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a_reader_is_me2013-09-27 06:24 pm
catness) wrote in a_reader_is_me2013-09-27 06:24 pm
Entry tags:
Book: Messages (David Chance Series) by John Michael Hileman
Title: Messages: Book 1 in the David Chance Series
Author: John Michael Hileman
Number of pages: 324
Genre: thriller
Book Number/Goal: 10/52
My Rating: 2/5
Review:
An ordinary guy, a TV intern, suddenly develops a weird ESP ability: his brain picks up specific words from any random sources of text around him, such as labels, sign posts and T-shirts, and assembles these words into personal messages. At first, these messages warn about accidents happening to his family and friends. The danger escalates when the messages want him to prevent the assassination of the President by a terrorist group. He's compelled to follow the invisible guide even though he has no experience in investigation work, and the terrorists discover what he's up to and start threatening him and his family.
The premise is unusual and promising, because it's much easier to create clear and unambiguous messages by combining separate words from unrelated sources than through subjective interpretation of full phrases, as it usually happens when people claim that the world is sending them personal messages. But somehow, the story is unexciting, despite being packed with action. The main character constantly ruminates on where the messages come from, are they from God and why, and keeps discussing it with everyone, which becomes repetitive, even though understandable. The characters are boring, so the tension doesn't really work; the "Arab terrorists" angle is straight from the media stereotypes, and there's some heavy moralizing in the end, which was probably the whole point of the story.
Author: John Michael Hileman
Number of pages: 324
Genre: thriller
Book Number/Goal: 10/52
My Rating: 2/5
Review:
An ordinary guy, a TV intern, suddenly develops a weird ESP ability: his brain picks up specific words from any random sources of text around him, such as labels, sign posts and T-shirts, and assembles these words into personal messages. At first, these messages warn about accidents happening to his family and friends. The danger escalates when the messages want him to prevent the assassination of the President by a terrorist group. He's compelled to follow the invisible guide even though he has no experience in investigation work, and the terrorists discover what he's up to and start threatening him and his family.
The premise is unusual and promising, because it's much easier to create clear and unambiguous messages by combining separate words from unrelated sources than through subjective interpretation of full phrases, as it usually happens when people claim that the world is sending them personal messages. But somehow, the story is unexciting, despite being packed with action. The main character constantly ruminates on where the messages come from, are they from God and why, and keeps discussing it with everyone, which becomes repetitive, even though understandable. The characters are boring, so the tension doesn't really work; the "Arab terrorists" angle is straight from the media stereotypes, and there's some heavy moralizing in the end, which was probably the whole point of the story.