Valentin Schmid

The Worst Suter ?

Revisado: 11-12-23

Martin Suter used to be a genius writer and relative to his other works, this is terrible.

Totally bizarre story of lies built upon lies with very questionable motives by all parties (why lie again at the end?).

Many interesting set ups which never get a pay-off (who was in the villa at night?).

Totally useless love-story (Tom +) inside a love story (Peter + Melody) outside other love-stories (Melody + ).

Unclear who the protagonist really is (Tom? Old Peter ?, Young Peter ? Melody ?).

Very flat or no character arcs: Peter keeps lying about everything, so does everyone else, except for Tom, who is just along for the ride.

No real stakes for anyone except for a predetermined and unavoidable death, getting to know the truth after a life of lying (Peter) and lying before dying even though you said you wanted to tell the truth (Joe).

Almost totally boring to read except for the hope that genius Suter will deliver something grand at the end, only to uncover another lie without any consequence.

Compare this to "Small World" with a very real protagonist, very real stakes, and a very real character redemption.

Sorry Martin, I understand you probably make at least $1 Million + when you whip out something sloppy like this, but it doesn't do you justice. Do another Almen if you need some extra money.

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Worst Bond Novel — Skip It

Revisado: 01-31-23

This book is not a bond novel.

It is mostly an exposition of the culture of Japan from a 1960s perspective, so horribly dull and boring looking at it from 2023. At any rate, not what I'm interested in when reading a bond novel.

Consider the stakes: Thunderball was 2 nuclear warheads in the hands of SPECTRE threatening to blow up the West. This book is about getting Bond back into shape after losing Tracy by putting him on a diplomatic mission to trade secrets with the Japanese.

If BOnd fails, then the British don't get the Japanese intelligence. SHocking. Fleming uses this bureaucratic set up and the character of Tanaka to deliver his lecture on Japanese culture and history. Boring, not the subject of course, but the way Fleming delivers the knowledge as a red herring in a Bond novel and totally different from the very interesting bits of knowledge about other countries and cultures he has managed to expertly sprinkle in in the previous novels. Jamaica, United States, France etc.

THen by complete coincidence, this diplomatic mission leads Bond to Blofeld who this time doesn't want to kill millions for money but is content having people kill themselves by the dozens for free. The final confrontation between Bond and BLofeld is as anticlimactic as the premise of Blofelds undertaking. A massive disappointment considering the constant build-up of THunderball and Secret Service which is totally interrupted and sapped by the bureaucratic Japan lecture.

To add insult to injury, Fleming includes about a 10 minute (or 5 page?) detailed list of all the poisonous botany Blofeld has imported to Japan.

THen Bonds ends up losing his memory and fathering a child with the Japanese village girl, unbelievable. Now I know where No TIme to Die got its inspiration from.

Performance is good, makes everything a little bit more interesting.

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Self Aggrandizing Story of Outdated Information

Revisado: 03-19-18

What would have made Confessions of an Economic Hitman better?

It would have been a lot better if the author had stuck to telling his own experiences, which were fairly limited to forging statistics and only once bribing a Saudi politician with sex. It would have been better if he had described the work of the "many other economic hitmen" out there in detail rather than just talking about their work in general.

What was most disappointing about John Perkins’s story?

This was supposed to be a book where he tells of his secret dealings within the corporatocracy. Facts, inside information, evidence. Like, "I knew of the CIA plan to assassinate Omar Torrijos." Instead, it's "Omar Torrijos was killed in a plane crash." No surprise there Sherlock.

At the end, his "secret dealings" amount to making bad economic forecasts. He was a statistician for crying out loud who inflated his estimates to get deals done. This happens all the time, every day in every country, not just the developing world.

Interesting that he ONCE had an interview with the NSA and ONCE had secret briefings with a woman who told him how this game works. The rest of the book is the author laying out his green and socialist political agenda repetitively and telling historic facts that you could read elsewhere and most of which are well known by 2018. Also superfluous and can be read up elsewhere: The accounts of the indigenous people who dislike what the corporatocracy is doing to them. Not that they are wrong, but theirs is not John Perkin's story and we don't need him to relay what they told him, that information is well accessible elsewhere.

He remains vague about the different political plots, the work of the "other economic hitmen" even the deals he was involved in. Instead, he makes it seem he was the deciding factor in so many earth-shattering deals when all he did was forging statistics. He didn't sign the check, he didn't bribe the corrupt politicians, except for the Saudi Prince, who also wasn't central to the deal. This comes across as self-aggrandizing and egotistical. Judging by the lack of detailed knowledge and signatory power he wasn't that important after all.

Which scene was your favorite?

His NSA briefing, the briefing with the woman, his bribing of the Saudi Prince.

What character would you cut from Confessions of an Economic Hitman?

John Perkins.

Any additional comments?

It's not that what he is saying is wrong, it's not that his accusations of the corporate and government corruption and exploitation of poor people are wrong, they are not. It's the egotistical, insignificant and completely misleading way in which he tells "his" story, which isn't his story after all.

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