Imagine a drug that makes your brain function with perfect efficiency, tapping into your most fundamental resources of intelligence and drive, rele...
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Jul 13, 2011
Lucy
rated it: 
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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3 comments
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(4 people liked it)
Apr 19, 2011
Danielle
rated it: 
So far, I'm annoyed. But only because I ordered this cover, with the original title. And what shipped to me? "Limitless" with Bradley Cooper's mug all over it. There is nothing worse than the movie copy of a book. Nothing. I'm going to use a paperbag book cover to save myself some of the humiliation. The story is good so far, but the cover was traumatizing.
Okay, now that I'm done with the book, and done complaining, it was a decent read. It moved quickly, was well written, More...
Okay, now that I'm done with the book, and done complaining, it was a decent read. It moved quickly, was well written, More...
7 comments
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(9 people liked it)
Feb 14, 2011
Jason
rated it: 
Wait, stop, read this right now, like today.
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(2 people liked it)
Oct 04, 2011
A.
rated it: 
I enjoyed this one (rejoice!).
Full disclosure: I saw the movie first and happened to love it. A lot of times when that happens, I end up begrudging the book its differences (which I realize makes next to zippo sense). This is exactly what happened to me with Fluke by James Herbert, but in fairness, it was up against my former 10 year old self's obsession with the movie of the same name that I watched once a week for years before reading the book.
I was delightfully surpr More...
Full disclosure: I saw the movie first and happened to love it. A lot of times when that happens, I end up begrudging the book its differences (which I realize makes next to zippo sense). This is exactly what happened to me with Fluke by James Herbert, but in fairness, it was up against my former 10 year old self's obsession with the movie of the same name that I watched once a week for years before reading the book.
I was delightfully surpr More...
May 14, 2011
Nasrin
rated it:
I watched the film adaptation (Limitless) before reading the book. Usually it is the other way around for me. I thought the book went into the social impact of the drug much better than the movie did. It accomplished this partly by delving into the experience of other users, besides the protagonist. The main premise, as other reviewers have noted, is a new designer drug that enhances the intelligence. The main character, Eddie Spinola, lives an uninspiring life as a contract writer hurrying to m
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(2 people liked it)
May 07, 2011
Seana
rated it:
The Dark Fields is first and foremost a thriller. Eddie Spinola is a former coke addict and pretty much failure at everything he turns his hand to, including marriage. But that doesn't stop him from running headlong into his former brother-in-law, Vernon Gant, while he's out walking the streets near his apartment, trying to come up with some inspiration for some copy he's supposed to be writing. As the result of their conversation, Vernon offers him a 'free sample' of a new drug he's helping ma
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Apr 04, 2011
Steve
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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(1 person liked it)
Sep 11, 2011
Doug
rated it:
This is the book behind the film "Limitless". It's an interesting premise - a drug that bestows increased mental ability/capacity on the taker. But as with any drug, there are side effects (which of course the protagonist doesn't find out about until later.) In a sense, like any superhero story, the question is will he use his 'power' for good or ill? In this case, I like the description of a man struggling to do something/anything with his life, and what he does when suddenly a lo
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Apr 11, 2011
Jennifer
rated it:
If you were offered a pill that would make you smarter, more focused and infinitely more productive, would you take it? Would you bother to ask about the side effects first?
Protagonist Eddie Spinola isn't initially told what this tiny pill will do for -- or to -- him, but he knocks back the MDT-48 anyway, and his life immediately becomes a thrilling (and unmanageable) roller coaster.
I've not seen the movie, "Limitless," based on this book by Alan Glynn. The film More...
Protagonist Eddie Spinola isn't initially told what this tiny pill will do for -- or to -- him, but he knocks back the MDT-48 anyway, and his life immediately becomes a thrilling (and unmanageable) roller coaster.
I've not seen the movie, "Limitless," based on this book by Alan Glynn. The film More...
Aug 14, 2011
Gabriel
rated it:
Good, but very different from the movie. Recall that this book was originally named "The Dark Fields" and written by a brooding Irishman. Don't expect the same story arc or ending as you find in a Hollywood movie named "Limitless."
All that said, I enjoyed the movie and the book for different reasons. They tell different stories and tell them in different ways. In the movie, Robert De Niro has a line that goes something like "Your powers are unearned to date. No More...
All that said, I enjoyed the movie and the book for different reasons. They tell different stories and tell them in different ways. In the movie, Robert De Niro has a line that goes something like "Your powers are unearned to date. No More...
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(2 people liked it)
Apr 10, 2011
Stephanie
rated it:
#16 Limitless (The Dark Fields) Alan Glynn
“What if a pill could make you rich and powerful?” The tagline for the movie seems to explain it all. Through Eddie Spinola, this novel captures the drive and spirit that founded Wall Street. It also shows that darker side, what happens when we go too far, take one to many foolish advances and then have the rug pulled out from under us? The Modern American Dream cannot be achieved because humanity is flawed, but that doesn’t stop us from try More...
“What if a pill could make you rich and powerful?” The tagline for the movie seems to explain it all. Through Eddie Spinola, this novel captures the drive and spirit that founded Wall Street. It also shows that darker side, what happens when we go too far, take one to many foolish advances and then have the rug pulled out from under us? The Modern American Dream cannot be achieved because humanity is flawed, but that doesn’t stop us from try More...
Aug 04, 2011
Simon
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Apr 13, 2011
Kristin
rated it:
The Dark Fields, written in 2001 was made into a movie called Limitless this year. Normally, book to movie is a rough transition, where the writer of the book does not receive as much credit or creative freedom. This has always made me lean towards favoring the book. However, I enjoyed the movie more this time. The book is told in the perspective of the main character, Eddie Spinola and a series of coincidences leads him to a drug called MDT-48 that allows the user to access knowledge in the bra
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Sep 17, 2011
Brooke
rated it:
You will possibly know this as the Bradley Cooper movie Limitless (if you go searching for the book, look it up under the movie's title - I don't think it's published under the original title any longer).
The main character, Eddie Spinola, acquires some medication that makes him insanely smart. He absorbs information and processes it so quickly that he learns new languages in a day and is able to play the stock market like a toy xylophone. Unfortunately, the drug has its downsides as More...
The main character, Eddie Spinola, acquires some medication that makes him insanely smart. He absorbs information and processes it so quickly that he learns new languages in a day and is able to play the stock market like a toy xylophone. Unfortunately, the drug has its downsides as More...
2 comments
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(5 people liked it)
Jun 22, 2011
Sonia
rated it:
I saw the trailer to the film Limitless some time ago, and thought “Cool – that looks excellent” and then didn’t get a chance to see it at the flicks, so when I saw the book cheap on Kindle (a cool £1) I thought I’d give it a bash.
I didn’t realise that the book had actually been re-released under a different name to tie-in with the film. The book was originally published in 2001 and was called The Dark Fields.
I have to admit, I was completely drawn in right from the very More...
I didn’t realise that the book had actually been re-released under a different name to tie-in with the film. The book was originally published in 2001 and was called The Dark Fields.
I have to admit, I was completely drawn in right from the very More...
2 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Dec 19, 2011
Matt
rated it:
The Dark Fields (or Limitless) is a great high-concept, quasi-literary thriller. The writing throughout is fast paced and highly detailed, each of the characters are well drawn, and the plot was gripping from start to finish. For my money, there's not much more that you could ask for from a book.
The gist of the novel is that Eddie Spinola, a struggling freelance writer, begins taking the super-smart drug MDT after stumbling onto a stash of the pills supplied by his recently murdered ex More...
The gist of the novel is that Eddie Spinola, a struggling freelance writer, begins taking the super-smart drug MDT after stumbling onto a stash of the pills supplied by his recently murdered ex More...
May 29, 2011
JoAnna
rated it: 
I decided to pick this book up because I saw the movie trailer and thought it looked really good. I really hope the movie is better than the book, for once.
The story line seemed promising, but it never picked up. Sure, there were a few parts that started to get exciting, but there was nothing in this book that kept me wanting more. There were way too many irrelevant slow paced parts in the book, a handful of pointless characters (Ginny, especially), and the ending was awful. My h More...
The story line seemed promising, but it never picked up. Sure, there were a few parts that started to get exciting, but there was nothing in this book that kept me wanting more. There were way too many irrelevant slow paced parts in the book, a handful of pointless characters (Ginny, especially), and the ending was awful. My h More...
3 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Apr 16, 2011
Froztwolf
rated it:
I'm always saddened when this happens. You see a movie, made after a book, and you get the feeling there is some dense, convergent story in the book that had to be greatly simplified to fit into movie form. Instead, what you get is an unfocused, chaotic story with a disappointing ending.
On a technical level the book is well written. The language is rich, but easy to read and the characters are believable, if not very relateable.
The structure is where the book fails. It s More...
On a technical level the book is well written. The language is rich, but easy to read and the characters are believable, if not very relateable.
The structure is where the book fails. It s More...
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(1 person liked it)
Apr 03, 2011
Jenny
rated it:
I'm wavering between 2 and 3 stars on this one. I love the premise, the idea - and it's not far-fetched at all - that a pill could help us utilise our full mental potential. How addictive that would be! Glynn's writing is good as are his characters. If anything he overdid the research in my opinion: there's way too much information regarding how his MC conquered the stock market - pages of it. For me he should have summed this all up in one paragraph: For the next couple of months I analysed and
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(1 person liked it)
Aug 27, 2011
Amanda
rated it:
This was originally titled The Dark Fields but was re-titled and re-covered with the movie stuff, which is a pet peeve.
I think I can sum this book up in one sentence: Kids, drugs are bad for you.
Actually, this was a pretty good book and I would even admit to wanting to try out the MDT-48 drug, if only to have a clean house and a banging career. But without the nasty side effects. Eddie Spinola is a massively down on his luck copywriter in New York. He ends up running int More...
I think I can sum this book up in one sentence: Kids, drugs are bad for you.
Actually, this was a pretty good book and I would even admit to wanting to try out the MDT-48 drug, if only to have a clean house and a banging career. But without the nasty side effects. Eddie Spinola is a massively down on his luck copywriter in New York. He ends up running int More...
Jan 15, 2012
Chelsea
rated it:
The premise is interesting and I liked some of the elements that unfolded in the last few chapters, but I wasn't crazy about the book as a whole. I can't quite put my finger on what I didn't like. The writing wasn't terrible; I just didn't like it. I didn't like the main character and I didn't feel particularly sympathetic to him. I didn't like the predictability of the ending. I didn't like that I felt inevitable hopelessness while reading the story. Plus I felt like the book could have b
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Nov 02, 2011
Ivor
rated it:
Came across this book in a second-hand bookshop, and was so intrigued by the concept I immediately bought it against budgetary concerns (who needs to eat when you can read a great book that feeds the mind, heh heh). Well, I was not disappointed, read it in one sitting, and have to applaud this first novel from Alan Glynn (now of course I have to read all his other books too). In a world currently obsessed by information, collecting information, data mining and analysis of that information, Glynn
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Feb 20, 2012
Brian
rated it:
This isn't the kind of book I usually read, but a combination of Starbucks offering it as a freebee for iBooks and being stuck somewhere without reading material but with an iPad made it something I reluctantly started.
I was pleasantly surprised. The book reads well - it's very polished for a sort-of-thriller. I'd got the impression from someone who had seen the film based on it (Limitless) that it involved a pill that effectively slowed down subjective time (in exchange for killing More...
I was pleasantly surprised. The book reads well - it's very polished for a sort-of-thriller. I'd got the impression from someone who had seen the film based on it (Limitless) that it involved a pill that effectively slowed down subjective time (in exchange for killing More...
Nov 23, 2011
Amanda
rated it:
First, let me start by saying that I saw the movie Limitless months before I read the book.
This is the story of Eddie, a burnout, who comes across a new drug—a smart drug that is very addictive, but ends up having unfortunate side effects.
Originally, I felt that I had actually come across an instance in which the movie was actually better than the book—something I thought would never occur. I really liked the movie, but the book was just ok. The book was too slow pace More...
This is the story of Eddie, a burnout, who comes across a new drug—a smart drug that is very addictive, but ends up having unfortunate side effects.
Originally, I felt that I had actually come across an instance in which the movie was actually better than the book—something I thought would never occur. I really liked the movie, but the book was just ok. The book was too slow pace More...
Sep 16, 2011
Christine
rated it:
I really enjoyed this book. Having seen the film, I was keen to read where the idea came from, and I was fascinated throughout to see where the differences were between book and screen.
There were quite a few differences, it felt like the book had a lot less open strands to take the story forward. I can understand why they would need the film to have more characters and a few more subplots, but I enjoyed it being focused on the main character alone.
The descriptions of the effe More...
There were quite a few differences, it felt like the book had a lot less open strands to take the story forward. I can understand why they would need the film to have more characters and a few more subplots, but I enjoyed it being focused on the main character alone.
The descriptions of the effe More...
Jan 03, 2012
Amber
rated it:
I really enjoyed this book. Yes, I saw the Bradley Cooper movie first, but now that I've read the book I find it to be pretty self-serving. The events in the book felt more genuine, truer to life as we know it and human nature as it is. I found myself stuck on the sociopathic tendencies that bloomed along with the MDT in Eddie's system, but it wasn't presented in a snobby or self-congratulatory way. I could understand why Eddie acted the way he did.... of course, I was seeing his thought process
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Aug 23, 2011
Shui
rated it:
It's always awkward to see the film then read the book, I'm always being reminded that usually I'm disappointed by the film because the book is so much better, so unusually I actually decided to do this the other way round. Of course it works really well sometimes. Look at Trainspotting, bloody brilliant film AND book and very different in each medium, but not really the story, more the telling of the story. Anyway, I'm guessing that I'm not supposed to be writing a review of Trainspotting so he
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Dec 04, 2011
Ian
rated it:
This book was nothing special, but it did have the odd enjoyable part. I think the main issue I have with this book- the biggest flaw- is that the drug is presented as a "smart" drug, one that makes the addict more intelligent, but just about every other scene I was reading I kept thinking "Why the hell are you doing something as stupid as this?"
Seriously. One scene in particular, where the protagonist <spoiler>goes to the Russian mob for a loan because he c More...
Seriously. One scene in particular, where the protagonist <spoiler>goes to the Russian mob for a loan because he c More...
Mar 21, 2011
Chris
rated it:
I really enjoyed this book. The premise alone was enough to keep me reading. Eddie Spinola is a burnout, but when his ex-brother-in-law gives him a drug called MDT, he becomes a genius. The drug allows him to harness the full capacity of his brain, and Eddie plays the stock market for millions, eventually mixing it up with some of the world's most influential men. However, as he starts to run out and experience side effects, he starts to fall into a dangerous abyss of addiction and high stakes (
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Jan 08, 2012
Roxie
rated it:
I always try to read the book before watching the movie just because so the first read for 2012 was Dark Fields or Limitless. I really liked this book, so pleased i read it would definitely recommend it. Basically ex junkie Eddie now a writer bumps into his brother in law Vern one day and he tells Eddie of this 'smart pill' or 'MDT-48' so Eddie takes this pill, thus beginning the tale of how screwed Eddie would be. Then the book just never reaches a lull even when Eddie is just tidying his livin
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