UTOPIA

The subtitle says it's a thriller, and that is a understatement! Lincoln Child, in his first solo book, has written what I call a dessert book. You can literally read all 385 pages after dinner in one sitting. (I took two!) The pace of this novel is fast and furious with each chapter starting with the time of the day. After the prologue, the entire sequence of events runs from 7:30 A.M. to 4:32 P.M. The excitement of each chapter automatically draws you into the next chapter, until you realize it's two o'clock in the morning, and you are still reading!

The story centers around a futuristic theme park with a glass dome, located outside Las Vegas, Nevada. This park is divided into four sections: Gaslight, Callisto, Camelot, and Boardwalk, all featuring the latest in robotics and holographic imaging. The system that coordinates the activities of all the robots is called Metanet, designed by Dr. Andrew Warne, commissioned by the parks magician and visionary, the late Eric Nightingale.

After a roller coaster accident caused by robotic failure, Dr.Warne is called in by the park's general manager, Sarah Boatwright, an ex-girlfriend of his. Dr. Warne arrives at the park with his 14 year old daughter, Georgia, thinking the park wants him to expand his Metanet into the next themed section called Atlantis. But he is surprised to find out from Sarah and Fred Barksdale, head of systems, that they want him to disable his Metanet system. It seems there have been other failures, and the Board of Directors want it out. Already reeling from the recent failure of his company, Andrew along with Teresa Bonifacio, systems controller of Utopia, start investigating the mishaps.

Enter the mysterious John Doe, a brilliant criminal mind. He barges into Sarah's office and announces that he is responsible for all the accidents! Unless he gets a copy of the Hologram disk, all hell will break loose in the park. Apparently this state of the art holographic disk is worth millions. But, is this all he wants? He disappears into the crowd, vowing that he will demonstrate his control with more accidents. In the ensuing hours, failed hand-offs of the disk cause more robotic mishaps and many deaths. John Doe and his cohorts are well hidden and deft at causing chaos and mayhem!

Now it is a race of time for Dr. Warne, Teresa, Wingnut the cyber dog, and a park guest, Angus Poole, to find the criminals before they blowup the park. They stumble upon John Doe's alternate reason for being there and find out who the park's inside helper is. This will surprise you! The ending is well conceived and ends with a Fourth of July blast! For Lincoln Child fans, this is a must read.

RATING: 4 stars out of 5

Comment: This novel written in 2002 is Lincoln Child's first of many authored without Douglas Preston. They still write the agent Pendergast novels together, which are very unique and enjoyable. Utopia reminded me of Michael Crichton's great works: the 1973 film Westworld and the book Jurassic Park, written in 1990.