The Terminal State

Avery Cates #4

by Jeff Somers

Avery Cates is an army man. Between the army's new dental plan and a set of first class augments, he's been given a second chance -- albeit a quick one.When a corrupt officer decides to make some money on the side by selling new recruits, Cates finds himself in uncharted territory. Sold to the highest bidder, his visions of escape and revenge quickly come to an end when he realizes who's bought him -- and for what. Because the high bidder is Canny Orel himself. And he wants Cates to do one last job as the System slides into chaos. Cates will have one shot at getting back at Canny -- but this time, Canny is holding all the cards.

Genres: Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, Fiction, Dystopia, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fantasy, Ebooks

376 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2010

About the author

Jeff Somers (www.jeffreysomers.com) began writing by court order as an attempt to steer his creative impulses away from engineering genetic grotesqueries. He has published nine novels, including the Avery Cates Series of noir-science fiction novels from Orbit Books (www.avery-cates.com) and the Ustari Cycle series of urban fantasy novels. His short story “Ringing the Changes” was selected for inclusion in Best American Mystery Stories 2006, his story “Sift, Almost Invisible, Through” appeared in the anthology Crimes by Moonlight edited by Charlaine Harris, and his story “Three Cups of Tea” appeared in the anthology Hanzai Japan. He also writes about books for Barnes and Noble and About.com and about the craft of writing for Writer’s Digest, which will publish his book on the craft of writing Writing Without Rules in 2018. He lives in Hoboken with his wife, The Duchess, and their cats. He considers pants to always be optional.

Reviews

[Christal · Rating 3 out of 5]

The further adventures of Avery Cates, gunner and survivor extraordinaire, in Somers' fun cyberpunk series. The world has gone from crappy, to shitty, to wtf suicidal at this point, and even the crappy existence Cates had back in The Electric Church seems like heaven compared to his time in Chengara and now his new tech jacked up body from the army.

Cates gets rounded up with his new bar crew he was hanging with, and forced into the army-- complete with a nano tech upgrade while he was passed out. Only while he was being sliced and diced and put back together, the legendary Cainnic Orel, that elusive foe he can't wait to kill with his bare hands, buys him from the army and sets him on a mission. How? well his new tech upgrade that's all throughout his lovely innards is remote controlled, and through the remote he can be sent shocks of pain or even killed (his head would explode) so he has no other choice. Do the mission and possibly get to kill his arch nemesis at the end, or die at the touch of a button from the man he hates.

The mission is simple, with 2 others (Mara and The Poet) make their way into Hong Kong City to kill a techie name Lindholm and steal this 'God Augment' he has created, a piece of tech that gives a human all the abilities of the different Spooks as well as some new mutant powers. Orel wants it for himself, Cates sees that early on. Of course in his best Jeff Somers style, he blatantly hits the reader over the head time and time again with the fact that something isn't quite right about Mara, she's an avatar that seems 'so familiar but I can't put my finger on it' because lo and behold she is an avatar with Orel's brain digitized into her. Apparently the little tell tale signs and the use of 'boyo' didn't clue him in. And oh btw, The Poet is Belling as an avatar as well, one that Somers wrote a lot better and you didn't see at first.

We end our lovely hi-tech, high adrenaline story with a TBC as supposedly Cates gets recaptured by the Army and his old little sidekick Remy that he was forced to leave leads him out back to put him down like a dog. but we know that never happens, esp when the appendix is a story about how after he does that, Remy suddenly wanders off and goes missing from his unit.

Here's the thing about Somers' Avery Cates series, it isn't pretty prose or fine lit. It's the equivalent of the new Urban Fantasy Smut fad, except way cooler as it's nothing but violence, tech, swearing and drinking. Aside from the debut novel, the rest are only average in how good they are, and that is OK. They are fun, balls to the wall reads. Whereas some authors have their heroes able to do impossible feats without a scratch on em, shoot endlessly without needing more bullets, and always seem to be one step ahead... Cates is the anti of all that. Which I love but is also annoying at times. Cates is ALWAYS hurt, and yet seems to be able to keep going on. He runs out of ammo, so he makes sure he has refills (and uses them) and also keeps a wide variety of weapons at his disposal. And let's face it, Cates is not Einstein. He's brute force and a 'think outside the box' kind of person when he has a mission, but don't expect him to figure out the political machinations of those yanking his chains. He never figures out just what is going on, only pieces here and there but never solves the whole puzzle. In a way it's nice and refreshing. Lets be honest, most of us are the same way. The only thing that get's me is how he NEVER has Cates stay in good shape/full health status for more than about 3 chapters into the book. After that it's a free for all and chapter after chapter he gets beat up more and more. It gets to the point where you go 'ok we all know that about 20 pages ago a real person would have just died, the body can't take all of this' and yet apparently Avery Cates can and still keep walking the walk.

You know what these read like? A video game. If you had to take what you see playing a video game like Halo, Killzone, Doom... something somewhat futuristic with a dystopian outlook for earth with various weapons at your disposal and a mission to search and destroy... you would have these books. Only Cates is a fun character that you just love :)

So now I wait, as a fifth book, The Final Evolution, (our TBC of what happens to Cates and this God Augment) comes out this June. Oh yes, we will be staying tuned to see how this ends :)

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is guilty read book for me. The whole series is on the same level. It is NOT a cerbeal treatsie on the plight of man vs machine. It is a Stallone movie. Bad ass action teamed with sexy technology that makes any guy want to say "F' Yeah!" In no way is this the best series I have ever read, but it is one of the more entertaining series.

I picked up the "Electric Chruch" becuase the cover art drew me to it. I wasn't let down. I was looking for another Gibson and I got another Stallone (in book form).

Cates is a character that we all want to be. Bad ass and ready to take on everything and everyone. His decent into a death wish is one of the things that makes this book fun. No shot at redemtpion like those "girly" books you might be used to reading. Just, "I want to f'ing die and I don't care who I take with me."

It's refreshing to see brutal honesty in writing. Thank you Mr. Somers!

I wholeheartedly suggest this book to anyone that likes the following; Chuck Norris, Stallone, Van Damme, or any of those kick ass movie stars. I could even see Statham playinng Cates, (my first choice would be Stallone, then Ludgren, the Statham.) If you like books that have hidden meanings and delve into the mysteries of be human, THIS IS NOT THE SERIES FOR YOU! If you do not like this book, Chuck Norris will sneeze and end you.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to give props to Somers because the 4th book in the series of Cates was way more interesting than the 3rd. This part of the series had me guessing until the end, and sort of on the edge of my seat, which is a good thing. My only complaint, and it's a small one, is that there was just a little too much in between the action. A lot of examination of self, and surroundings. I would have been happy to have read a 200 page book while Avery just kicked ass the whole time, and continued to stay alive. I would have actually enjoyed a book following Avery around Englewood for the majority of the story, in The Terminal State we got about 20 pages worth of that, and it was pretty engrossing. It would have been interesting to see Avery in that world. But, I understand the need to move the plot forwards, so I forgive Somers this one small infraction (just messing... I know it takes a lot for a person to ridicule who hasn't even written a book, let alone 5 about one character, you're awesome Somers!). I'm looking forward to The Final Evolution... in a couple of days, b/c I have to read a YA book for book club... Blah.

[Maya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read the first three books, so I didn't get everything because I was missing some parts, but even so I just really enjoyed it. I liked Avery a lot, and loved his interactions with the poet. In the beginning (prologue) I was worried for a short moment, that this book would have a lot of sex scenes and sexualisation of women and I really don't like that, so I was ready to hate it, but that actually didn't happen. I thought Avery's behaviour/thoughts really refreshing for an action hero, because I'm not used to those people just ... flirting? Like, in a really easy manner? Maybe it's because I didn't know him before, but I just felt like he was very sincere. Not in a way that made me feel he'd act on it or actually mean it, but like he didn't not mean it when he thought about men/women and just ... I really liked it. I liked him. And I did like the action sequences and just the writing stile in general. Not sure if I'm that fond of the plot, but the characters were just great so I really enjoyed it anyway.

[Bennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of action, but very little plot. Plus Avery's world is in such disarray that its hard to care about it.

[Paschalis]

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[Christal · Rating 5 out of 5]

The further adventures of Avery Cates, gunner and survivor extraordinaire, in Somers' fun cyberpunk series. The world has gone from crappy, to shitty, to wtf suicidal at this point, and even the crappy existence Cates had back in The Electric Church seems like heaven compared to his time in Chengara and now his new tech jacked up body from the army.

Cates gets rounded up with his new bar crew he was hanging with, and forced into the army-- complete with a nano tech upgrade while he was passed out. Only while he was being sliced and diced and put back together, the legendary Cainnic Orel, that elusive foe he can't wait to kill with his bare hands, buys him from the army and sets him on a mission. How? well his new tech upgrade that's all throughout his lovely innards is remote controlled, and through the remote he can be sent shocks of pain or even killed (his head would explode) so he has no other choice. Do the mission and possibly get to kill his arch nemesis at the end, or die at the touch of a button from the man he hates.

The mission is simple, with 2 others (Mara and The Poet) make their way into Hong Kong City to kill a techie name Lindholm and steal this 'God Augment' he has created, a piece of tech that gives a human all the abilities of the different Spooks as well as some new mutant powers. Orel wants it for himself, Cates sees that early on. Of course in his best Jeff Somers style, he blatantly hits the reader over the head time and time again with the fact that something isn't quite right about Mara, she's an avatar that seems 'so familiar but I can't put my finger on it' because lo and behold she is an avatar with Orel's brain digitized into her. Apparently the little tell tale signs and the use of 'boyo' didn't clue him in. And oh btw, The Poet is Belling as an avatar as well, one that Somers wrote a lot better and you didn't see at first.

We end our lovely hi-tech, high adrenaline story with a TBC as supposedly Cates gets recaptured by the Army and his old little sidekick Remy that he was forced to leave leads him out back to put him down like a dog. but we know that never happens, esp when the appendix is a story about how after he does that, Remy suddenly wanders off and goes missing from his unit.

Here's the thing about Somers' Avery Cates series, it isn't pretty prose or fine lit. It's the equivalent of the new Urban Fantasy Smut fad, except way cooler as it's nothing but violence, tech, swearing and drinking. Aside from the debut novel, the rest are only average in how good they are, and that is OK. They are fun, balls to the wall reads. Whereas some authors have their heroes able to do impossible feats without a scratch on em, shoot endlessly without needing more bullets, and always seem to be one step ahead... Cates is the anti of all that. Which I love but is also annoying at times. Cates is ALWAYS hurt, and yet seems to be able to keep going on. He runs out of ammo, so he makes sure he has refills (and uses them) and also keeps a wide variety of weapons at his disposal. And let's face it, Cates is not Einstein. He's brute force and a 'think outside the box' kind of person when he has a mission, but don't expect him to figure out the political machinations of those yanking his chains. He never figures out just what is going on, only pieces here and there but never solves the whole puzzle. In a way it's nice and refreshing. Lets be honest, most of us are the same way. The only thing that get's me is how he NEVER has Cates stay in good shape/full health status for more than about 3 chapters into the book. After that it's a free for all and chapter after chapter he gets beat up more and more. It gets to the point where you go 'ok we all know that about 20 pages ago a real person would have just died, the body can't take all of this' and yet apparently Avery Cates can and still keep walking the walk.

You know what these read like? A video game. If you had to take what you see playing a video game like Halo, Killzone, Doom... something somewhat futuristic with a dystopian outlook for earth with various weapons at your disposal and a mission to search and destroy... you would have these books. Only Cates is a fun character that you just love :)

So now I wait, as a fifth book, The Final Evolution, (our TBC of what happens to Cates and this God Augment) comes out this June. Oh yes, we will be staying tuned to see how this ends :)

[Lulu :) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good thriller, suspenseful and with unexpected turnovers and ending.
Although the vocabulary was sometimes too hard for my french ass English level.
But good to learn nice vocabulary and sayings

[Stuart Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Avery Cates gets drafted. The System Police(androids) is fighting the System Army(augmented humans) and destroying the world in the process. Head of the System Police Dick Marin is a computer program buried under the Kremlin and the System Army has only been in existence for 3 years so the civil war is messy and entire cities are being nuked. Being drafted means Cates is surgically implanted with all the best cop augments, including heightened reflexes, healing, night vision, and a kill switch. Anyone with his control box can kill him with the push of a button and he'll die if he attacks them. So Cates is once again working for the people he hates.

Except the Army recruiter sells him to the highest bidder as a personal slave, and that bidder happens to be Cates' #1 enemy Cannic Orel. Canny has a job that requires his special skills. A Techie has developed a way to give normal humans psionic powers, ALL the psionic powers. TK, mind control, and others. This guy is holed up in Hong Kong and surrounded by the Army. Canny wants the "God Augment" for himself and sends Cates along with a girl named Mara and a guy called the Poet to capture the Techie. Of course things go wrong immediately.

Cates is captured by old nemesis Janet Hense. She wants to hire him as well, but to kill the Techie. So Cates has to work for two masters with opposing goals, shadowed by Mara who carries his kill switch, break through an army blockade of an island fortified by ex-System cops, local scum, and a Japanese warlord protecting his target, who is in a Tech-fortified tower. While being chased by crazy psionic "Angels" who have judged him unfit to live. Plus the fact that every other Gunner and Gunner wannabe on the planet is also trying to get to the same target. During a world wide civil war. Easy-peasy.

This is better than book 3. Cates is back to being a killer and actually enjoys his new augments. Less self pity from him and he finds a new friend in the Poet. He is better adjusted to his fate and is less wrapped up in his supposed morals. There is tons of violence and some good surprises. Well done.

Reading these books makes one wonder just how long Jeff Somers spent in prison. Avery Cates has the perfect mindset of a criminal behind bars. Everyone is a threat, never show weakness, even when it doesn't matter, and be randomly violent because your "rep" is everything. All authority figures are pigs, and the first thing you do when you meet someone new is hurt them. Just like being on the yard at Pelican Bay. If you ever wondered why prisoners didn't just spend all day playing basketball and watching TV but instead formed groups and shivved people for looking at them wrong then you should read these books. Avery Cates is the perfect example of that kind of thinking.

[Dr. Barrett Dylan Brown, Phd · Rating 3 out of 5]

7.12.10 - Fuck Yeah, It Finally came out! I had it on reserve and the bookstore just called me!

7.24.10 - Ok, I finally finished it. As an aside I must admit that Jeff Somers (the Author) is now on Goodreads and was awesome enough to even answer one of my questions (and offering to answer anyone's questions!)... this makes reviewing one of his books a little weirder for me than usual because I now know him to be a cool guy, so I can't totally tear him a new asshole. That means I must now use "constructive criticism," maybe something I should have been using all along for my reviews anyways. Damn the Internet is fucking things up! Ah well.

This is the only book that I have actually bought at the bookstore in the last five or so years (besides "The Eternal Prison" last year and "The Book of the Law" as a present). Usually I prefer the library but I could not wait that long to read this, so I am very biased because I'm a huge fan of the Avery Cates books. I think it's the best new Science Fiction I've discovered since Iain M. Banks and William Gibson, though very different.

Maybe because I've reread the other three books so many times my view is skewed and I just know how Somers' writing is now, maybe Cates has already been through so much it would be taxing on any author to put him through more, or maybe the pressure to put out another Cates book made Sommers sloppy; but I honestly think this is the least of the Cates series so far (The "Eternal Prison" being the best). Some of the "surprises" in this one I saw coming from a mile away, the repeated references to past adventures in the other three books irritated me (I mean I'm a Cates Junkie, I don't need reminders!), and a few technical/consistency details seemed wrong and irritated me as well. But overall it's still the genuine article and it entertained me a lot this month, though I don't see myself rereading it like I do with the other three. I even kept myself from reading it all in one night and paced myself to keep the joy last longer.

I'm still a fan and was totally enthused to find a few Avery Cates short stories on Somers' web site (how come nobody told me sooner?!) and will definitely be reading the next Cates book when it comes out. I just hope it's better than this one. I love Cates so much I'd rather have him die and read a spin-off series about the life of Wa Belling or something than to see his books get crappier and crappier until there's nothing cool left.

[Scott Holstad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Avery Cates is back in a big way! This is the fourth book in the Avery Cates saga and I'm glad I gave it a chance. I hated the third book. I didn't even finish it. As I recall, while reviewing it last fall, I was put off by Cates always being so damn exhausted, so tired, so fatigued, so desirous of wanting to just lie down and die, so much so that I wanted to lie down and die, so I put the damn book down to die. Thankfully, this book was much better.

In The Terminal State, Cates gets rounded up and forced into the army, where he's given a nano tech upgrade. While he's under, the legendary Cainnic Orel, that hard-to-find foe Cates is dying to kill with his bare hands, buys him from the army and sets him on a mission. How, you might ask? With his new tech upgrade, his head is given a remote control explosive, as well as a pain device, so that the holder of the remote can send shocks of horrific pain through his body or even just blow his head off. So, it's do the mission and hopefully get to kill Orel or die.

The mission seems somewhat straightforward. With two others, Mara and The Poet, make their way into Hong Kong City to kill a techie named Lindholm and steal a "God Augment" he has created, which is a piece of tech that gives someone fantastic abilities and powers. Cates barely tolerates Mara, who he figures out is an avatar (of Orel), but what he doesn't realize is that The Poet is also an avatar of Belling, another old nemesis. It's a fantastic mission and it's amazing to see how the three get into Hong Kong City and get to their target without getting killed. One of my only real complaints with the Cates character is he always gets the hell beaten out of him and gets up and keeps going. I mean, he takes more than any human could possibly take and keeps on going. It's not remotely realistic. But it's sci fi, so leave reality at the door, right?

The ending is awesome, with Cates being recaptured by the army and his old pal Remy leading him away to execute him, only to find Remy goes missing from his unit. Great open ended ending.

I had thought this was a four book series, but I found out it was a five book series, so now I'm going to have to read the fifth book. I hope it's as good as this one. The first two were quite good. As noted previously, the third one sucked. This one got the series back on track. Where will the fifth one take us, Mr. Somers? Recommended.

["Lifson" Kate Glover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 4 of 5 in the Avery Cates series - this one continues on from the previous 3, but brings a new aspect to the character. Pressed into the army and upgraded with standard-issue military augments - you start to wonder if the improbably lucky Avery Cates is now invincible. The benefits of the augments come at a price - Avery is now at the mercy of the man who bought him off his corrupt CO, kept on an invisible leash, and his compliance enforced by a remote control which can inflict punishment or death. This provides a precarious balance, which could have wrecked the story if allowed to tip too far in either direction - but instead, adds to it in a variety of ways.

I'm genuinely hooked on this series now - and the thought that there is only one more book (and 2 shorts) to go, leaves me somewhat forlorn. If #3 was the most twisty so far - #4 is the most cinematic - I can absolutely see this as a movie. That said, the double twist near the end of this one had me grinning like a loon at the reveal. I'm a big reader and can usually work out a twist before its conclusion - so to find an author who foxes me this regularly is a joy. Avery Cates is a man - now an augmented man - but still fallible in every respect, and in a genre so often populated by untouchable supermen, I find it a breath of fresh air.

[Veach Glines · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mind candy. I still don't like the author's repetitive repeating of information (mentioned in earlier reviews) from one page to the next.

Example:

Page 1, paragraph 2: ...I'd tasted some terrible brew in my life, but the brew Bixon made out back routinely tasted like it had...

Page 5: ...one (door) in the rear of the room that led out to the back where Bixon created his horrible juice...

This kind of shite occurs throughout the entire series. Where is the editor? And where are the proofreaders? Does this author/editor/publisher even realize they are losing return customers because of this kind of sophomoric crap?

A good editor (aw hell, any author worth reading wouldn't let this get to the editor) would have the first sentence trimmed to: ...but Bixon's brew routinely tasted... and left the second sentence alone.

I'm hooked by the pacing and plot and will finish the series, but will never read Jeff Somers again.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fourth book in a series set in a dark, gritty future. [return][return]Avery Cates, a gunner for hire, is feeling too darn old to keep to it. After his escape from too many near death experiences, including a stay in the infamous Chengara Penitentiary, Avery is holed up in a washed out town in the middle of nowhere. Here, he plots his revenge on two of the most infamous gunner ever. [return][return]As his luck seems to go, he finds himself 'recruited' by the new Army. Their gift: Cates is has been technologically enhanced giving him a new lease on life. However, there is a catch. Avery is immediately sold to the highest bidder. This bidder is none other than his prime target for revenge: Cannic Orel.[return][return]A great story. Less convoluted than the previous novel. A quick moving plot with plenty of action... one of Somers' best!

[kingshearte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, but I don't have a lot to say about it that's different from anything I've already said about this series. It's very much more of the same, in the same way that every episode of a consistently written TV show is kind of similar, and if you like what you see, you keep watching week after week. Same idea here, really. There's crazy shit going on, Cates is trying to survive by doing whatever needs to be done, there are awesome gun fights, and Cates gets screwed at the end (Not that he's stupid. Generally he knows he's being screwed at all times, but there tends to be some extra smack in the face at the end that makes the screwing he's getting different and/or far worse than what he'd thought. Poor dear.)

And what can I say? I like what I see, so I come back to it book after book.

[Robert Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 4th in the increasingly bleak and dystopian Avery Cates series (yeah, I know, how could the world's prospects get any darker or our hero get any less likely to succeed). Somers has managed to avoid the "second book in the trilogy" error of didacticism and merely setting the stage for the next volume. Each one has a new problem to be solved, as well as the ongoing, underlying issue of the failure of civilization and the end of man. Dark humor, a few truly unexpected turns, the solution to today's problem with no hint about whether tomorrow's is even solvable. A well done book and sets the stage so you almost have to buy the 5th installment. It's a drug, I tells ya!

[Clay Tilton]

The terminal state was a great addition to the Avery Cates series. It lived up to its 3 ancestors being full of action, plot twists and science fiction. I really did love how they made Avery somewhat more agile and younger feeling as in the third book, I was getting quite disappointed in how he was weaker and old. Avery was still fighting the system and he also had a very important mission in front of him. It was really sad how even his team, whom he worked with for 85% of the book turned out to be traitors... again... Other than that, I cant wait until the fifth installment comes out.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really thought that being the fourth book in this series, it would be somewhat of a let-down. I'm so happy to be so wrong. I don't want to give any spoilers, but I really love this series. It's not the most intellectually stimulating scifi you'll come across, but it's one that is impossible to put down. This series is full of black comedy and non-stop action. Somers does wonders with the character of Avery Cates. I think I finished all of these books in three hours or under. If you like slick, fast, action-packed SF, get this series, and this book!

[Myk · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first thing that I am unhappy about the mass market first edition of this book. I love the trade paperbacks that they put out for the first three books and the artwork on them. The artwork on this book is very generic.

Really good story. You do have to have read the first three books to know a lot of what is going on with Avery Cates. This is the type of Sci-Fi dystopian story that I like.

[Patty Blount · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeff Somers fourth installment in the Avery Cates series continues the dark,edgy misadventures of the legendary gunner. In this story, Cates has been drafted into the army, which involves surgical augmentation with a self-destruct mechanism that’s sold to the highest bidder – Cates’ old enemy. True to Jeff’s style, The Terminal State is non-stop action. These books remain the only stories I’ve read that get me rooting for a killer. They’ve become a guilty pleasure (evil grin).

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compelling writing, you just want to know what happens next, even though you can mostly guess. In that respect it was slightly frustrating. This book didn't really seem to go anywhere, it was a lot of running around with old enemies, they didn't get their objective and the ending was ambiguous, but you can guess what actually happens. Seems to be a whole book talling about Avery's augments and not a lot else.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was almost hoping the main character would finally be put out of his lucky streak of staying alive by the end of the book. Very serendipitous all the way through. It seems like this book was published in two parts as everything is a buildup to the battle in Final Evolution. This would have been better as one large book with a little less filler than as a separate installment. I will give my final opinion of the series once I have read Final Evolution.

[Jason · Rating 1 out of 5]

This series has bounced between terrible and really fun, usually several times within each volume, but it seems to have finally bottomed out. Action was dull and often incoherent, story nonexistent, and the climax was a major let down.

I still enjoy the character, but this entire novel felt like filler.

I hate to be so hard on it, but it really wore thin.

[Alex Boothe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, Jeff Somers does not disappoint! This completely satisfied the Avery Cates fix I needed! The only problem is that I will now have to wait a year for the next installment (sadly rumored to be the last) of the Avery Cates saga. If you're into the gritty, grimy nasty underbelly of the world, this is a series for you!

[Bruce Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cyberpunk's not my usual cup of tea, but I got sucked into the series with The Electric Church. It's been a very interesting ride thus far. A blend of narcissism, technology and attitude leavened with a bit of humor and interesting if not very complex characters. I'm very much looking forward to the next book in this series.

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another healthy dose of Avery Cates!

I really enjoyed The Terminal State. The pace was crisp, the action sequences were top notch, and the introduction of new characters and multi-layered storylines kept things fresh and interesting. The ending was very entertaining, and it sets the stage perfectly for The Final Evolution.

[Andrew Bernstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was dangerously close to pegging this at 4 stars. The best of the four so far, either that or I'm growing immune to the repetitive text, occasional predictability (not in a wholly bad way) and universe quibbles.

All in all another fun, fast paced romp and stomp scifi shoot 'em up.

Looking forward to the fifth book, yet somewhat happy it closes the series out.

[Justin Melter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so glad that Mr. Somers has gotten back into the groove of Avery Cates' character. The last book was disappointing in comparison to the others but this just goes to show that Avery is still bad***.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a world decimated by plague and divided by world war, an assassin fights to survive and gain his freedom.

An interesting story full of crazy individuals / situations. The story is confusing in places, but overall an entertaining read.

[Tawnya Smith]

Awesome book, can't wait for the next one!