So...the Evil One…


Just looking at Cheney Satan you can tell that he’s a mean, duplicitous, evil, soul-sucking prick who greedily wallows in his own vileness like a pig on a crap carpet.

Still...there’s no denying that the "Horned One" makes a great plot device and I am a big fan of “is it really the Devil or isn’t it” stories. I especially enjoy the psychological, “closed door mystery” variety where maybe-satan is stuck in a specific location and the characters are trying to establish his bona More...

This is what I'm talking about! Just finished two mediocre books and was wanting so badly to pick up a can't-put-down story along the lines of Natural Selection and The Relic, and I chose this one on my Kindle. Great pick, if I do say so myself. Love books about ancient history and religion; throw a demon into the mix and I'm a happy camper. This book is all kinds of fun and it's taking my mind off my current troubles.

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Andy, a young linguist who More...

I'd give this one 3.5 stars especially since it's only .99 cents on Kindle. The author describes this in his afterward as Jurassic Park meets The Exorcist which I'd say is fairly accurate. It starts off with the workers building the Panama canal finding a capsule with a creature that may or may not be the devil hibernating within. Roosevelt has it shipped to the US and builds an underground facility to study and contain it. The real action starts in modern times when the thing wakes up. Overall More...

I finished reading this book yesterday. I was a bit let down because I felt that the story had the potential to be a lot better. I'm not trashing it however. The premise was great. But the first half of the story dragged on a bit too long. At one point I nearly lost interest. Then a major incident (don't want to give away the spoiler) got me hooked and it became a rollercoaster ride right until the very last page. Then something else happened on the last page (no spoiler) that upset me.

The initi More...

Fascinating! Absolutely loved the deft manipulation in the debate from the 3 sides (Judaism, Catholicism, and science)regarding what Bub is. To the point where all 3 feel justly represented. Of course being a science geek I found plot entirely plausible. Loved the characters Enjoyed the realistic dialog. Bub was the best villain ever. Those eating scenes are going to haunt my memory for awhile. Not only am I giving this book 5 out of 5 stars, but it has made it to my list of top 10 books EVER!

I loved the concept for this, but the execution fell a bit short. The great set-up made for an intriguing mystery - the US governent has "Satan" locked in an underground lab for study. But who or what is Bub in reality? Unfortunately, the premise was let down by a couple of things. Firstly, the characters, none of whom felt particularly well-fleshed out (with the exception of Sun, who I loved), and some felt a lot more like plot devices than people. I didn't really connect with anyone (again, ex More...

I see a lot of people liked this book, I didn't. I found the premise weak and even with his "what's really happening" take on things I had the "been there, done that, got the tee shirt" feeling from early on.

The characters did little or nothing for me. They move through the story as they're directed by the writer and they're okay, but I couldn't get involved with them. I couldn't care.

I've been reading another series by Mr. Konrath and I find that there's something in common. He either doesn't r More...

In 1906, workers digging the Panama Canal discovered a capsule buried deep in the earth. They found it contained a sleeping demon. The U.S. government imprisoned the beast in a secret facility buried beneath the desert where it's been studied ever since. But because an assignment to Project Samhain is a one-way ticket, the facility ends up being staffed by misfits, oddballs, and people who have screwed up so badly that they're willing to take the risk of permanent exile for a shot at redemption. More...

The government finds a creature that appears to be a demon in a state of hibernation. They lock him a high security facility and do experiments on him for a generation. They have lots of time to prepare, but also lots of time to become complacent. Then he wakes up.

This is a highly entertaining yarn and kept me clicking through the Kindle pages. It was also darkly hilarious.

Two minor nits that bothered me just because I know something about them - Sun claims that she got out of her student loans More...

Origin was one of Konrath's first unpublished novels. The fact that it was unpublished shouldn't detract someone from reading it. As with any first attempts, the book has flaws but it shows the promise of this author. The characters of Origin are flawed individuals, each with a dark past and each are part of a team charged with investigating a creature that looks and talks like Satan. Flawed characters with dark, secretive pasts, has become a trademark of Konrath's novels.

While there were severa More...

Picture this! 100 years ago a capsule was discovered buried in the ground (supposedly by the Mayans). Inside, was a giant creature which resembled everyone's worst-nightmare description of the devil himself, complete with horns and wings. The U.S. government built a massive underground secret facility to house this mammoth creature. For 100 years, the creature, which they called Bub (short for Beelzebub) was in a coma. The government contracted with the top science, religious and medical minds t More...

It was a fun read, well worth the $0.99 I paid for it, but definitely what I would call a popcorn novel.

The pitch, as written by the author, is:

Thriller writer J.A. Konrath, author of the Lt. Jack Daniels series, digs into the vaults and unearths a technohorror tale from the depths of hell...

1906 - Something is discovered by workers digging the Panama Canal. Something dormant. Sinister. Very much alive.

2009 - Project Samhain. A secret underground government installation begun 103 years ago in Ne More...

So my halfway-point review was spot-on. It was a quick read, but the characters and their struggles remained flatly on the pages (or more accurately, the screen). The pacing was great, the premise of the story was actually better than I thought it would be (though I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about having "The Relic" meet "The Exorcist" only to find that I've really been in "Stargate" the entire time), but I just didn't give a damn about anyone.

The author went through the trouble of g More...

Something was discovered in Panama in 1906. Large, bestial, and hidden in what looked like a sarcophagus. The president had it moved to New Mexico in an underground facility. This discovery “Bub” has been in a coma for all these years and workers, sworn to secrecy, have come and gone. But now the creature has awakened. There are carvings on the sarcophagus and the creature isn’t speaking in a language anyone recognizes. Andy Dennison, a linguist, is awakened one day with a message: “Your country More...

Full video review here: http://mysterythriller.tv/origin-by-j...

I’m a sucker for anything remotely spiritual or related to gods or demons. With a beginning quote from revelation I was hooked!

Plot Overview (no spoilers): When the Panama canal was being excavated a 12 foot long casket was found, marked with strange symbols. Inside was a creature of indescribable horror, alive but lying dormant which was transported back to the US and kept in a secret location in New Mexico, Project Samhain. Now, t More...

A very good read. Probably one of the most original books I've read for quite some time and one I would definitely recommend giving a chance.

The basic story is that during the excavation of the Panama Canal, we discovered a container with the devil inside. President Roosevelt then had a facility built for the study of the creature. Fast forward half a century and the beast wakes up and it falls on a group of specialized expendables to determine what the truth is to the creature's origins and the More...

I first heard of J.A. Konrath through the Amazon Vine programme; I had chosen one of his books, Shaken (Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels Mysteries) (Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels Series), to review and ended up really enjoying it, even if it I hadn't read the previous instalments of that series. Therefore, when I heard of `Origin' via the author's own blog, I decided to purchase a copy to read on the Kindle. Konrath had challenged his readers to all download the book for a very competitive promotional pric More...

I’ve got a ton of Joe Konrath books on my Kindle from when he was doing a 3-day giveaway where (virtually) all of his books were free. They’ve been sitting there untouched for quite a while, so I decided to finally give Origin a shot. After all, the book is described as a mix between The Exorcist and Jurassic Park . I don’t see how one could possibly go wrong with that.

And, while Mr. Konrath didn’t go wrong with it, I have to admit the book could have been better (hence my middle-of-the-road ra More...

I must say that I was intrigued by the title and even more by the intro. The story is about a mysterious thing that was found and it had egyptian and mayan markings on it. It is stored in an underground facility that the government has been sending misfits to for decades. It was found in 1906 and has now woken up to resemble what most assume is the devil. Through different events, linguist Andy and doctor Sun have found that their lives got the attention of the government and now they must go he More...

I recently purchased an Amazon Kindle and downloaded this book for one simple reason-it was free. I checked the reviews and it is marked favorably, that combined with free, really hit the mark. I downloaded it in under 30 seconds to my kindle and began to read.

Origin was never published in bound book form. Mr. Konrath shopped it around however, it was never picked up for publishing. After several tinkering sessions he decided to release it for free via his website. The response from readers, tho More...

Origin is one hell of an express ride. Brilliantly fast paced and scary. A completely satisfactory techno thriller, what it promised and intended to be. I read away last 180 pages in a single go, it was that hard to put down.

Pros:
- Decent characters, no unnecessary manuscripts about their pasts that is a major put-off sometimes.
- Decent enough story with element of suspense and discovery
- Brilliantly described ambiance and setting against story background
- Fast paced adrenaline rush driven secon More...

This book definitely captured my interest as it posed the question what would man do with a creature that they thought was the devil? Well, lock it up, studying it, probe it and debate over it of course! For an unpublished work, this book was far more engaging than I thought it would have been. The writer even details his literary failures with the piece which I found particularly fascinating as a writer myself.

Did I detect anything unpolished about this work? Nope. It has all the prequisite th More...

I found this book as I read the author's blog on fiction publication. The story concerns an ancient evil that was discovered in hibernation in Panama while building the Canal back in the early 20th century. The dormant 9-foot tall winged creature with horns and hoofs might be the actual devil. President Teddy Roosevelt orders it brought back to the US where an underground facility is constructed to imprison and study this creature. Fast forward to the modern day era and the creature has just awa More...

So... Jurassic Park and The Exorcist have a love-child... And what an entertaining bub it is... The tension never eases, the mystery keeps elusive, religion is debated, detailed genetic science is explicated, relationships are tested and the suspense continues until the final pages as things go horribly wrong in the compound housing what appears to be Lucifer... Sure, there are flaws, particularly towards the beginning. The dialogue in the Roosevelt scenes seemed a little off, and there were som More...

Wow. Why hasn't a publisher grabbed this? I had heard about Konrath and read THE LIST, which I loved, so I was ready to be entertained again with ORIGIN. Excellent, marvelous. It really is an interesting mix of genres. I read on the stationary bike (hate to exercise) and this book had me so intensely involved that I kept riding, ignoring the dinging timer, three mornings straight. Premise: what if the government had secretly hidden away in a top secret facility a comatose Lucifer? Yup, that's ri More...

Evidence that just because a book has not sold to traditional publishers does mean it's a bad piece of work. Konrath takes everyone's favourite bad guy and treats him as scientifically as Crichton did a dinosaur theme park. I was genuinely impressed with this original approach to a monster we have seen time and time again.

The story rocks along at the breakneck page-turning pace I've come to expect from this gentleman's stories and is a successful blend of horror, thriller and science.

My only cri More...

I enjoyed that this was somewhat off the beaten path as far as horror goes. Scientists have discovered an ancient demon, possibly Lucifer himself, and have him prisoner in a secret underground government lab, conducting tests on him and trying to figure him out. Turns out the creature has certain technological abilities when it comes to DNA, and altering DNA. I thought the book lagged a bit through some of the last half, but then it got exciting again toward the end. It's a self-published book, More...

As a long-time fan of Michael Crichton and Steven King, it's been a while since I've read a book that reminded me how fantastic a book like Origen could be to get lost in. This book doesn't disappoint and anyone who likes thrillers with sound science and enough detail to make the story more than plausible should get this book now. As a writer, the research that must have gone into this book would have been a lot to keep up with, from over a hundred years of presidential history, genome mapping, More...

I absolutely loved this story. I was almost sad that I finished it so rapidly. A real page turner, couldn't put it down. Konrath writes exiting stuff. There could be a sequel to this book for sure, and I would buy it immediately. There were many typos throughout the book, but it didn't take much away from the thrill of reading it.
I ordered other Konrath books already (and some written under his Kilborn alter ego).
In Origin the story is fast paced, intriguing and full of action. The creature is r More...