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Field Ops #1
The God Hunter
Good Omens meets Office Space in this darkly humorous and suspenseful supernatural thriller by author Tim Lees.There's an art to capturing gods for electricity, and Chris Copeland is good at his job. Or at least, he was, until his insouciant partner accidentally loosed a pagan god on the world. Luckily, Chris had the good sense to smash the thing over the head with a lamp. It's dead.Or is it?Six years later, Chris is contacted by Anna Ganz, a brusque, chain-smoking Hungarian detective with a penchant for misusing American profanity. A mysterious serial killer is stalking Budapest, and, in the name of profit, Chris's company isn't going to stop it. It's up to the unlikely team of Chris and Anna to hunt down a god—but can they catch the killer before it's too late?
400 pages, ebook
First published August 5, 2014
6 people are currently reading
86 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 6, 2019
An interesting science fiction novel about a company that captures gods and transforms their energy into a commodity.
"The official view is, all we're dragging up are imprints. Worship at a certain site for long enough, you charge it up. The power gets compressed, like coal." pg 11, ebook.
When something goes wrong, as one would expect it to, the results are pretty bad. Chris Copeland is called in to clean it up. But there may be no stopping what happens next...
This book was like the film Ghostbusters, except instead of containing the ghosts like in the movie, they're transmuting them somehow. Well, and the film has ghosts instead of gods. But, you see the similarities.
It's an interesting idea. Everyone is looking to develop new, clean and renewable energy. What if we could mine that from emotions or other planes of existence? Would such a thing be possible? And what would be the costs?
"I don't believe in premonitions. You only see them looking back, once the mind's had the chance to make up shapes and patterns, and give form to random data. And yet now, in retrospect, it seems those days were full of omens, all trying to tell me something, circling me like softly-whispered threats." pg 28
Chris is an interesting character. He embodies the "over-worked into absolute nonchalance" type. Chris and his coworkers are literally capturing gods and he's like "so what?". I imagine you could get used to anything after awhile, but his attitude was amusing to me.
Especially when you put him next to professional detectives later in the book. They have the exact same attitude except about criminals rather than spirit energy. It makes for a fascinating juxtaposition.
"It's manna," Martin Klein announced, matter-of-fact. "The stuff that fed the Israelites." "Wrong desert," I said. "You'd have to be a thousand miles east for that." "Well." He shrugged. "It gets around." pg 74
Like any business that can generate enormous profits or be controlled by the government, the god-into-energy racket has attracted some unsavory and cutthroat characters. But the stakes are higher than simple wealth or power. A misstep could mean the end of the world.
I wanted this book to be more mystical, with more conspiracies, and more romance. I enjoyed the premise and the questions the story raised about people being people, no matter their level of technology. I also liked the character of Anna Ganz, the strong female detective.
I did not like how the author Tim Lees gave us very little context. I also didn't like how he didn't develop the characters much beyond the main two.
Recommended for science fiction readers who like their stories thick with questions and a bit thin on the answers.
"The official view is, all we're dragging up are imprints. Worship at a certain site for long enough, you charge it up. The power gets compressed, like coal." pg 11, ebook.
When something goes wrong, as one would expect it to, the results are pretty bad. Chris Copeland is called in to clean it up. But there may be no stopping what happens next...
This book was like the film Ghostbusters, except instead of containing the ghosts like in the movie, they're transmuting them somehow. Well, and the film has ghosts instead of gods. But, you see the similarities.
It's an interesting idea. Everyone is looking to develop new, clean and renewable energy. What if we could mine that from emotions or other planes of existence? Would such a thing be possible? And what would be the costs?
"I don't believe in premonitions. You only see them looking back, once the mind's had the chance to make up shapes and patterns, and give form to random data. And yet now, in retrospect, it seems those days were full of omens, all trying to tell me something, circling me like softly-whispered threats." pg 28
Chris is an interesting character. He embodies the "over-worked into absolute nonchalance" type. Chris and his coworkers are literally capturing gods and he's like "so what?". I imagine you could get used to anything after awhile, but his attitude was amusing to me.
Especially when you put him next to professional detectives later in the book. They have the exact same attitude except about criminals rather than spirit energy. It makes for a fascinating juxtaposition.
"It's manna," Martin Klein announced, matter-of-fact. "The stuff that fed the Israelites." "Wrong desert," I said. "You'd have to be a thousand miles east for that." "Well." He shrugged. "It gets around." pg 74
Like any business that can generate enormous profits or be controlled by the government, the god-into-energy racket has attracted some unsavory and cutthroat characters. But the stakes are higher than simple wealth or power. A misstep could mean the end of the world.
I wanted this book to be more mystical, with more conspiracies, and more romance. I enjoyed the premise and the questions the story raised about people being people, no matter their level of technology. I also liked the character of Anna Ganz, the strong female detective.
I did not like how the author Tim Lees gave us very little context. I also didn't like how he didn't develop the characters much beyond the main two.
Recommended for science fiction readers who like their stories thick with questions and a bit thin on the answers.
August 2, 2014
This review will be available on my my blog starting 8/4
3.5 stars
eARC provided in exchange for fair review
Well, the premise - that humans can collect energy from sacred spots and turn it into electricity- is pretty awesome. As humans, we talk of places feeling alive and having an energy of their own. For example, three years ago I visited the Chartres Cathedral in France. It's notable for being both the place where the first King of France was crowned, and for being a site of pilgrimage within the Catholic Church. Now I'm agnostic, and I wasn't traveling with any particularly religious people, but those of us who opened ourselves up to the location, those of us who took in the history and studied the statues and the stained glass, we all left feeling electrified. We were energized. There was something intangible in the air. You couldn't describe it, but you could feel it. And that's what I imagine our protagonist Chris was capturing in his flask jars.
Now one of the issues you can have with stories like these is that sense of [something scientific] not working that way and just pulling you out of a book because you're too busy shaking your head. I think Lees did a good job here. There's a nice balance between telling us enough, so that it feels like he put some thought into all of this, and not saying so much as to ruin it all. It's dolled out slowly, but it works.
I start with this, because if you can't buy into the premise you aren't going to get very far into the book, because you aren't going to get very far into the book: a god escapes, takes Chris' face and starts killing things. From there, Chris is more or less blackmailed into trying to hunt it down no thanks to Shailer, the kind of egotistical jerk that normally stands for corporate types in the media. I do wish Lees had gone another route with this character, because I kind of feel like he's the most "stock" thing here, but still. He serves his purpose well.
What makes this book worth the read, however, is the relationship between Chris and Anna. She's a cop who get the murder case so it can kill her career when she can't solve it, as opposed to a cop with friends in higher places. She's blunt, she's skeptical, she's hard, but she's still open to what Chris is saying, even as she doesn't really believe until towards the end. She provides a calm and rational head to help aide Chris when he's otherwise floundering blindly in the dark.
In the end, this book can be seen as a cautionary tale about our foray's into "new" energy sources, like fraking. They promise cheap and abundant energy, but we're going about and collecting it without knowing what the costs may be, and only too late do we learn that the costs are higher than we ever intended.
3.5 stars
eARC provided in exchange for fair review
Well, the premise - that humans can collect energy from sacred spots and turn it into electricity- is pretty awesome. As humans, we talk of places feeling alive and having an energy of their own. For example, three years ago I visited the Chartres Cathedral in France. It's notable for being both the place where the first King of France was crowned, and for being a site of pilgrimage within the Catholic Church. Now I'm agnostic, and I wasn't traveling with any particularly religious people, but those of us who opened ourselves up to the location, those of us who took in the history and studied the statues and the stained glass, we all left feeling electrified. We were energized. There was something intangible in the air. You couldn't describe it, but you could feel it. And that's what I imagine our protagonist Chris was capturing in his flask jars.
Now one of the issues you can have with stories like these is that sense of [something scientific] not working that way and just pulling you out of a book because you're too busy shaking your head. I think Lees did a good job here. There's a nice balance between telling us enough, so that it feels like he put some thought into all of this, and not saying so much as to ruin it all. It's dolled out slowly, but it works.
I start with this, because if you can't buy into the premise you aren't going to get very far into the book, because you aren't going to get very far into the book: a god escapes, takes Chris' face and starts killing things. From there, Chris is more or less blackmailed into trying to hunt it down no thanks to Shailer, the kind of egotistical jerk that normally stands for corporate types in the media. I do wish Lees had gone another route with this character, because I kind of feel like he's the most "stock" thing here, but still. He serves his purpose well.
What makes this book worth the read, however, is the relationship between Chris and Anna. She's a cop who get the murder case so it can kill her career when she can't solve it, as opposed to a cop with friends in higher places. She's blunt, she's skeptical, she's hard, but she's still open to what Chris is saying, even as she doesn't really believe until towards the end. She provides a calm and rational head to help aide Chris when he's otherwise floundering blindly in the dark.
In the end, this book can be seen as a cautionary tale about our foray's into "new" energy sources, like fraking. They promise cheap and abundant energy, but we're going about and collecting it without knowing what the costs may be, and only too late do we learn that the costs are higher than we ever intended.
December 3, 2014
Dark and creepy, and moves along at a brisk pace. Great characters. Pulls no punches.
November 29, 2018
The concept (deities as the rejected wish-fulfilling power of humankind, which can be harvested for electricity) is neat, but the plot is boring and fails to explore the metaphysical possibilities of that concept or do much to explore the company that intends to exploit the concept.
April 6, 2024
Interesting concept, poor execution. Plot wasn’t very interesting.
April 10, 2017
Kind of a laundry files knockoff without the humor or color, leaving only gray bureaucratic despair and crawling soulless nightmares (also there's some supernatural stuff that happens). The writing's acceptable and the premise is very intriguing, but the main character is drab and nothing uplifting happens in the entire book. The secondary characters are in the main well-realized archetypes: I thought Lees really nailed the narcissistic sociopath power climber who plagues the hero. If you're into the bleak and depressing this is probably for you.
August 28, 2015
"Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch meets Office Space was, I think, a little optimistic on the part of the copy writer.
Chris Copeland is part of a governmental (I think?) organization that is responsible for removing "gods" from the world before they can manifest and cause problems. One of his jobs goes wrong and he gets caught in the middle of of a world-ending catastrophe mixed with office politics.
I'm not from the UK so I can't speak to this but megalithic bureaucratic organizations embedded in the government seem to be an in-joke with Brits because this is a trope I've read several times in various incarnations. Unfortunately, The Rook and Charlie Stross's Laundry series did a much better job of it, in my opinion.
I would almost call this a derivative work of the Laundry books except that Stross more or less directly references Lovecraftian mythology whereas this book merely has the same feel. It is actually truer to the structure of Lovecraft books - you have an individual investigator who is left largely on his own except for one companion, few people really believe him, and the few people who do refuse to give him more information or help. The gods in question also have similar effects to the Lovecraftian ones - they are humungously powerful beings that can't be directly interacted with without massive psychological trauma, and they have minions that can cause physical harm.
The book doesn't try to go for the horror angle with this very much, though; there wasn't much suspense for me in reading. However, the promised humor never showed up for me either, unless one was supposed to be finding perverse pleasure in the various misfortunes that befall Chris. The man truly has no luck. He plays the imperial martyr most of the time and when he actually tries to be proactive about something it blows up in his face. I didn't find any of it funny, more just frustrating and annoying. I wasn't enamored with any of the secondary characters either.
I think this just wasn't my cup of tea, so to speak. Someone who enjoys the feel of Lovecraftian stories may get more out of it, or someone who can identify and relate to the black humor. As for me, this was a non-starter.
Chris Copeland is part of a governmental (I think?) organization that is responsible for removing "gods" from the world before they can manifest and cause problems. One of his jobs goes wrong and he gets caught in the middle of of a world-ending catastrophe mixed with office politics.
I'm not from the UK so I can't speak to this but megalithic bureaucratic organizations embedded in the government seem to be an in-joke with Brits because this is a trope I've read several times in various incarnations. Unfortunately, The Rook and Charlie Stross's Laundry series did a much better job of it, in my opinion.
I would almost call this a derivative work of the Laundry books except that Stross more or less directly references Lovecraftian mythology whereas this book merely has the same feel. It is actually truer to the structure of Lovecraft books - you have an individual investigator who is left largely on his own except for one companion, few people really believe him, and the few people who do refuse to give him more information or help. The gods in question also have similar effects to the Lovecraftian ones - they are humungously powerful beings that can't be directly interacted with without massive psychological trauma, and they have minions that can cause physical harm.
The book doesn't try to go for the horror angle with this very much, though; there wasn't much suspense for me in reading. However, the promised humor never showed up for me either, unless one was supposed to be finding perverse pleasure in the various misfortunes that befall Chris. The man truly has no luck. He plays the imperial martyr most of the time and when he actually tries to be proactive about something it blows up in his face. I didn't find any of it funny, more just frustrating and annoying. I wasn't enamored with any of the secondary characters either.
I think this just wasn't my cup of tea, so to speak. Someone who enjoys the feel of Lovecraftian stories may get more out of it, or someone who can identify and relate to the black humor. As for me, this was a non-starter.
March 14, 2015
I wanted to give this book a slightly better rating but I just couldn't. I enjoyed it, I really did but there was something...I don't know...something off about it. The first 1/4 or so was not enjoyable to the point where I wanted to stop reading but once I start a book I hate to quit. The rest of the book picked up steam but it felt like just when it hit full speed it was done.
The worst thing about the book was that I didn't connect with any of the characters in it. I failed to feel any connection to them. It might be that the author is British or that I just didn't care about Copeland. I really didn't. I barely cared about Anna as well. When you don't care about the two main characters, well that is about it for the book.
Tim's second book comes out in May and I'll probably pick it up. Perhaps I've been through enough with Copeland that we'll bond more in #2. Or maybe I'll take Seven B's offer that Copeland refused!
The worst thing about the book was that I didn't connect with any of the characters in it. I failed to feel any connection to them. It might be that the author is British or that I just didn't care about Copeland. I really didn't. I barely cared about Anna as well. When you don't care about the two main characters, well that is about it for the book.
Tim's second book comes out in May and I'll probably pick it up. Perhaps I've been through enough with Copeland that we'll bond more in #2. Or maybe I'll take Seven B's offer that Copeland refused!
September 22, 2014
The God Hunter is an edgy read with an interesting premise on the origin of the gods as well as a way to put them to good use. Chris, the protagonist, is an unlikely hero, a field ops who abandoned a hazardous line of work for the safety of office work. Except the past is out to get him, and he gets blackmailed back into the thick of things, this time, to go after the most difficult assignment of his life.
The author did a great job in making the plot seem plausible. The prose was snappy and flowed easily. The dialogue felt natural and played a strong part in making every character feel distinct. I enjoyed Anna the best—a police officer and Chris’s partner through the ordeal. She was straightforward and made me laugh out loud more than once with her dry and sarcastic sense of humor. I really enjoyed this book and hope to see more from Mr. Lees.
The author did a great job in making the plot seem plausible. The prose was snappy and flowed easily. The dialogue felt natural and played a strong part in making every character feel distinct. I enjoyed Anna the best—a police officer and Chris’s partner through the ordeal. She was straightforward and made me laugh out loud more than once with her dry and sarcastic sense of humor. I really enjoyed this book and hope to see more from Mr. Lees.
May 29, 2016
What if our prayers or other strong emotions left a residue of energy in sacred places (maybe even strengthened the sense of the holy in those places)? And suppose it were possible to harvest that energy for conversion to electricity. Someone would start sending out agents to churches, synagogues, etc. as a solution to the energy crisis. That's the job of our hero. But what he doen't know is that the energy has always been harvested by spiritual beings who feed on it--and his job is actually harvesting them--and they don't like it. That's when things start to go downhill rapidly. Because the gods don't take kindly to being enslaved. Interesting premise drawn out nicely.
December 8, 2014
Interesting premise. The book held my interest and was well paced.
April 25, 2020
Field op Chris Copeland captures residual supernatural energy for the world power grid; but on one occasion, an elder god captures him instead.
January 19, 2015
Interesting idea for a novel, but poor execution and characters.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews