Nexus is a thriller for the post-human age, Ramez Naam does a phenomenal job of taking modern cutting edge science and building a realistic world of the near future. In Nexus, Naam asks the question, “what if?”.
suspense / thriller
Review: “The Prisoner” by Carlos J. Cortes
As a good thriller does, the book proceeds at a brisk pace, only slightly slowed when one of the characters begins to expound on how easily personal freedom was lost in this near future America. I might not have noticed this, except my previous reading with Suarez and Doctorow had already covered this topic pretty extensively.
2010 Thriller Award Winners
ThrillerFest V was held this past weekend in New York City, and the winners of the 2010 Thriller Awards were announced
Review: “The First Rule” by Robert Crais
I made a careless mistake, sitting on my sofa at around 1:30am… I picked The First Rule off the daunting TBR stack in my living room and began reading, fully intending to read just the first couple chapters, then get in bed.
Somewhere around 6:30am, with the morning sky already bright, and my eyes burning from lack of sleep, I forced myself to stay awake and finish the book. I absolutely refused to put the book down with so few pages left, and pushed my way through to the end.
Cover to Cover #411A: Dan Wells
Interview: This week, Dan Wells joins us to talk about his new novel, I Am Not A Serial Killer, a story about a 15-year-old sociopath who worries that he’s becoming a serial killer, and the lengths he goes to to stop a real serial killer.
Cover to Cover #404A: Douglas Clegg
Interview: This week, Mike and Mike talk with Douglas Clegg about his latest novel, Neverland.
Doug talks about how much his growing up in the 1960s influenced many of the elements of the story, including the impacts of family secrets and the dark undercurrents that kids experience but don’t fully understand.
Cover to Cover #399A: F. Paul Wilson
Interview: Jack: Secret Circles, the latest novel in the YA series about Repairman Jack’s teen years, is out and F. Paul Wilson drops by “Cover to Cover” to talk about Jack’s journey, and focusing on building up the foundation events that influenced young Jack to become the Repairman Jack we all know and love.
Review: “Freedom (TM)” by Daniel Suarez
At its core, “Freedom (TM)” is a techno-thriller with elements of cyberpunk thrown in for fun. Suarez keeps the story moving at a good clip, creating some nicely done action sequences that could translate well to the big-screen whenever the movie version of the novels is made. But he also balances that out with sections examining the implications of technology and an over reliance on it.
Review: “Horns” by Joe Hill
“Horns” starts with two of the most ingenious opening paragraphs I’ve read in a long while about Ignatius Perrish waking up from having spent the night before doing horrible things and getting ready to do a lot more. Also, Ig (as he’s called) has a pair of horns growing out of his head.
Cover to Cover #394A: Daniel Suarez
Discussion: Daniel Suarez, author of Daemon and Freedom (TM), joins Mike and Mike for the entire show!
Beyond talk about writing stories that resonate with technology professionals and defense strategists alike, the discussion ranges from social networking, potential uses and abuses of Internet technologies, the ever-evolving (and now impossible to eradicate) sophistication of spam and bots, transhumanism, gene mods and the law, and more.
Guest Review: “Hell’s Aquarium” by Steve Alten
OK a few weeks ago, there was a review of Steve Alten’s Hell’s Aquarium. I thought it wasn’t a very good review, so I decided to send in my own, since I read Hell’s Aquarium and liked it a lot.
Cover to Cover #353B: J. C. Hutchins
Mike and Mike talk with J. C. Hutchins about his new project “The Brink”, and tells us all about the merging of his new novel, Personal Effects: Dark Art, with an alternate reality game, and the social networking angle built up around the promotion of the book and the alternate world.
Review: “Daemon” by Daniel Suarez
The story of how Suarez’s novel went from a self-published story to a major book contract and potential movie deal is one that will give hope to every aspiring writer out there. Suarez got his book into the hands of a target audience and created a buzz for himself that it was impossible for a conventional publisher to ignore. But the thing is–if “Daemon” weren’t a good book, no one would be talking about it. And “Daemon” is that good.
Cover to Cover #347A: Daniel Suarez
Daniel Suarez joins C2C this week to talk about his book, Daemon and the unusual journey to publishing that the book took: from rejection to self-published to grassroots blogger word of mouth to an article in WIRED to a mainstream publishing house to a Hollywood option for a film adaptation.
Daniel talks about how this experience helped him gain some insight into how publishers view projects, and the online marketing strategy spearheaded by his wife Michelle, and how that directed and organic marketing approach gained a momentum of its own.
Cover to Cover #334A: Charlie Huston
Interview: This week, Mike, Summer and Mike talk with Charlie Huston about Every Last Drop, the newest novel in his series about the vampire PI Joe Pitt, and the horror noir world he’s created where vampires are born from contracting the Vyrus.
Charlie tells us how Joe has ended up “in exile” in the Bronx and is trying to work his way back into enough good graces so he can go back to Manhattan without being killed; and how Joe starts getting closer to some of the most closely guarded secrets of the clans, all leading up to some explosive revelations in the planned 5th and final book in the series.
