David G. Cookson's Blog, page 31

Time Riders: Gates of Rome

Gates of Rome by Alex Scarrow

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“Liam O’Connor should have dies at sea in 1912.
Maddy Carter should have died on a plane in 2010.
Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in 2026.
But all three have been given a second chance—to work for an agency that no one knows exists. Its purpose: to prevent time travel destroying history.”

–From the book jacket. Because it’s easier than trying to explain the premise every time.

This time, the Time Riders get swept up in a plan to transport 300 Americans from the year 2070 in something called Project Exodus, back 2000 years to Roman times to overthrow the Roman empire and replace it with a more American style of government. Democracy through greater firepower. Unfortunately, it goes dramatically wrong, and half the team winds up at a spot 17 years too early, during the reign of Caligula. The coup fails, Caligula survives and now, with a new sense of purpose, grows stronger. This changes the future and causes a time wave that effects the world of 2001 in which the Time Riders team live. But when they attempt to investigate, they find themselves under attack from robot support units from the future. Their only escape is to throw themselves into the past and hope they can find their way back.

The world of Time Riders is bleak. The world is dying, overpopulated, underwater. But somehow hope is never completely dead. Time must run its course, and it is up to three teenagers (along with their robot support unit, Bob) to make sure the timeline is kept intact. To this end, Maddy, Liam and Sal are all game to face whatever challenges come their way. They deal with extraordinary hardship, all the while never quite understanding just who it is they are working for. There are mysteries that unravel throughout the course of the series and this edition moves that along nicely.

Gates of Rome is an excellent entry in this series. It is a recovery from what I thought was a bit of a letdown in the Book 4, The Endless War. Though it is a book aimed at Young Adults (and I am pretty far past that), I count myself a fan and look forward to the next one!




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About the Author

About the Author by John Colapinto

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


After reading his recent tour de force-- “Undone”-- about the awful and deliberate destruction of the life of a famous self-help writer--I sought out an earlier work of John Colapinto’s, which is how I came to read “About the Author” from 2001.

“About the Author” is not as harsh as “Undone”, but it is no less full of the wrongness that made his later work so enjoyable to the depraved person in me (or maybe the depraved person who also lives in you!). ATA is about an unlovable cad named Cal Cunningham, whose ambition is to be a famous author…only he seems to lack the talent. But for whatever he lacks as a writer, Cal is a cunning Lothario who regales his roommate, Stewart Church, with tales of his sexual conquests, after which Stewart goes to his bedroom in his tiny New York City apartment to do God knows what…

And then later, much to his shock, Cal discovers that Church has been transcribing these adventures and fictionalizing it in his OWN literary work, which he calls “Almost Like Suicide.” Cal is hurt, angry, but most of all utterly convinced of his own writerly ineptitude. Church has taken his life and turned it into brilliant literature. Cal cannot get over it. Upon his discovery of the manuscript, he awaits his roommate to return so he can confront him. But Stewart never returns, having been killed in a bicycle accident on the street. And Cal is confronted with the possibility that he could just steal Stewart's’ story and pass it off as his own…because after all it IS his story, isn’t it...?

And it goes from there: “Cal’s” novel is a smash hit, Cal gets a big deal to write another book. He even meets a woman and gets married (an entanglement that begins with Stewart and continues with a lie) but the past catches up with him when one of his conquests comes back to blackmail him with some incriminating evidence: the laptop that Stewart Church used to write the book that Cal has taken credit for…

254 pages, pushes the envelope only a little less than "Undone," but still, the foundation for "Undone" is there. I liked all the twists it took, and for the most part, it held my interest throughout. Colapinto’s plots are engaging, fun and the way the story turns into itself somewhat (since it is written in 1st person perspective) is very clever. It seems that there is a theme of amoral characters co-existing with the innocents around them in the two books I have read so far. I like it.

On board for the next one, whenever it is.




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Time Riders: The Eternal War

The Eternal War by Alex Scarrow

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Book 4 in the Time Riders Series continues the story of the team who have been recruited to patrol and police time, looking for discrepancies in the timeline (seen as time waves rolling over the landscape where things get changed, sometimes big, sometimes small) and then going back to fix them. In this adventure, the Time Riders must go back and save Abraham Lincoln from being killed in a street accident in 1831, before the future President can lead the Union to victory in the Civil War. They are successful in saving his life, but when they screw up (a steady feature in these books) and accidentally allow Lincoln to follow them back home, history is changed, and the world of 2001 in which they reside is no more, replaced by a present where the Civil War never ended.

Must say, this one was not my favorite. I wasn’t crazy about the battle scenes, or the description of “eugenics”—genetically manipulated creatures that serve the armies of the war. I feel that when a story starts to depend too much on the monsters or the fighting I just gloss over it and lose interest. Also, as important a historical figure as Abraham Lincoln was, here he is shown to be kind of an unlikable buffoon, always complaining or getting in the way or just being generally goofy. I’m sure that this was the point, that he needed time to become the great man that we all know from history, but still, it didn’t make for fun reading.

However, it’s not like this one didn’t have promise. The part where Lincoln is captured by the Feds in 2001 because they believe he had something to do with 9-11 was clever. And as always, there was a big Time Riders series twist at the end involving one of the regular characters.

Overall, it was maybe a minor letdown, but as I have ordered Book 5 (I can’t find anything beyond Book 3 in any library in my state so now I’m buying these books!)—I hope this was just a one-time let down. Overall, I enjoy the series and will still follow it to its conclusion but this still gets 3 stars from me.






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Version Control

Version Control by Dexter Palmer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Phillip is a scientist who is working on something that he does not like to call a time machine. At home, Rebecca Wright is trying to pick up the pieces of their lives after the tragic death of their son, Sean. Phillip is so immersed in his work that it is hard to see the pain that his wife is in. Until one day, when Rebecca enters Phillips causality violation device and it all flips into a world where Phillip is gone and their son is still alive…

Somewhere in this ponderous 495 page Sci-fi novel are some great insights about science, the nature of modern technology, and an interesting view of the future and the world we live in now. I never really thought about the scientific career, how it can stall out when the idea one is working on turns into a failure. But this is a reality...how can one reconcile the overall pursuit of science with the need to make one’s own career? The causality violation device is perceived as a failure, and it consumes and destroys Phillip Wright’s career. But it is not a failure, and the science is valid. But it is costly and dangerous.

And the bits about on-line dating and using avatars to interact with customers and even the President are a very clever and prescient view of the future. There were great points about views of race and expectations we all have of other people. There was a lot here.

But I have to admit, it was tough to get through at times. At some point in a book this long, which goes off into many tangents and contains very many ideas, I just want it to get to the point faster. Maybe that’s just me. But on the other hand, it did cause me to stop and think on any number of occasions.

Version Control is overall a good book, if for no other reason than the fact that it inspires thought in the reader.




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Double Switch

Double Switch by T.T. Monday

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Breezy little book about a relief pitcher for the fictional San Jose Bay Dogs who works as a Private Eye in his spare time. Funny insights about the game of baseball, and some great one liners are peppered throughout the book. My favorite: "Nothing's more punk than old people fucking." (page 177). I'm not usually a fan of detective stories or even series like this, but I am a fan of baseball and this one refuses to take itself too seriously. I enjoyed it and it's a great way to pass a few hours on your next train or plane ride to the next weekend series in your life.



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Undone

Undone by John Colapinto

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Wow, where to begin. The horrible plan to destroy the life of popular crime author Jasper Ulrickson is conceived by a desperate fellow named Dez, who is more or less hiding out in upstate Vermont with Chloe, his barely legal young girlfriend, after his compulsive need to fraternize with young and barely legal girls gets the best of him professionally. We already see what a jerk Dez is during the opening of the book, when he is incapable and unwilling to even bother to console Chloe in her grief over the death of her mother in a car crash.

He sees the author in question on his favorite talk show (“Tovah!” —like a Jewish version of the old Oprah show) one afternoon in the days after Chloe’s mother has died. The subject of the show is Jasper’s new memoir, Lessons From My Daughter, in which the crime author tells of his life at home with his wife, Pauline. Pauline has suffered a stroke during the birth of their daughter, Maddy, rendering her immobilized and unable to speak, alive but essentially trapped in her body. Jasper has written of their lives, and their wedding vows, and their promises to each other to be faithful and take the vows seriously. In short, Jasper has remained celibate and written a book about it and comes off like a saint to the heavily female audience. Off-handedly, Chloe mentions that her recently passed mother once had a fling with an author…in fact the very author being interviewed on "Tovah!"….

Thus, Dez’s mind gets working, as he develops a plan to both ruin the life of this man and to acquire his fortune….Let’s just say it involves the young Chloe in a plot that will take advantage of Jasper’s celibacy, his good nature, and the faint possibility that Chloe could possibly be his daughter. Throw in a faked DNA test and you see how far down Jasper is thrown from his perch on the "Tovah!" show…

Oh, it’s awful. And I mean that in the best possible way. What ensues is nothing short of a brilliant, well-plotted, well-thought out, evil page turner. I got through all 390 pages in about a week due to my strong motivation to see if this horrible trip that Jasper goes on can possibly resolve itself or just continue to get worse. The author dances on the edge, then dives right into a very uncomfortable subject (incest…or in this case the appearance of incest) and like the proverbial train wreck…well, you know how that goes.

Undone is probably not Hollywood material. It’s rough. There are no winners, there are few heroes, a fact that usually turns me off from a story. Jasper suffers like Job in the Bible (indeed, the Book of Job is cited at the beginning of the novel) and the way he suffers and tries to endure is less inspirational and more painful. I admire the balls it took to spend this much time writing a book that may never have seen the light of day. According to the acknowledgements, the idea for Undone was conceived in 2001, the writing started in 2009, took about 4 years to finish and then had massive problems trying to sell to an American publisher…or really, any publisher, due to its implied subject matter. And it is not a book I would recommend to everyone. It’s dark. It’s uncomfortable. It only gets worse as it goes along. And yet, you really can’t put it down.

If you've ever watched Oprah or Dr. Phil or any daytime TV, saw some self-help specialist or some know it all describe his/her perfect and inspirational-yet-kind-of scolding message to a passive and unquestioning audience, and been filled with hatred and disgust for said individual and dreamt of destroying that person's life...well, then Undone might be the book for you.




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The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs

The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs by Matthew Dicks

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Caroline Jacobs is by all accounts, a wimp. She never raises her voice, never fights for anything, and prefers the “go along to get along” approach to life. (Hey, nothing wrong with that.) She is married to Tom, another even-keeled fellow, and together they have a 15 year old daughter, Polly, who is nothing like either one of them: she fights when she has to and has no problem telling anyone off.

One day, at a Parent Teacher Organization meeting, Caroline loses it on the leader of the group, punctuating her rant with a four letter word. It is a shocking moment for all those who know her and know her to be the soft-spoken Caroline Jacobs. Then a little while later, Polly gets in trouble at school after somewhat unexpectedly defending her mother. Just as Polly is about to be suspended for the incident, Caroline makes another impulsive decision to pull her daughter out of school and just start driving. And as she is driving, she formulates the plan to take care of some business from her own childhood: telling off a girl who slighted her in high school, whose slight led her to years of unhappiness and friendlessness, and is ultimately rendered tragic by the death of her kid sister in a bike accident. So begins the road trip back home to the old neighborhood to find the girl, Emily, who is now a grown woman, to tell her how her thoughtless action in a high school cafeteria affected her.

It’s a slim book at 213 pages, (and I finished this a week ago and I’m doing this from memory and I had a disjointed reading of it with travel and blah blah blah) but overall, it brought me the same kind of enjoyment the other three Matthew Dicks’ books did. It might have had one too many moments where a point was over-emphasized but it’s a minor quibble. It’s clever—the way Polly creates a mirror for the same situation that led to the rift in high school—and you have to admire what a bad ass Polly is, especially in contrast to her mother. I’m not sure that I agree with the point of the book (if I am in fact understanding it correctly) that who you were in the past is still as important as who you are now. I see Caroline’s journey in the same way the other characters in the story do—as one that is kind of silly but I get it: the need to do something crazy just to prove something to yourself.





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I'm Glad About You

I'm Glad About You by Theresa Rebeck

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!



One of my favorite movies used to be It’s a Wonderful Life. I loved the story of George Bailey and how his life failed to turn in the ways he wanted it to, but he still remained a decent person who was beloved by all who knew him. And then when he ran into some trouble, the way the town rallied to help him is truly one of the most heart-warming scenes in all of cinema. Then as I’ve gotten older, I just see George’s life for the failure that it is, for all the potential he failed to meet because of obligation, circumstance, family, children, and Donna Reed. It’s a terribly cynical view that has ruined a holiday classic for me, but now that I feel that way, I can’t un-feel it.

All of which brings me to the thoughts I had in reading I’m Glad About You, which is overall a very good and absorbing read. It is the story of Alison and Kyle, two kids from Cincinnati who meet, fall in love, but are torn in different directions. Alison wants to be a famous actress, Kyle just wants to stay in town and practice medicine. They go their separate ways but still run across each other every so often. Alison does indeed get her big break in New York, while Kyle marries and has children but in all of their lives apart, the two are never far from each other’s hearts. That’s the short shrift version of the plot. I don’t mean to make it sound cheesy, because it’s not, but the spoiler alert part of this is that they do NOT end up together. Which would have given this story its George Bailey ending. But because it doesn’t have that, it is merely a book that ends.

It’s an honest, if ultimately unsatisfying story. I have a hard time rating it because it’s good but I didn’t like where it all went. But I’m going to go with 4 stars.




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Unexpectedly, Milo

Unexpectedly, Milo by Matthew Dicks

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


My third time through with Matthew Dicks and this book did not disappoint. Going along with the theme in the other 2 (Something Missing and Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend), the character at the heart of the story is one who suffers from a peculiar mental disorder which causes him to succumb to some odd compulsions, such as the need to bowl a strike, open jars of jelly (the pop of the jar opening soothes him), and sing Karaoke to the 1980’s hit 99 Luftballons (in the original German). Milo’s demands are numerous, and he describes them as if they were a U-boat captain that lives inside his head, dictating the nature and severity of the demands. Making this worse is the fact that Milo feels the need to hide this condition from his wife, Christine, a lawyer to whom he has been with for five years. But his marriage is starting to fall apart due to the fact that while Christine favors adult dinners and drinks and conversations, Milo would much prefer an evening of Dungeons and Dragons while chugging soda with his other adult man-children friends. But Milo’s fear that no one else would ever love him leads to him taking great pains to keep things copacetic with her. (This, by the way, makes me grateful for my own wife, who already knows that I am weird. I have nothing to hide.)

Milo works as a traveling home health care worker, serving a series of elderly clients, all of whom have their own bizarre needs that he fills, which include taking a rake to a rug to make the threads go the same way (?) or bringing Viagra to a porn watching enthusiast. Then Milo discovers a video camera in the park along with a series of tapes. They comprise a video diary by a mystery woman whose name is not immediately known, who he calls “Freckles.” In the tapes, Freckles reveals secrets from her past, and expresses regret at her role in the death of a friend (a coworker who took her shift at a horse training facility who was thrown and killed) and additionally a much older regret surfaces: her inaction in the disappearance and probably death of a close friend named Tess. Milo becomes fixated on her story and suddenly feels the need to know more about this woman, and maybe, just maybe, try to help her. Which leads to the road trip that is a tried and true literary device which moves story forward and allows the introduction of many more colorful characters.

It is a delightful book, as they’ve all been so far. It’s not as ambitious as Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend but it is similar to Something Missing, as it involves a compulsive personality who keeps big secrets from the world. All three books have been immensely enjoyable, with characters that are fun and quirky and easy to root for. I am happy to learn of another Dicks book (The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs) which I will be putting on my reading list next.










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The Dark Net

The Dark Net: Inside the Digital Underworld by Jamie Bartlett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


My internet habits are pretty boring. I’m on Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and a few other sites, but apparently I am missing out on a whole world of drug deals, illegal pornography and nationalistic groups out there in the darker corners of the internet, which do not show up in google searches yet are still only a few clicks away, if you know where to look.

Welcome to the Dark Net.

Jamie Bartlett lays out a brilliant examination of this world, starting with the phenomenon of trolling and destroying people’s lives simply by ascertaining just a few key details--and moving on to seedier topics, such as the Silk Road online drug market; porn made with web cams; the benefits of using Bitcoins to circumvent Wall Street and the national banking system; even forums about suicide that don’t offer the type of advice one might hope. It is a scary world out there, and The Dark Net gets into it in an extremely entertaining way.

Bartlett implants himself with the online Nationalists, perverts, and regular working folks just trying to make a few bucks off a web cam. He brings up a lot of questions about freedom from government, privacy, and the ethics of the online world. It is no doubt that the internet has opened up the world in a way that it had never been opened before, and often times the biggest innovators are the ones who use it for less than noble goals.

The answers that Bartlett seeks to the questions he asks do not come easily. He finds benefits to things that might otherwise be considered harmful (such as how the ability to buy drugs online can be beneficial and safer than buying them on the street) , and in many instances, he learns things about his subjects that contradict his initial image of them. For example, he finds a perfectly likable man who just happens to be a neo-Nazi; he has a perfectly civil and productive interview with a convicted child pornography...enthusiast. As he states in his conclusion, “the dark net is not black and white: it is confusing shades of gray.” (page 240).

At 240 pages of text (with extensive endnotes), The Dark Net is a breeze to read that will take you to a darker corner of the online world.




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