jane's handbook on firearms was consulted.
Thirdly, some of the accidents recalled by protagonist (barn-roofing tale and one other) are lifted from a previous Simmons story, I can't recall the title right now, but it was in the "Lovedeath" collection. And that's a bit cheap (as are, in all, the constant references to the Darwin Award. Having the protagonist also named Darwin did not help there).
In all, I'd rather have Mr. Simmons doing fine stuff like "Hardcase", and leaving sniper thrillers in the capable hands of Stephen Hunter. Dixi (I do too have some Latin)
Rating: 
Summary: Worst book I've read in my life
Review: This was so boring, I cannot begin to separate all the most boring parts. All the stuff about guns, fighting and airplane flying was over my pitiful female head. I rarely knew what was happening so why did I finish it??? Because I thought Dan S. was a good author and I kepy waiting for something to happen. Most of this was unbelievable.
Rating: 
Summary: This was no accident
Review: Dan Simmons' reluctant protagonist Dr. Darwin Minor is one of the country's foremost accident investigator and reconstructor. Dar, as he prefers to be called, has a colorful and diverse background. He currently works for Stewart Investigations, a husband and wife team (Lawrence & Trudy) specializing in fraudulent accident claims. Minor has a Phd. in physics, graduated from college at 19 to join the Marines as a master sniper in the jungles of Vietnam. He has known devastating tragedy in his life in addition to his Marine experiences. While working for the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board), he inadvertantly was called in to investigate a Colorado plane crash in which his wife and young son perished. While investigating a suspicious auto accident, Dar gets sucked into a huge insurance fraud ring called the Alliance. Using illegal immigrants and the poor they stage what is known as swoop and squat accidents and then file phony claims. Unfortunately, the participants are dying at an alarming rate. The ring is headed by celebrated defense attorney Dallas Trace, a thinly veiled caricature of Gerry Spence and enforced by the Russian mafia. Getting too close to the source, an attempt is made on Minor's life by a Russian sniper team. Minor decides to join forces with the tough but beautiful California Special Investigator Sydney Olson who acts as his bodyguard. As the book progresses, Minor gets immersed in more and more dangerous situations as the body count surrounding the insurance fraud skyrockets. Simmons pens his story at a steady pace with fascinating insights into the recreation of accidents. This novel has adequate doses of action and intrigue mixed in with passion and emotion to be an entertaining read.
Rating:
Summary: Do not even try
Review: I feel rage.
Rage, because I can not understand how a writer as good as Simmons can lose his time (and readers time, too) with novels(?) like this.
This is not a Dan Simmons novel. At least, not the same Simmons who wrote Hyperion/Endymion tetralogy, or Carrion Comfort, or Song of Kali...
This is a book that has more in common with Tom Clancy's books than with the previous works of Simmons.
Completely flat characters, predictable plot... The only thing that made me keep on reading was the fact that nothing that will happend in the book could be worse than what I have read before. But believe me, somehow he manages it.
And it's a pitty. Because Simmons was one of the greatest. He touches glory with his previous writtings, but now, with books like this, he is staining the prestige he won with his first works.
Don't lose your time with this.
Rating:
Summary: Not Great, But Still Fun
Review: The last book I read from Dan Simmons was horror novel "Children of the Night." This is completely different. Darwin Minor is an accident investigator for insurance companies. One of the best in the business actually. But as he begins to uncover what may be massive insurance fraud,it seems someone definitely wants him dead.At times the book almost feels like something John Grisham would've penned. And the accidents are all based on real incidents, which unfortuantely are very funny at the expense of some very stupid people. There are points the book could use an editor,especially in regards to the meticulous detailing of firearms, but overall it's a mindless page turner for people with a penchant for Grisham or Patterson.
Rating:
Summary: Not perfect, but still a page turner
Review: I discovered Dan Simmons some time ago when I read his book The Hollow Man. Darwin's Blade is a much better book than The Hollow Man. The chase scene with Dar Minor and his Acura NSX against Russian mobsters in their Mercedes E 340 is one of the best I've ever read. The sniper vs. sniper action at the end is also quite good and exciting. Mr. Simmons has obviously done his homework. The only thing I thought was a little cheesy about the whole book was that Simmons has a tendency to put very smart people into positions that they should have been smart enough to stay out of. You'll figure it out when you get to one of the sailplane sequences. But, I guess this is one way to move the plot along and keep things exciting. In all, it's great read with unique, likeable characters, lots of action and plenty of detail. I hope to see more from this very talented author.
Rating: 
Summary: A Smart and Fun Read
Review: This is a light and fun read which is differnt from anything Simmon's has written before. Darwin Minor (Everyone calls him Dar) is the best accident insurance investigator in the business, so good and so smart it's a little annoying at first but once you get into the flow of this book and forget who wrote it, it's just great fun.
Darwin Minor is like a cross between S.S. Van Dine's Philo Vance and TV's Thomas Magnum. It's as smart as the Spencer novels but without the in your face machismo. Minor drives an NSX that will do 160mph and reads 100's of books. After Russian hit men unsuccessfully try to take he and his car out of the action Minor has to work with a pretty and almost as smart D.A. to uncover a billion dollar insurance scam and figure out why and where he fits in.
We learn that Darwin Minor is a widow, his wife and son killed in a plane disaster he himself was called out on before anyone realized who was on the passenger list. Simmons has moments of exitement in the book but for the most part it is character driven and it begs for a sequel. It's to Simmon's credit that he can write something so different from the serious and award winning sci-fi and horror he does better than anyone. I suspect people who picked this up just because it had Simmon's name on the cover didn't give it a real chance.
If your looking for something different in the genre however, you will probably enjoy this book as much as I did. I'll buy the next Darwin Minor book in a heartbeat. This is a smart and intelligent read and I reccomend giving the NSX a spin around the block.
Rating:
Summary: Just like to point out in light of......
Review: Mr. Randall's comments below, that the whole rocket tied to an El Camino really did happen in real life, and as a matter of fact the situation was awarded a Darwin Award...
if you dont know what a Darwin Award is you are seriously detatched from real life..
i thought it pretty witty
Rating:
Summary: Old Insurance Jokes, No Plot and No Editing
Review: I'm shocked that this book made it to press. It starts out with the hero "Darwin Minor", crack insurance fraud investigator, looking into an "accident" that turns out to be the result of some idiot who strapped a couple of solid fuel rockets to his 1982 El Camino out in the middle of a long stretch of road, lit the match and flew several thousand feet into the side of a mountain (get real). How did "Dar" figure this out when there was nothing left but a hole in the ground and an El Camino door handle? "A simple matter of friction coefficient" and some asphalt that had melted and resolidified. The weird part is that you don't know if the author is pulling your leg or not. I mean, the book cover says it's a "Novel of Suspense" but I'm thinking comedy at this point. It turns out the cover and I were both wrong. The only suspense in the book is around the question "How bad can the humor get?" You know the list of old insurance jokes that keeps recycling every few years? There's half a chapter devoted to retelling every one of them and another WHOLE chapter whose only purpose is to tell an old courtroom joke. It felt like Simmons just decided to tell some jokes in the middle of a book. Maybe he was hoping he could distract the reader from the fact that he had no story to tell. In another chapter we get a lesson in physics where several pages are filled with mathematical equations (square root signs, subscripts, really cool math stuff), drag coefficients of asphalt versus concrete, bumper heights versus center of gravity for a man. All of these senseless values are calculated and recalculated until we get some van's speed at the point of impact down to the nearest tenth of a mph. You have to go back several pages and reread to remember why you were put through this mind numbing exercise. This is about halfway through the book and you're still left wondering when there's going to be a story. The editors at HarperCollins must have been asleep when they read this book. It drags on and on without a decent plot. Characters say one thing, then contradict themselves a couple of paragraphs later. Not a single character in the book has an ounce of intelligence (because they don't know what they're supposed to be doing in the story). There's no cohesiveness from chapter to chapter, characters change personalities, everyone is driving from one end of California to the next every day until you don't know where they are or why they're there... Hey, you know what, I'm done. This book is just plain BAD. ! Simmons has written some of the GREATEST FICTION EVER (try the Hyperion trilogy). It would be a real shame if this book formed your impression of a truly great writer. Those of us who have been following Simmons will no doubt be forgiving (really forgiving).
Rating:
Summary: Another departure for Simmons
Review: I've been reading Simmons since I heard about him interviewed by Harlan Ellison on a LA radio show called Hour 25. That was right after Song of Kali came out. Since then, he was written all sorts of horror and science fiction and, more recently, mysteries. While his previous foray into mysteries, The Crook Factory, was more of a WWII spy novel, this one is a modern day crime thriller. As always, Simmons shows why he is one of the better writers. This is a well-written suspense story with bits of humor that he usually doesn't show (the exception being Fires of Eden). Unfortunately, I cannot give this five stars. The loss-of-one-star flaw is his use of a lot of anecdotal stories that are familiar to anyone who's been on the internet for a while: he incorporates various urban myths and "Darwin Award" stories into his novel, and besides the lack of creativity in this area, I knew the punch line to these stories long before they were over. From the excerpt in the back of the book, it appears Simmons will go back to horror for his next novel. This is, to me, his strongest field, and it will be nice to see how he returns to his original genre.
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