Frequent Reader Club

All your conspiracy theories in 1 convenient place

Revisado: 10-02-23

I'm embarrassed that I finished these two books, but my need to know how Koontz chose to wrap this up outweighed my disdain for his conspiracy-theory riddled storyline. This book was like the primer for taking the red pill, checking all of the conspiracy theory boxes as it goes.

Hatred for, distrust of and ultimate vilification of the "self proclaimed elite"? Check

Lone agent, operating on their own, outside of the law but ultimately more beholden to the precepts of the law than the people who are meant to enforce it? Check

Hatred for government? Check Except for cops, cops are great. Except for cop's bosses, they can't be trusted. And school teachers, school teachers are great. Except for private school, ivory tower, snooty elite. Those guys can't be trusted either.

Koontz' world is filled with unbelievable criminals who at every turn are willing to aid and abet a rogue FBI agent, because she is obviously a heroine worth helping. He repeatedly insists that this is no action movie, and life isn't like a movie, and then has a heroine who pulls off unbelievable acts. Repeatedly. She is always able to intuit the answer to every problem, because she is just. that. good.

Koontz' world is filled with easily cracked databases, back doors that whoever happens to be on the keyboard just happens to have the passwords for. Characters in this book haven't met a computer system they can't hack their way into in a matter of minutes. Everyone has passwords and back doors for everything, ranging from the NSA database to security and traffic cameras everywhere. It gets tiresome.

If a character expresses any reluctance to embrace gun culture, you can be sure they'll be getting raped in the next scene. Any view that doesn't map directly to Koontz' worldview is expressed as idiotic and readily shot down quickly.

Want whacked out conspiracy theories? How about dropping a couple of paragraphs alluding to Chernobyl being some sort of inside job because it was "more than a power plant" and then simply moving on. Or reducing every bit of modern science to, "climates always change."

Koontz' personal politics are so obviously on display throughout the book, that I kept trying to guess what he would be railing against next. The series is all about those in "control" removing personal choice from the masses and reducing us to "sheep in a flock." I'll use my own personal choice to avoid giving Koontz's work a chance in the future.

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Like an SNL sketch that outlives its premise

Revisado: 05-07-20

I think I'm 30 years too late for this book. I would have loved it when I was in my 20's, and my relationship with Scooby Doo was more fresh, and my...frame of mind was more receptive to the level of humor in the book. There are lots of funny moments, and the references run very deep. "Zoinks River" is a great example. And the plot is decent. But something about the way the tale is told - by the author, I mean - that just didn't compel me onward. It took me over a month to finish this book. Contrast that with the week it took me to read my next book, and well...

"Meddling Kids" is clever. And a fun referential ride. Too bad I can't send it back to my 25-year old self who would have loved it.

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Interesting world, but I needed more world buildin

Revisado: 08-30-17

I had a hard time with this book, and I couldn't tell if it was the performer, the material, or both. After a few hours of listening, I realized it was a combination of the two.

I'll start with Ian Pugh's performance: I had a hard time adjusting to his tone at the onset. It made me realize that most of the audiobooks I listen to are narrated by deep voices (R.C. Bray, Dennis E. Taylor, John Lee, Michael Kramer), and so I did my best to shed my own prejudices and enjoy Pugh's performance on its own merits. It made me realize what a challenge it must be to narrate an audiobook: do you read each chapter silently right before you perform it? How do you know what emotions to imbue on certain sentences?

These questions came up for me, because I noted many instances where the tone of the text did not match the tone of the performance. When Shepherd first meets Matthew, the bartender, Matthew says something, and then after he says it the text indicates that it was in a nervous tone. But Pugh's reading of it was not in that tone. I realize there is a fine line between over-performing a book, but this struck me, and I started finding other instances of it throughout the book - where the tone of the text didn't match the tone of the performance.

Pugh also starts most of his action sequences in a higher tonal range, which doesn't leave him much room to ratchet it up when things get exciting. A personal pet peeve. Finally, a lot of the voices just didn't work for me. The difference between The Bad Guy and the Other Things is negligible - they sounded very similar. And there wasn't a whole lot of differentiation between other character voices as well. I understand that Pugh is just breaking into this business, and hope he'll take the feedback as constructive and not nitpicking. But a good portion of the time his tone felt like he was trying too hard - speaking up in a way that made it feel forced, instead of either a relaxed reading or a hair-raising performance.

Next up, the content: Gleason's world raises more questions than he answers, and not in a good way. How did Purgatory develop technology? What is the history of their industrial revolution? It takes Gleason far too long to get to mentioning any sort of government, and not once is there mention of any sort of law enforcement - or lack thereof. Shepherd doesn't ask any of the questions I would presume someone would ask if they were dumped in such a world. How did they develop currency? What do most people do with their immortal lives? Why don't they have media, TV, newspapers, etc?

I never got a sense for the people who live in Purgatory, outside of the immediate circle of characters: Shepherd, Horace, Matthew, etc. The bad guys are one-dimensional, the plot twists were predictable, and I had a hard time caring.

Which is disappointing, because the world he's created is fascinating. And horrifying. I found myself hesitant to say the F word the entire time I was listening to this book, for fear of being taken. And the societal question of "what will people do if they never have to worry about dying?" was never really raised or dealt with - and it seemed like the proverbial 800 pound elephant in the story.

Horace hints at some of the chaos that ensued after The Rules went into effect, but it is cursory - like Gleason realized he needed to address it and glossed over it quickly. When that back story is really what could have made the rest of the story matter.

How do people maintain their humanity when the only option left to them looks like Hell? That is the question I wanted answered in Gleason's Purgatory, and I don't have the patience to read subsequent books to find out if he ever answers it.

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Stephenson takes a deep dive into 'thriller' genre

Revisado: 10-26-15

This is my favorite Stephenson novel since Cryptonomicon. The cast of characters is deep and the story is engaging. It's been a while since Stephenson set a story in modern times, and it is absolutely fulfilling to see his perspective and writing style unleashed on everything from video games to geek culture to growing up in a farming community.

Stephenson doesn't rush into anything, opting to savor each and every chance he has to build a character and describe a scenario. If you are looking for a thriller that opens up with heart-pounding action in the first 30 minutes you'd be better served elsewhere (Gilstrap, Child, or Ludlum, for example). If, however, you are looking for a wonderfully in-depth adventure filled with colorful characters and detailed descriptions, Reamde will do right by you.

Stephenson has a way of describing things that brings them to vivid life. His ability to turn a phrase is sheer beauty. The description of the voices in Richard Forthrast's head, for example, is gorgeous: "Richard's ex-girlfriends were long gone, but their voices followed him all the time, and spoke to him like muses or furies. It was like having seven super-egos arranged in a firing squad before a single, beleaguered id, making sure he didn't enjoy that last cigarette." It is the little touches of Stephenson's descriptions that give me such pleasure.

I found myself continually nodding in agreement or gaping in awe at his writing. I wish the video game he invents for this game were real, I'd play it. His description of his family, of the politics of being related and the challenges of coming together once a year for Thanksgiving are all immediately accessible and thoroughly enjoyable. And that's just the first chapter.

Stephenson is so adept at creating likable characters that you find yourself enjoying, if not rooting for, the bad guys as well. And Stephenson is not afraid to kill people off, just to keep the reader honest.

I thoroughly enjoyed Malcom Hillgartner's performance of the book, as well. This is my most favorite audio book reading to date (supplanting Wil Wheaton's reading of "Ready Player One"). Hillgartner slips from accent to accent with uncanny ease, traversing the globe without coming off as a pretender. And, maybe best of all, his women don't sound like high-pitched falsettos like so many of the action or thriller voice-over guys do. I liked his Zula, Qian Yuxia, and Olivia Halifax-Lin voices - and could tell them all apart by his subtle changes in accent.

Hillgartner's abilities made this book better. It is a wonderful listen, as long as you're not in a rush to get to *any* conclusions.

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Recording is Hissy

Revisado: 06-20-14

Would you try another book from Elmore Leonard and/or Frank Muller?

Riding the Rap is classic Elmore Leonard, with the bad guys doing more damage to themselves than anyone else. And Frank Muller's performance is solid (although it is hard to hear anyone other than Timothy Olyphant as Raylan at this point).

But the recording is old, and hissy. Low quality, low volume recording made for a bad listening experience. I would have to turn the volume up very loud to be able to hear it, and then it was all hiss. I know it was the recording, and not my sound system because the hiss would go away between chapters - when there was just a blank pause between recorded chapters.

Fun book, bad audio quality. I would have passed and just read it as a book if I had known it was going to sound this bad.

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