Recently read: Origin by J.A. Konrath

I'm a fan of J.A. Konrath, as much for what he has done to blaze a trail for independent authors as for the books he writes, and I must admit to spending time on his blog and chuckling at his often hilarious maulings of those he disagrees with.

I've already read a few of his novels, mostly those written under the pen name Jack Kilborn, and found them to be genuine page turners, full of suspense and fun, and that's exactly what I got with Origin .

The plot revolves around the discovery of something demonic during the building of the Panama canal, and the subsequent cover up by the US government. In present day, we follow Andy, a linguist, who has been dragged into the secretive Project Samhain and tasked with communicating with the now-awake demonic something in an underground base.

Disclaimer: I fricking love underground bases. You could pretty much set every novel ever written in an underground base and improve it, right?

Er...right?

Anyway, Origin is pretty high-concept stuff, which I guess is classic Konrath, and it makes for a really entertaining read. Lots of nice comic touches and characterisation in the first half of the novel (including the developing relationship between Andy and Sunshine Jones, which is at times laugh-out-loud funny) but the reader always has that sense of dread that the characters are playing with fire, and will surely get burned. 

There were a few detours into theology and history that felt a little like Konrath really wanted the reader to know that he had done his research, and I found some of these sections interesting, but they did slow the action down a little for me. But Konrath is a storyteller first and foremost, and the story here, though occasionally predictable, never stopped being fun. 

Not as 'horror' as some of his other work despite the occasional foray into gore, and definitely not as suspenseful, but a really fun read, and I got through it in no time.

Loved the ending, too. The novel equivalent of dropping the microphone and marching offstage. Great stuff.

Recommended, but if you're new to Konrath/Kilborn's work, I'd definitely advise starting off with Endurance or Afraid before giving Origin a shot.

3.5/5