Review: The Troop by Nick Cutter

 

The Troop is a horrific, terrifying and brilliant tale exploring what happens when boys are forced to become men. Part horror, part psychological thriller, part sci-med, The Troop starts out with a small scout group and their scoutmaster taking a trip to a remote, deserted island, all seems normal until one night a man arrives, clearly ill. Tim the scoutmaster feels that it is his duty as a doctor to try to help the dying man without fully realising the horror incubating inside the stranger. Soon the evil emerges and starts to slowly work its way through the small group, who have no one but themselves to turn to for help.

The Troop is so captivating that even when you really feel like you can’t take anymore you keep reading. The actual infection (I will say no more) pales into insignificance compared to the palpable fear of the characters and the detailed exploration of their psyche as the situation shows the best and the worst of the teens. There is no shying away from the necessities of the situation, and there is no clear ‘hero’, each of the boys will do something they regret. The author cleverly weaves in reports from those on the mainland taken after the events in the book, which allows the reader to catch their breath and regroup, as well as showing us how futile the boy’s situation is. The final bid for survival and the last twist had me in tears and goose bumps respectively.

This is not the book for those with a weak constitution, there is an abundance of gore, with some very graphic descriptions, there is swearing, there is some sexual activity, there is self-mutilation. However, none of this should bother most adult thriller or horror readers enough to stop them reading. I did however draw the line at the very graphic descriptions of animal cruelty by one of the characters, and did have to skip over one particular part involving a kitten. Whilst completely fitting to the story, it did upset me. There are also descriptions of animal experimentation, but this is presented more clinically. If any of this bothers you, you may want to give The Troop a miss.

Overall a horrifically good thriller that I recommend anyone with a strong stomach gives a go but not one for the kids.

The Troop is available for £7.99 from Amazon.co.ukand from February 24th will be available from Amazon.com.

[An ARC was provided by NetGalley]

Review: The Moses Virus by Jack Hyland

 

In sci-med thriller The Moses Virus, Dr Tom Stewart, a professor and trustee of the American Academy in Rome, stumbles upon an ancient virus, more deadly than the Spanish Flu and becomes the one man who can protect the virus from falling into the wrong hands.

I do like my deadly pathogen thrillers, and The Moses Virus certainly fits into this category, although is a bit slower than most novels in this genre, with a lot of focus being put on the history side of the story especially earlier on. Like many books since Dan Brown, there is a bit of an ‘evil Vatican’ sub-plot that will appeal to fans of that ilk. One of the highlights of The Moses Virus is that it is beautifully written and features well researched descriptions of modern Rome.

My big problem with The Moses Virus was that the plot is flawed, why is Dr Stewart the one to investigate the virus? There is a weak reason given in passing but it doesn’t really make sense. Neither does the fact the police and the Vatican seem completely happy to have him investigate seemly with very little official investigation going on particularly on the part of the police. Then there is the fact that he realises that there are people who will kill to find out what is going on and that he needs to be discrete but then goes any around telling all and sundry about the virus. Later in the book, he seems to manage to organise a cross border raid in very little time, with his only contact in government seemingly a Rome based director of the Laboratory for Communicable Substances. I realise that being utterly realistic wouldn’t work, but the lack of realism really bothers me and detracted from my overall enjoyment of the book.

Overall, an okay read which general fans of thrillers will enjoy, particular those who like a bit of history in the plot. Those who enjoy a bit more science in their thriller will probably be a bit disappointed with the lack of substantial science but The Moses Virus will still make for a pleasant afternoon’s read.

The Moses Virus is available in dead tree format from Amazon.com (January 7th) and from Amazon.co.uk(March 7th).

[An ARC was provided through NetGalley]

Review: Frozen Solid by James M. Tabor

Having thoroughly enjoyed The Deep Zone, I really wanted to like Frozen Solid, the second Hallie Leland book in the series. In Frozen Solid Hallie Leland is dispatched to Antarcticaafter her friend, carrying out research there, suddenly dies. Hallie is asked to take over the research with only a week to go before the research station is all but shut down for the winter. Almost as soon as she arrives people start dying. Will Haillie be able to find out the cause before everyone leaves?

The plot of the book was very much my cup of tea, and I did enjoy the idea of an outside group trying to control overpopulation in a ‘humane’ way but it all going wrong. The psychological aspects of the plot such as the isolation, the fear of being watched and the ‘accidents’, serve to heighten the tension, and I very much enjoyed this aspect of the book.

The character of Hallie Leland is well written and believable. She is strong, but not overwhelming so. She is intelligent but not all knowing, and there are some moments of weakness which add to the depth of the character. The characterisation of Hallie is a strength of Frozen Solid, and there are clear improvements to her character since The Deep Zone.   

Frozen Solid is not without its frustrations. As a fan of the more fast-paced thriller, and The Deep Zone certainly came under this banner, Frozen Solid was a bit too slow to get started for me. Things don’t kick off till over half way through. The first half of the book is a confusing kaleidoscope of different characters, almost random scenes and the author going off on tangents; this makes it quite hard work to follow and often left me feeling frustrated. It is a shame that while Hallie is very well characterised; the other characters are mostly unmemorable, which also contributes to the confused feel of the book, as you try to remember who’s who.  There is also frequent bad language, now I am not a prude and feel that using swearing can enhance the story if used correctly and sparingly, in this case it was not. 

The science is there for fans of Sci-Med, and in the whole is written in a way that shouldn't present a problem for readers who are not of a scientific or medical bent, although don’t expect the science to be explained every step of the way as it is in McClure or Crichton books. There are some more technical terms but one of the benefits of reading on a Kindle is that any terminology you don’t know can easily be looked up. Overall the science used is believable but there are some subtle mistakes – for example, the events are set in February and this is described as being dark and very cold, when in reality there is 24 hour sunlight and the temperatures at the South Pole are a more balmy -38°C rather than the -58°C found in winter.  I can see that having 24 hour near darkness is essential to ramp up the psychological tension, so why not set it during March-September during southern winter. It makes no sense to say February and then claim its winter, and it makes me wonder how well researched the book was.

Overall, a pleasant Sci-Med thriller that fans of the genre will want to read. Action/adventure fans may also want to give Frozen Solid a go but may be put off by the amount of science and the slow, confused start. This was a very hard book for me to rate as I did enjoy the story but it also frustrated me, I settled for a 3 in the end as I did enjoy it but would caution readers to be aware of some of the book’s issues before purchasing.  

Frozen Solid is available from Amazon for £14.97 for the Kindle Edition. 

[A ARC was provided by NetGalley] 

Review: Badwater by Toni Dwiggins

Badwater follows a team of forensic geologists (think CSI with rocks) as they race against time to stop a catastrophic release of nuclear waste in unspoiled Death Valley. The premise of the book fascinated me from the start, although, to my shame, I could not see how rocks could be that interesting. I was however pleasantly surprised.

The book has a trilling start, a road crash site in the middle of the desert with a murdered driver and a missing barrel of nuclear waste. The thrills continue throughout the book, which has a good pace, and whist the reader is aware of the culprit from the start due to his narrative in one of the first chapters, the reader is kept guessing as to who else can be trusted, which keeps things interesting. The forensic geology is well integrated into the plot, and is not just brushed to the side as can happen in these types of ‘CSI’ books; and I found both the geology and the nuclear science very accurate and interesting. I had a good chuckle at some of the more sciencey jokes in the book too – such as the analogy of the three types of radiation as the Three Little Pigs. There are numerous references to different places in Death Valley in the book – and the inclusion of a map at the start is a nice touch and makes it easier to picture the places when they are mentioned.

The only slight source of irritation for me was the, at times, heavy use of colloquial spelling such as “Shore Thang” which tended to jar me out my flow of reading. I can understand the author trying to get across the local accent, but I felt in this case it wasn't needed and was inconsistently used. There were also a few grammatical issues (such as mixed used of the first and third person) but these did not affect my enjoyment of the book.

Overall a quick, but very enjoyable read which should appeal to any fan of science based thrillers. I will be looking forward to reading the second book in the series – Volcano Watch. Badwater was awarded the 2012 Best Indie Whodunnit award from Wired.com.

Badwater is available as an e-book for £2.36 from Amazon, and is also available in dead-tree and audio-book formats

[Review copy provided by the author] 

Review: Wildcard by Ken McClure

After reviewing Lost Causes at the weekend I felt like I needed to re-read a better example of McClure's work, so pulled out, electronically, Wildcard which is the third book in the Steven Dunbar series. We're thrown straight into the action when a man becomes violently ill on a flight from Africa, bleeding from every orifice of his body. Soon others who came in contact with the man fall ill and die. The government think they are in the clear until other cases start appearing all over the country - Manchester, Perth, Wales - all wildcards with no know source of the illness. Will Steven Dunbar figure out the connection between the wildcards before the whole country is infected? What will the personal cost be?

From Amazon

Wildcard is a wonderfully paced read which takes you straight into the action, with the unveiling panic on the aircraft, and the action and suspense hardly lets up until the final page. McClure carefully balances story progression with holding enough of the truth back to keep you guessing into the last few chapters, and weaves in a beautifully bitter-sweet sub-plot which reveals some stark truths about Dunbar. The medical information contained in the book is spot-on, ensuring that the story is believable throughout; a hallmark of McClure's work. The only downside I can see is that it is so fast-paced that reading the book only takes a matter of hours and leaves you wanting more.

Overall this is a fantastic example of the medical thriller genre, which is so well written that fans of the genre and non-fans alike are likely to find it an engrossing and enjoyable read.

Wildcard is available from Amazon UK for £1.59, from Amazon US for $2.61, from Kobo for £2.03 and from WH Smith for £1.69, a bargin price for a book of this calibre.

Win an e-book offer - L.J. Sellers's The Baby Thief

L.J. Sellers' mystery novel The Baby Thief was recommended to me by a poster on Mobile Read as a medical thriller. Whilst on the author's site I came across a promotion to win a copy of the book by e-mailing the author. I duly send the e-mail and quickly received a .mobi copy. I am very grateful to the author and will be reviewing the book once I have read it.

Cover from Fantastic Fiction.co.uk

The details of the promotion can be found here. If you do not receive a copy, the author kindly provides extracts so you can try before you buy. The e-book is available from Amazon UK for £2.08.