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Nov 17, 2011

Tracey rated it:

Utopia is not a bad book; it's just not a great book. I'm spoiled by mystery writers such as Jeffery Deaver and Anne Perry who build suspense like master architects of breathtaking mazes that delight and confound but still let people out at the end. Yes, okay, Lincoln Child (Is that his real name??) wrote a thriller, not really a mystery: In an idyllic new theme park that draws on the latest technology comes a bad guy who threatens serious harm unless he's given the technological secrets to the More...

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Feb 17, 2010

Jane rated it:

Lincoln Child knows how to entertain a reader. Yes...his books are not cerebral...they are just plain fun! Utopia is the setting..a "playground" for the public near Las Vegas. It is a fantasy world beneath a giant dome, the size of a small town. The book is rich in description allowing the reader to partake in what the "amusement park" has to offer. Lots of holograms, futuristic robots, replications of mood/weather/towns. The main character returns to Utopia when a prob More...

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Jan 29, 2012

Dave rated it:

OK, good not great. Theme park shake down thriller featuring widowed robotics professor with teen daughter. WestWorld meets Ocean's 11 for the taking of the Pelham 123 with a hat tip to Jaws. Escapist fiction like fiery cheese puffs.

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May 27, 2011

Chris rated it:

I liked this book more the further I got into it. At first, I thought it was a former Disney employee trying to dream up a great scare at something unimaginatively similar to Walt Disney World, with the only major addition being a glass dome atop the property, what amounts to a running joke at Disney. About a fourth of the way in, the dialog was so reminiscent of soap operas that it was very difficult to take the story or the characters seriously.

Things improved as the plot began to pi More...

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Dec 20, 2008

Scott rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Feb 26, 2011

Laisterdyke rated it:

I love books set in theme parks - no idea why, they just seem to tick all the boxes. Utopia is one of these, and effectlvely combines the minutae of running an big theme park with a constantly shifting robbery/blackmail plot. It's well put together, and the characters - including the park which is a character in itself - come to life. There's the driven park CEO, the computer scientist who's trying to rebuild his career (and used to date the CEO), his daughter, a very British computer boss who m More...

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Aug 22, 2011

Onyx rated it:

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Sep 18, 2011

Adam rated it:

Well, you can’t win ‘em all, I guess. Utopia was a large disappointment for me especially because it came from one of my favorite authors. Something about it just didn’t work with me and I usually love books involving amazing amusement parks. Funland by Laymon, Twilight Eyes and the Funhouse by Koontz were all amazing. This one was bogged down by too much technology and not enough action in my opinion and the book could have used a little slimming down. I enjoyed bits, such as when one of the ri More...

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Dec 19, 2008

Patrick rated it:

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Jun 15, 2009

Brenda rated it:

I think this one is pretty much a yawner. I usually like stories with elements which either are not yet or will not ever be possible. This one flunks on both fronts. It's about Utopia (think Disney World) where one can spend his money and be awed by technology and roller coasters.

Unfortunately, someone wants money or stuff (like they always do) and they're willing to blow up the park if their demands are not met.

Well, you know, people die, people turn out to be what th More...

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Jun 07, 2009

Matt rated it:

I've never really understood how the whole 2 authors thing works for Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. How do 2 people write a book? It is now established for me though that they neither of them can write at all without the other. This book was pretty bad. The Codex, which is a Douglas Preston solo is not much better. The onlt reason I am not giving this one star is that I read an even worse book on vacation that truly deserves the worst possible rating.

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May 22, 2008

April rated it:

I thought the beginning of the book was a little forced. But I'm glad I stuck with it, It did get better. This is about Artificial Intelligence and robots that can learn from past experiences. It is about knowing who to trust and hidden agendas that really dictate what we do in a given situation. It is about getting in over your head when you go a little too far in the direction of evil, and how hard it is to extricate yourself from the snowball effect of your choices. It was about a theme park More...

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Jul 28, 2011

Julie added it

This was a cool book, interesting and fast-paced. It would be very cool if a place like that existed. I love techno-computer oriented books, so it was right up my alley. The characters were well-written and I liked the ones I was supposed to, and didn't like the ones I was supposed to. So there you go. I don't like to talk about a book too much. Gives away the plot. Read the description with the book.

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Oct 23, 2011

Tricia rated it:

4.5 really. This is one of Child's early books written without the help of Preston. It's a great read. A new futuristic amusement park outside Las Vegas is built - supposedly the largest domed fantasy and technologically run fun park in the world. Of course, someone is trying to destroy the park and it's reputation. A quick page-turner. Well written plot and characters.

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Oct 20, 2011

Darren rated it:

Good solid book. Almost a four-star because there was nothing wrong with the book; no bad characters, no slow chapters or big plotholes. It missed the four star rating because for all of its non-faults, it just didn't rise up enough to make it to that level.

I really enjoy Child's (& Douglas') books and I was wondering how he was going to make this one interesting enough for me to care about a theme park. But once again, he came through.

I wish there was more to say about More...

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Oct 05, 2011

Michelle rated it:

Jurassic Park remade into an amusement park thriller.
Fairly predictable at times, this book was a typical thriller with a unique setting. The amusement park world was very well crafted and unique in every aspect. The characters were just typical and made for the part they played. The story line was interesting but not captivating. A nice read for those who enjoy suspense but not new surprises.

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Nov 21, 2008

Andrea rated it:

This one is just for fun, not literary merit. I loved the intricate design behind the themepark inside a geodesic dome in the Nevada desert. The four parks within the park are intricately planned and executed on thier particular theme. I've always been interested in the behind the scenes aspect of theme parks, so that's another reason I found this book appealing.

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Jun 02, 2011

Terri rated it:

I found this novel to be enormously entertaining. I've long been a fan of Preston and Child, but I think this is the first solo novel that I've read. This is a real thriller, and it is not the usual terror-in-the-amusement-park read that you might expect from the blurb. I think anyone who is a fan of Preston and Child or of Michael Crichton would enjoy this book.

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Jul 02, 2009

OK rated it:

pre - Found a copy on a used book rack and picked it up. LC always entertains so...

post - Not LC's greatest effort. Struggled a tad to get through it. Maybe I've read too many thrillers and they're starting to feel staid and predictible.

Still and all, some harrowing moments for the masses and enough technobabble for the ubegeeks and codewriters among us <raising hands> to keep me interested to the end.

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Oct 30, 2011

Anna rated it:

I expected a bit more from Utopia. Usually Child's books are sinister and exciting but this one somehow was neither. I didn't get to like the characters as much as usual and there was no rush to turn the page over. Just a standard thriller with a predictable ending. Not much mystery - that's one of the reasons I didn't really enjoy it.

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Sep 22, 2010

Seregi rated it:

I found characters plausible. Especially the main character, Andrew Warne, was really sympathetic. All the chapters begun with the time stamp. Everything happened during one day, so this "Meanwhile..." - style, gave the feeling of anxiety and rush how everything happened. And I know that it was goof for the plot.

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Dec 13, 2010

Afj683 rated it:

I loved how this book did not have actual chapters, rather, it went by the different times of the day for the situations that were occuring. This book surely kept my interest all the way to the end, which is hard to do sometimes. While reading, I felt that this book would also make a very good movie.

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Sep 30, 2011

Rae rated it:

An interesting book, with an interesting concept. If you enjoy the likes of Michael Crichton, you'll enjoy this. Fast paced, it'll keep you glued to the page from start to finish. A definite recommendation for the beach. Probably not so much if you're standing in line at Disney World!

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Feb 09, 2012

Nicole rated it:

I usually prefer the books that Lincoln Child writes with Douglas Preston, but I thought this was Child's best solo novel. It takes place in a futuristic amusement park. I wish a park like that really exists. Would love to see this one made into a movie.

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May 06, 2011

Jake rated it:

Audio Book. Dr. Andrew Warne designed the meta-net (artificial intelligence) to control a theme park full of robots. There are problems at the park so he goes to try and fix it on the same day that terrorists (who were the cause of the meta-net problems

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Mar 22, 2009

Scott rated it:

I actually enjoyed this book, quite a bit. I have a bad habit of trying to guess how the book would end, what with typical literary cliches and whatnot. This didn't end nearly the way I expected it to -- and that's a very good thing, in my opinon.

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Feb 26, 2011

Angela rated it:

A thrill ride of a book! Although I know nothing about robotics and have no idea how close we are to achieving AI at all, much less at this level, the premise is believable, the technology is fascinating, and the theme park is a dream -- I'd go there in a heartbeat if it existed. The action gets hot and heavy toward the end, and some of the "cliff-hanger" chapter breaks are annoyingly predictable. I deduced the identity of the "inside man" about halfway through.

A More...

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Sep 10, 2010

Arlene rated it:

This falls in the category of page-turner books - ones that draw you into the story, and they are hard to put down.

A villain, technology gone amok, with a little romance thrown in.

I especially liked the cyber-dog robot, Wingnut.

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Oct 26, 2011

Dee rated it:

Utopia is a new theme park, very technologically advanced and very popular. Things start going wrong and the man who invented a lot of the robots is called in to fix the problems. Unfortunately, the problems are due to human intervention and things get very dangerous. I felt this took awhile to really grab me, but it eventually did. I found it a bit too descriptive, and I was starting to skim read by the time I was halfway through. But all-in-all, an interesting story.

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Mar 25, 2010

Shabazz rated it:

One of the worst books I've ever read. That is not an exaggeration. It never connects and is quite ridiculous. No offense to the author, who along with Douglas Preston, has written some very good books.

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