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Blood Brothers
Austin Tucker was a Green Beret, a man with lightning reflexes and the training to use them. But his life was shattered one Thanksgiving night when strangers invaded his home and killed his son, his daughter, and his wife.
Derek Waites was once an outlaw computer hacker, the infamous Captain Africa. Now he designs computer games. Someone has just tried to kidnap his son, while his daughter cried a strange warning and burst into flames.
The two men can have nothing in common-Tucker is a white man from the suburbs, Waites is a black street-hustler trying to go straight. But they are brothers in the same cause. If Tucker and Waites can resolve their differences long enough to work together, they can defeat an ancient evil. Between them they have the skills and the knowledge to break an ancient cycle of supernatural predation, and save the lives of a generation of children.
Derek Waites was once an outlaw computer hacker, the infamous Captain Africa. Now he designs computer games. Someone has just tried to kidnap his son, while his daughter cried a strange warning and burst into flames.
The two men can have nothing in common-Tucker is a white man from the suburbs, Waites is a black street-hustler trying to go straight. But they are brothers in the same cause. If Tucker and Waites can resolve their differences long enough to work together, they can defeat an ancient evil. Between them they have the skills and the knowledge to break an ancient cycle of supernatural predation, and save the lives of a generation of children.
416 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published October 15, 1997
2 people are currently reading
172 people want to read
About the author
Steven Barnes
130 books478 followersSteven Barnes (born March 1, 1952, Los Angeles, California) is an African American science fiction writer, lecturer, creative consultant, and human performance technician. He has written several episodes of The Outer Limits and Baywatch, as well as the Stargate SG-1 episode "Brief Candle" and the Andromeda episode "The Sum of its Parts". Barnes' first published piece of fiction, the novelette The Locusts (1979), written with Larry Niven, and was a Hugo Award nominee.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 17, 2023
I read a book titled "The Kundalini Equation" by Steven Barnes years ago and found it to be a most interesting read. Finally, I've gotten another book by Barnes--"Blood Brothers" published in 1996. It definitely is a "page-turner," a thriller but also an effective horror novel, which reminded me of Dean Koontz. It's set in the early 90s when computers were more primitive and people had to look for public phones to make a call. The Blood Brothers of the title are a white guy and a black guy who team-up to fight an evil predator with seemingly unlimited powers. The white guy, Tucker, was a highly-trained Green Beret, a real tough guy who could take on Jack Reacher, T'Challa, and Conan the Cimmerian all together. Heck, he'd give the Terminator a run for his money. The black guy, Derek, is the nerd, a computer hacker who was known as Captain Africa. Tucker is a man out for revenge against the person or persons who had his family slaughtered. Derek is trying to protect his family from the same predator. They make two very unlikely allies and they're up against an evil that goes back to slavery days.
Four stars, perhaps 4.5, as I really liked the characters and the story. Sometimes the situation got so intense I had to go out and walk the dog, just take a break! That really doesn't happen very often these days in my reading. I will continue to look for more Steven Barnes books.
Four stars, perhaps 4.5, as I really liked the characters and the story. Sometimes the situation got so intense I had to go out and walk the dog, just take a break! That really doesn't happen very often these days in my reading. I will continue to look for more Steven Barnes books.
April 26, 2017
The beginning was fuzzy but then it took off like a speeding train.
May 2, 2018
Interesting premise.
This could be extremely thrilling, were it not for the story-in-a-story that slowed down the progress of the action. Granted, it was necessary to explain the underlying situation, but it was L-O-N-G.
There are some really exciting action sequences, though. Recommended, especially if you're a Barnes fan.
This could be extremely thrilling, were it not for the story-in-a-story that slowed down the progress of the action. Granted, it was necessary to explain the underlying situation, but it was L-O-N-G.
There are some really exciting action sequences, though. Recommended, especially if you're a Barnes fan.
July 29, 2016
It's hard to decide how to rate this book. For the first 50 pages or so I was constantly about to put it down for good. But I knew I couldn't, because if I did, I'd never find out what happened next! And then I got into it and couldn't put it down.
I kept being jolted out of the story by little details I couldn't believe. Egg cartons don't work like that! Eight-year-olds don't work like that! The moon doesn't work like that! etc. Also by some larger details -- Computer programming never worked like that (right?)! Men and women don't work like that!
Also jolting: there are many offensive things in this book! There are several villains. The major white villain has a name. The major black villain mostly goes by "The African." There is a minor villain thought of by all of the viewpoint characters as "The Indian." The African and the Indian have pretty interesting backstories, but none that really explain why they don't have, you know, names. (I think the African doesn't have a more specific national identity because it would be too slanderous to associate him with an actual group of people.) There are plenty of racial and ethnic slurs.
There's a blurb on the back cover that says the book is "nicely plotted, wonderfully paced, and has characters the reader cares about. What else do you need?" and for the first third of the book I kept thinking that the answer to this question was Respect for Women.
The main female characters later get a lot more personality and/or responsibility for the plot, but it's true that while we meet the two main male characters by finding out what they're good at in addition to what they look like, all the female characters (including the little girls -- urgh) are introduced in terms of how extremely physically attractive they are.
Given all of this, I was astonished by how much I got sucked into the story. I even ended up liking Waites and Tucker, the two main characters, although not as much as I was probably supposed to.
We're introduced, first, to Tucker, a white man with a history of violence and alcohol abuse, who is separated from his wife. He's visiting her and their two children on Thanksgiving, trying to get a second chance at being part of the family. The next thing anyone in the outside world knows, the wife and daughter are brutally murdered, the son is missing and later found dead, and Tucker is blaming the whole thing on some mysterious black men. If I'd been reading about this in the paper, I'd have very little doubt that Tucker was lying and that he committed the murders himself. This is what everyone else thinks too, and Tucker's sent to prison for life.
But this part of the story is told from Tucker's point of view, and it turns out he's right about his innocence -- his family were attacked by members of a conspiracy involving both black and white men.
We then meet Waites, a nerdy (but of course handsome) computer programmer who's also estranged from his wife and two children (the same age as Tucker's were). When inexplicable and terrifying things begin happening to his family, Waites resorts to his shady haxx0r past to figure out what's going on, and his research leads him to Tucker.
I started off at once intrigued by the situation, delighted by the reversal of stereotypes (the white man is the athletic, violent one and the black man is the brains) but kind of put off by one of the apparent themes (Ladies, your man might seem no-good and you might be making a perfectly good life for yourself without him, but really you should give him one more chance!). The intrigue and delight kept getting better (there's a bit where a white supremacist survivalist group suddenly becomes important to the plot and I said right out loud "Did you really do that?" and laughed for ages) and the themes that I didn't agree with at least stayed sort of in the background, and became somewhat interestingly complicated.
I can't really discuss what I loved any more without spoiling the plot, but I will say (1) there is a great deal of potential for Waites/Tucker slash (in fact I am off to check the AO3 archives immediately after posting this), (2) the story is set during and immediately after the riots in Los Angeles triggered by the verdict in the Rodney King trial, and comments on them, (3) the day is saved in part by people doing family history, which I adored, (4) the story is even more awesome than suggested by the back cover description (which contains some inaccuracies).
And some warnings: There are some graphic descriptions of rape, told by the woman who experienced them. Also, a major part of the story depends on abortion being murder, and, relatedly, there's a scene that I can imagine being really horrible to read for a person who has had a miscarriage of a wanted pregnancy. Lastly, there is a lot of extremely gruesome description of non-sexual violence.
I ended up enjoying this book very, very much, and I'll be reading more of Steven Barnes' novels, but Blood Brothers is hard to recommend without the above caveats!
I kept being jolted out of the story by little details I couldn't believe. Egg cartons don't work like that! Eight-year-olds don't work like that! The moon doesn't work like that! etc. Also by some larger details -- Computer programming never worked like that (right?)! Men and women don't work like that!
Also jolting: there are many offensive things in this book! There are several villains. The major white villain has a name. The major black villain mostly goes by "The African." There is a minor villain thought of by all of the viewpoint characters as "The Indian." The African and the Indian have pretty interesting backstories, but none that really explain why they don't have, you know, names. (I think the African doesn't have a more specific national identity because it would be too slanderous to associate him with an actual group of people.) There are plenty of racial and ethnic slurs.
There's a blurb on the back cover that says the book is "nicely plotted, wonderfully paced, and has characters the reader cares about. What else do you need?" and for the first third of the book I kept thinking that the answer to this question was Respect for Women.
The main female characters later get a lot more personality and/or responsibility for the plot, but it's true that while we meet the two main male characters by finding out what they're good at in addition to what they look like, all the female characters (including the little girls -- urgh) are introduced in terms of how extremely physically attractive they are.
Given all of this, I was astonished by how much I got sucked into the story. I even ended up liking Waites and Tucker, the two main characters, although not as much as I was probably supposed to.
We're introduced, first, to Tucker, a white man with a history of violence and alcohol abuse, who is separated from his wife. He's visiting her and their two children on Thanksgiving, trying to get a second chance at being part of the family. The next thing anyone in the outside world knows, the wife and daughter are brutally murdered, the son is missing and later found dead, and Tucker is blaming the whole thing on some mysterious black men. If I'd been reading about this in the paper, I'd have very little doubt that Tucker was lying and that he committed the murders himself. This is what everyone else thinks too, and Tucker's sent to prison for life.
But this part of the story is told from Tucker's point of view, and it turns out he's right about his innocence -- his family were attacked by members of a conspiracy involving both black and white men.
We then meet Waites, a nerdy (but of course handsome) computer programmer who's also estranged from his wife and two children (the same age as Tucker's were). When inexplicable and terrifying things begin happening to his family, Waites resorts to his shady haxx0r past to figure out what's going on, and his research leads him to Tucker.
I started off at once intrigued by the situation, delighted by the reversal of stereotypes (the white man is the athletic, violent one and the black man is the brains) but kind of put off by one of the apparent themes (Ladies, your man might seem no-good and you might be making a perfectly good life for yourself without him, but really you should give him one more chance!). The intrigue and delight kept getting better (there's a bit where a white supremacist survivalist group suddenly becomes important to the plot and I said right out loud "Did you really do that?" and laughed for ages) and the themes that I didn't agree with at least stayed sort of in the background, and became somewhat interestingly complicated.
I can't really discuss what I loved any more without spoiling the plot, but I will say (1) there is a great deal of potential for Waites/Tucker slash (in fact I am off to check the AO3 archives immediately after posting this), (2) the story is set during and immediately after the riots in Los Angeles triggered by the verdict in the Rodney King trial, and comments on them, (3) the day is saved in part by people doing family history, which I adored, (4) the story is even more awesome than suggested by the back cover description (which contains some inaccuracies).
And some warnings: There are some graphic descriptions of rape, told by the woman who experienced them. Also, a major part of the story depends on abortion being murder, and, relatedly, there's a scene that I can imagine being really horrible to read for a person who has had a miscarriage of a wanted pregnancy. Lastly, there is a lot of extremely gruesome description of non-sexual violence.
I ended up enjoying this book very, very much, and I'll be reading more of Steven Barnes' novels, but Blood Brothers is hard to recommend without the above caveats!
March 7, 2015
Unfortunately, I'm stuck with being able to give only one rating to Steven Barnes' "Blood Brothers." It's unfortunate, because technically, the book is very well written with good characters and an engaging plot. But, personally, I found that the pure nastiness of the book overrode all the technical excellence. I probably could have lived with the book if the 100 or so pages of Dahlia Childe's diary stuck in the middle had been summarized or otherwise sanitized. It takes the cake for awful things happening (but, then, it really has to given the subject matter). So, I'm sorry to say I can only rate the book at a Pretty Bad 2 stars out of 5. If you're made of sterner stuff than I am, give it a try (again, it's technically very well done (say 4 stars)). But, be warned.
May 7, 2021
I read this book by accident years ago and loved it! Every so often It crosses my mind and I try to find it again. I want to buy it so that I can have it available. An unlikely pair have to work together, each needing closure for their own personal issues. One needing revenge, the other needing to save his family. One of my favorites
December 29, 2010
I really liked this book! This story mixed historical fiction with fantasy and sci-fi. Sounds like a weird mix (and maybe it is) but he pulled it off beautifully. I suggest this book to all my sci-fi friends.
August 4, 2020
A page turner that sheds light on cultural and values differences related to race, as well as the history that ties slaves and slave owners together. The best part of this novel was the lack of stereotypical relationships. Every relationship in the book is nuanced, complex, real.
April 10, 2018
Little on the aged side, but still a decent read.
June 22, 2008
Barnes has it all going on in this one. He grabs you from the start, skillfully creating full textured characters, deft plotting, and gut wrenching emotions. The story is centered around a white man and a black man joining forces to fight an evil out of time. It's all about race, and yet totally transcends race.
June 16, 2008
Another fun Barnes book.
Want to read
May 20, 2015recced by lj user=rachelmanija
July 31, 2009
Exciting and really interesting as well as agreat read
August 28, 2010
All I can say is the sins of the father will follow for generations to come. Underneath it all we are related in more ways than one
March 2, 2012
Great book, unless you're a bigot then you are going to hate it. Love, life, family, and that pesky closet your grandparents hid behind a new wall.
Read
December 29, 20178/10
December 17, 2021
without words, highly recommended book in everything is complete
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews