Review: The Cure by Doulgas E. Richards

The Cure follows graduate student Erin Palmer who due to a close encounter with a psychopath in her childhood now studies them to determine what makes them different to ‘normals’. Unbeknown to her supervisor she is not just studying psychopaths but is experimenting on them, and with her mysterious partner has finally discovered a genetic cure for the condition. There are some who would do anything to stop Palmer succeeding, and soon Palmer is on the run and unsure who to trust. Will she chose the right allies?

I really liked how The Cure began as it had a good balance of exciting action and science, we get to know and feel for Erin early on and this helps draw the reader into the story, which in the first third of the book is very believable. I was a bit perturbed when the story suddenly took a fantastic leap into the unknown and introduced not one but seventeen races of extra-terrestrials and a plot to save the Earth from humankind and an overwhelming alien threat. As a fan of more realistic Sci-Fi this jolted me, and whilst I did enjoy the rest of the story, the alien plot was just a little too unbelievable for me and also a bit clichéd. The sudden introduction of all of this lead to lots of exposition, which did become tedious after a while but there was plenty of action which kept me going, in addition to several interesting twists and terms.

Whilst not what I was expecting, The Cure turned out to be very readable, as long as you checked your disbelief in at the door. Aside from the psychopath thing, the plot is pretty run of the mill for Sci-Fi but works well. I would recommend this to fans of action-based alien Sci-Fi.

The Cure will be available in dead tree format from September 18th from Amazon.co.uk and from Amazon.com

[An ARC was provided through NetGalley]

Review: First Activation by D.A. and M.P. Wearmouth

First Activation is a post-apocalyptic thriller in which nearly the entire global population is turned into brainwashed puppets with one single purpose – to kill someone then kill themselves. Only a few people are unaffected, having been on airplanes when the phenomenon hit. Four of these, two of them soldiers, set off in a group to try to figure out what is going on and to survive. What they find is more horrifying than anything they can imagine.

First Activation had me torn, I felt at the end like I had read two different books in one. The first half of the book is gripping, powerful and terrifying. It seems at every turn our survivors are faced with yet another threatening situation; and the behaviour of the ‘killers’ is highly disturbing. It took a lot of effort for me to put the book down and go to bed, and I was ready to give it five-stars as soon as I finished it.

The second half of the book was less satisfying, mainly due to the pace and the lack of credibility of the plot. I found the story was rushed, and lacked the detail of the first half of the book. It was like the authors were determined to get to the end as quickly as possible, whereas I much prefer a more drawn out journey, especially when it comes to travelling in a post-apocalyptic world. This was not helped by the sudden lack of tension (for reasons I can’t go into without spoiling the plot), and the ‘threat’ in the second half of the book just never really seemed like a real threat. The actions of the main characters also start to unravel - two men who have refused to kill without great provocation just a few chapters before, suddenly turn into ruthless torturers, which is a tad unbelievable despite their military background.

Prior to the end of the book the cause of the phenomenon is exposed, although the reasons behind it are not fully explained, perhaps this will be in the obvious sequel. I didn't really like the cause as it felt a bit clichéd; I felt an opportunity for a more interesting explanation was missed. Maybe when a fuller explanation is given in the sequel my opinion might change.

Rating First Activation is very hard. As I've said, half of it was OMG and half of it was meh. In the end I have settled for a three and a half star rating (rounded to a four for rating on sites that don’t allow half stars). This is because I did enjoy it, and there were some great bits so I would recommend reading it, but the second half let it down, but not so much that it wasn't enjoyable or something I wouldn't recommend; it is also excellent value at 99p. Fans of sci-fi thrillers will want to ad this to their to-read lists.

On a side note, it was good to see some decent post-apocalyptic fiction coming out of the UK as most authors in this genre are US based, and I really hope the sequel is more like the first half of the book and slows down a bit.

First Activation is available from Amazon.co.uk for 99p and from Amazon.com for $1.55.

[Review copy provided by BookRooster] 

Review: The Uninvited by Liz Jensen

The Uninvited is a dystopian novel set in the present day, where children start behaving oddly and attacking adults close to them. From a few isolated incidents, modern society soon reaches breaking point and a new equilibrium is reached.

The underlying message of The Uninvited - that our current society and population growth is unsustainable - is an interesting one, and is explored in a novel way. However, I felt the idea was not delved into as much it could have been, and I, as a fan of dystopian fiction, was left wanting more. The start is absorbing but slow, with the rest of the novel feeling rushed which leads to very little attention being paid to the issues arising from the collapse of society. Instead the book jumps forward to a unsatisfying ending. 

The novel itself is easy to read, with the characters, particularly Hesketh, making an emotional connection with the reader. The inner monologue from Hesketh, was particularly interesting in its portrayal of someone with Aspergers, and this aspect of his charactersation was particularly well done. The logical approach of Hesketh makes it easier to take in some of the more far-fetched aspects of the plot. 

I enjoyed the book on the whole, and finished it in a few hours; the intrigue surrounding the source of the 'pandemic' carrying me onwards. The eventual explanation is somewhat unexpected although not all together convincing, which the author alludes to with a line "Let string theory work that out". One niggle with the ARC version was extremely poor formatting, with many missing letters and several misspellings  This made reading it on my Kindle frustrating, and hopefully the retail version is better. 

Overall the premise is a good one, with an intriguing take on the issue of overpopulation, however the author fails to take full advantage, and as such the novel is merely a good read - rather than something more outstanding or thought provoking. 

The Uninvited is available from Amazon as an e-book for £7.40 or as a paperback for £5.99. 

[An ARC was provided by NetGalley]

Review: The Transformed by Raphael Hirsch

The Transformed had me gripped from page 1, and I read it in one sitting. It follows scientist Doctor Newman, who is obsessed with finding the cure to his sister-in-law’s genetic condition. His research, on which he has worked tirelessly for years, is nearly complete when he is attacked by a woman who has woken from a coma shouting the strange word Sartan. One attack from a demented patient can be explained away, but when he is attacked again by someone shouting Sartan he starts to get worried. But what has an ancient Hebrew word for cancer got to do with the attacks.

From Amazon

There are so many ways The Transformed could have gone wrong. The back story about the dead wife and her ill sister is clichéd, but is written beautifully and believably, and provides a ticking clock that drives the story along. Similarly I nearly stopped reading when it became obvious what Sartan was, but I’m glad I pushed on, as the story, while taking on a sci-fi plot nearer the end, is very gripping and well written.

For fans of medical thrillers, this is a fantastic read. Raphael Hirsch is a well known scientist, and as such the scientific detail in the novel is of the highest standard. The back story of Sartan is also believable, although maybe too 'out there' for some medical thriller fans. Apart from the heavy sci-fi plot near the end of the book, which stretched believability, it was a great book and an author I’ll will be watching.

The Transformed is available from Amazon UK for just 69p.