Is it an interesting gumshoe novel? Yes, but a little repetitive because the reader is told countless times that the PI drives a 911 (Porsche) and doesn’t walk the sidewalks. Does he wear rocker band tee shirts? Oh absolutely, every other page or so. Does he watch four TV screens at the same time? Yes... movies, novels, re-run sports, and the news? Does he take meds? Oh yea, lithium, celexa, and seroquel. Is Chalk a carbon copy of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer? A big no to that question. My favorite flatfoot (Hammer) kicks ass first, or punches the suspect in the stomach then ask questions later if the suspect is still alive. Look, I’m not saying this PI isn’t worth a second novel, but lets stop the humdrum repetitiveness. I don’t expect Chalk to act like he is a detective in the late 1940s or early 1950s, but get real...don’t be the first IT geek dick. But, the good news is that I think Carac Allison came up with an interesting story and plot. The prose is a little weak here and there, but not bad for a former IT and hacker guy (just guessing, sorry). His knowledge of computers and their accessories is incredible and adds credence to the story. We need a new author to challenge the ghosts of Arthur Conan Doyle (The Hound of the Baskervilles ), Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep), or Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon). So lets get real Mr. Allison, and toughen this guy up! Chalk (our protagonist) needs to be whipped into street shape. Lets get out of that 911 and hit the bricks (I still love my idioms)!
This novel is actually two books in one. Wow, what a deal. The first part of the novel reveals to the reader that a Hollywood mogul (Mr. Robertson, a.k.a. the Hollywood Hyena) hires our protagonist Chalk (yes, like a chalkboard) to find out if he fathered any children when he was a sperm bank donor. By hacking the records of California Cryo Future, Chalk finds out that the Hyena had three sons. They are: Harlan, a wrestler known as the minister of pain; Jason, a biker and dog fight promoter trying to join the mongols; and Alexander, a primo internet hacker who is also a fervent gambler. Chalk sets up a meet with the three boys and the Hyena at a luxury hotel. The Hyena tells the boys that he is their father and showers them with money and a mansion. The boys connect with each other, knowing that they will try to suck every penny out of their rich father (by the way, is he terminally ill?). Meanwhile we hear on the news that forty million dollars of pills were stolen from Abbott Labs and sent directly to U.S. vets from someone known as GR. Initially the vets return the drugs. Then after more massive military type robberies occur, they keep the drugs and become sympathetic to the rebel military group. Why is this group leaving messages in red soap at the pharmaceutical robberies stating, ”Graphics have made warriors terrorists” or “War is the original and only game”? Who is GR? Chalk finds out that he is General Ripper (named after the General, played by Sterling Hayden, who orders an attack on Russia in the movie, Dr. Strangelove. When the Hyena receives word that the three boys are not his, he does something that I didn't see coming. End of the first part.
So you actually think that I was going to give the story away. This novel has just started and all I did was wet your whistle (another idiom) for the second part. Ha, Ha. This is the juicy part of the novel as we find the boys attempting to join General Ripper’s 2nd army. As an initiation, the boys must steal a famous Samurai sword (the Honjo Masamune) from the Chinese Mafia boss, Jian Chin. Do they succeed? What is General Ripper planning to do? Meanwhile, Chalk tries to tell the FBI (Chalk is a disgraced former FBI agent) what he knows about General Ripper’s plans, and they don’t believe him. This is a storyline that is mechanical in many novels - you know the routine...the dishonored former agent finds out the truth, but nobody believes him except one officer; in this case, it’s officer Rose. I think that Carac Allison has a lot of talent (as a hacker? just kidding), but I would advise the author to give Chalk a less geekish profile. What is wrong with a Mike Hammer type punch in the stomach that makes the suspect vomit once in awhile? (see my review of I, the Jury on 9/18/2013). What can Chalk do to improve his manliness (in other words act less like a techie)? How about: stop wearing rocker tee shirts! So Mr. Allison... give Chalk (I love his name) a less nerdy identity! That said, I think the novel’s plot was strong (two plots for one novel), but I didn’t fully connect with Chalk. Also there was too much computer technology in the novel for my taste. Okay, do I recommend this novel? Yes I do. It’s a good effort that could use some fine tuning, which I believe Mr. Allison will provide in his ensuing novels.
RATING: 4 out of 5 stars
Comment: Reading this novel got me to wonder about other novels that feature high-technology in a mind blowing way. This is not my favorite type of novel, but I’ll list some that seem to be techie favorites:
Daemon (2006) by Daniel Suarez. goodreads.com says, “Technology controls almost everything in our modern-day world, from remote entry on our cars to access to our homes, from the flight controls of our airplanes to the movements of the entire world economy. Thousands of autonomous computer programs, or daemons, make our networked world possible, running constantly in the background of our lives, trafficking e-mail, transferring money, and monitoring power grids. For the most part, daemons are benign, but the same can't always be said for the people who design them.
Matthew Sobol was a legendary computer game designer—the architect behind half-a-dozen popular online games. His premature death depressed both gamers and his company's stock price. But Sobol's fans aren't the only ones to note his passing. When his obituary is posted online, a previously dormant daemon activates, initiating a chain of events intended to unravel the fabric of our hyper-efficient, interconnected world. With Sobol's secrets buried along with him, and as new layers of his daemon are unleashed at every turn, it's up to an unlikely alliance to decipher his intricate plans and wrest the world from the grasp of a nameless, faceless enemy—or learn to live in a society in which we are no longer in control. . . .
Computer technology expert Daniel Suarez blends haunting high-tech realism with gripping suspense in an authentic, complex thriller in the tradition of Michael Crichton, Neal Stephenson, and William Gibson.”
Cryptonomicon (1999) by Neal Stephenson. goodreads.com says, “Cryptonomicon zooms all over the world, careening conspiratorially back and forth between two time periods--World War II and the present. Our 1940s heroes are the brilliant mathematician Lawrence Waterhouse, crypt analyst extraordinaire, and gung-ho, morphine-addicted marine Bobby Shaftoe. They're part of Detachment 2702, an Allied group trying to break Axis communication codes while simultaneously preventing the enemy from figuring out that their codes have been broken. Their job boils down to layer upon layer of deception. Dr. Alan Turing is also a member of 2702, and he explains the unit's strange workings to Waterhouse. "When we want to sink a convoy, we send out an observation plane first... Of course, to observe is not its real duty--we already know exactly where the convoy is. Its real duty is to be observed... Then, when we come round and sink them, the Germans will not find it suspicious."
All of this secrecy resonates in the present-day storyline, in which the grandchildren of the WWII heroes--inimitable programming geek Randy Waterhouse and the lovely and powerful Amy Shaftoe--team up to help create an offshore data haven in Southeast Asia and maybe uncover some gold once destined for Nazi coffers. To top off the paranoiac tone of the book, the mysterious Enoch Root, key member of Detachment 2702 and the Societas Eruditorum, pops up with an unbreakable encryption scheme left over from WWII to befuddle the 1990s protagonists with conspiratorial ties.”
This next novel is one of my favorite ‘technology goes bad’ novels. The title of the novel tells it all: Utopia: A Thriller (2002) by Lincoln Child. goodreads.com says, “Fasten your seat belts-the white-knuckle thrills at Utopia, the world's most fantastic theme park, escalate to nightmare proportions in this intricately imagined techno-thriller by New York Times bestselling author Lincoln Child.
Rising out of the stony canyons of Nevada, Utopia is a world on the cutting edge of technology. A theme park attracting 65,000 visitors each day, its dazzling array of robots and futuristic holograms make it a worldwide sensation. But ominous mishaps are beginning to disrupt the once flawless technology. A friendly robot goes haywire, causing panic, and a popular roller coaster malfunctions, nearly killing a teenaged rider. Dr. Andrew Warne, the brilliant computer engineer who designed much of the park's robotics, is summoned from the East Coast to get things back on track.
On the day Warne arrives, however, Utopia is caught in the grip of something far more sinister. A group of ruthless criminals has infiltrated the park's computerized infrastructure, giving them complete access to all of Utopia's attractions and systems. Their communication begins with a simple and dire warning: If their demands are met, none of the 65,000 people in the park that day will ever know they were there; if not, chaos will descend, and every man, woman, and child will become a target. As one of the brains behind Utopia, Warne finds himself thrust into a role he never imagined-trying to save the lives of thousands of innocent people. And as the minutes tick away, Warne's struggle to outsmart his opponents grows ever more urgent, for his only daughter is among the unsuspecting crowds in the park. Lincoln Child evokes the technological wonders of Utopia with such skill and precision it is hard to believe the park exists only in the pages of this extraordinary book. Like Jurassic Park, Utopia sweeps readers into a make-believe world of riveting suspense, technology, and adventure. UTOPIA -- Where technology dazzles-and then turns deadly!”
Picture of my favorite PI:
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