Rating: 
Summary: Anything but Numb!
Review: This book is captivating and intriguing! The plot twists and turns on every page to keep the reader guessing and wondering what will happen next. I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel!
Rating:
Summary: A Potboiler of Urgent Possibilities
Review: What immediately stands out in "Comfortably Numb" is the easy way sophisticated technology is meshed with the plot. So often, such technology, though intriguing, intimidates the reader, diffusing the impact of the story, but not in the hands of new author, Guy Jones. He makes computerized weapons and defense technology as simple to understand as driving a car-an important feat, for technology is as big a star in this story as the characters.While the pace starts off slowly during the set up of the characters and plot, it picks up speed and never lets go. The reader becomes embroiled in the lives of Drew Martin and Jamie Dupree, who are thrust in Harm's Way repeatedly with no visible control to stop events overtaking them. This represents the most frightening frustration that military people face, but Drew and Jamie do not accept the "do or die" code of military order. Rather, they assume a "can do" attitude and rise above the conspiracy threatening them and the world at large. Guy Jones is an author who sticks to his vision. This is evident in his character development, where the background of Captain Jason ("Weeds") Lee becomes a story within the story. This treatment breaks all conventional writing techniques, but it works and utterly engages the reader's sympathy. Taking his readers inside the lives of America's "warriors," Guy Jones shows the dedicated courage they bring to their jobs every moment of every day. Through an evocative plot that twists and turns like a plane in an uncontrolled spin, Jones barely pulls it out in time, thus making "Comfortably Numb" a thrill ride no reader can forget. It's also a chilling experience, for the possibilities portrayed serve as a stark and scary look into a future that may already be here. Above all, "Comfortably Numb" is a tribute to the Joint STARS that raises this lesser known of our armed forces' "guardians" to public view where, at last, they can be fully appreciated and honored.
Rating:
Summary: The Title Misleads
Review: While the state of comfortable numbness may be an appropriate description of USAF personnel doing long shifts on JSTARS or AWACS, that description does not apply to readers of Guy Jones' book with that title. Numb, maybe, over the first pages as Jones sets the stage a little slowly; but never comfortable and definitely not numb over the entire book. The promotional blurbs on the cover liken this book to the "techno-thrillers" of Tom Clancy and Dale Brown. I disagree. There is technology: JSTARS and AWACS do their job using very sophisticated technology, but the technology is pertinent to the story only as necessary for a thriller set in that environment. I liken this story more to the "anxiety dreams" of Robert Ludlum, but where Ludlum was the suave sophistication of Cary Grant, Jones creates a situation with more of the down-to-earth coping of Andy Griffith. Two college friends, different genders but with no sexual relationship (her doing, not his), go into ROTC and JSTARS/AWACS training together, and are assigned together for duty. Their on-the-job mentor and training officer is more than a little weird, and definitely on the outs with their commanding officer. They all end up on a mission where the fan starts being pelted. Their ensuing adventures, blundering through a Ludlumesque environment, end up exposing a major international plot. All's well that ends well, and the characters go off to live happily ever after-or do they? This is a great read, and I look forward to more-either the continuation of this story as set up very well by Jones, or something new. Based on this book, either will be welcome.
| 
