IMMUREMENT

The author sent me a copy of her novel to review:

Norma Hinkens writes a curious story that is seemly but written with rudimentary prose in a somewhat non-descriptive manner... yet somehow the story works. So does that indicate that the author is talented or charmed? I think that the jury is still out and we will have to wait and see if the author improves as she continues her story in the ensuing novels. But her imagination capacity is four by four (if you weren’t in the military, you probably will not know what I mean). So do I have mixed feelings about this novel? Yes. Was it interesting? Reasonably. Was it just another twist of a dystopian novel? You could say that, but it wasn’t totally run-of-the-mill. It took some vision and planning to conjure up what would happen if the earth’s core overheated. And the author has a propensity for cliffhanger chapter endings (a good thing). However, I felt very little compassion for any of the characters (a bad thing), mainly because too much happened in a very short period of time. There was too much action jammed into 250 pages to allow the author to develop the characters and create reader empathy (another hundred pages would have cured that problem). I do see lots of raw talent in her book, but it’s still in the nucleus stage. Maybe it blossoms in Embattlement (book two in her Undergrounders Series).  Anyway, what’s the story about?   

Sometime in the future, the Earth’s core overheats (the survivors now call it the meltdown). “Molten rock pushed miles of asphalt skyhigh forming blacktop mache mountains. Strip malls explode like pinatas, buildings shot hundreds of feet into the air like gigantic stomp rockets.” Wow, nice way to start a novel. “All hell broke loose after a ring of volcanos (I know that it is volcanoes, but I’m quoting the author as she wrote it) around the globe erupted and the sovereign leader issued a thermal radiation warning. That was the last we heard from him.” What’s happening world-wide is not revealed, but our story revolves around the people living in the Sawtooth Mountains (I’m assuming Idaho, but it’s not mentioned in the novel). The novel embraces three groups: The Preppers or Undergrounders, who live in underground bunkers (our protagonists), The Rogues, who are escaped subversives from a maximum security center, and The Sweepers, who are a group of DNA scientist trying to repopulate the earth (really?). These are the essential ingredients that make up this dystopian novel. Once the novel starts, it races down the track at a furious pace (thus my reason for no character empathy...the one exception is the dog,Tucker).

The story starts with Derry(16 years old) and her brother Owen(18 years old) talking outside their group’s bunker. Derry tells Owen how she saw a sweeper suck up Sam (from a different group) into a bullet shaped hovercraft via a telescopic tube. Later, Frank, the bunker chief from Sam’s camp, visits Owen’s group. “Frank thinks one of us had a hand in it.” “The collective hiss of breath around the room sends a shiver down my spine (Derry). For months now, there have been rumors of Sweeper snitches in the camps. It’s ludicrous of course. Why would anyone help the Sweepers?” But Derry thinks...what about the new guy, Mason, who recently joined their group. He said he is a former Marine. Why is he built like the Titan, Atlas? Mason punches Frank in the face for accusing their bunker of colluding with the Sweepers. Frank, bloodied, leaves in a huff. Prat, Derry, Mason and Big Ed head to Frank’s bunker to assure them that they had nothing to do with Sam being snatched. Owen tells Derry that he has to go to a secret Council meeting because…”We’re planning an attack on the Sweeper.”

Derry’s group arrives at Frank’s bunker and find him lying outside...murdered. Most of Frank’s people are gone and the few people left think that Derry’s group murdered Frank. Prat thinks that the Rogues might have been in the area and killed Frank and took Owen prisoner. Do you see how fast this novel moves? Mason confesses that he is a clone and was a prisoner of the Sweepers until he escaped. He says that a Dr. Lyong and a group of scientist have been experimenting in a government cloning project for decades. And when the earth overheated, the Doctor vaccinated everyone in the laboratory because the radiation alarms went off during the meltdown. Unfortunately, the vaccine was contaminated. That’s why the Sweepers are capturing people...they need fresh DNA. Can the Undergrounders convince the lawless Rogues to unite with them and destroy the Sweepers once and for all? Or do the three groups grapple with each other? And what are the Sweepers really doing in their laboratory? And finally, who killed Cock Robin? Just kidding! Anyway, the way Norma Hinkens wrote this novel makes the reader dizzy from time to time. Even though I found fault with this novel (I usually do), I generally liked it. I’m going to recommend this novel on the fact that she tells a good story and will improve her prose and wordage enough for the reader to feel empathy for her characters.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: I have to admit that I’m getting zoned out with dystopian novels. Yet... authors keep sending them to me for review. I think that it’s a genre that will be with us for a few more years and then germinate into a totally new genre. It’s not that I don’t like them, it’s just that there are too many novels with similar juxtapositions. I have the same feelings about Zombie novels. Enough is enough. However, I do have a few five star favorites:

Wool by Hugh Howey (see my review of 1/21/2016). It’s a story about people living in a 144 floor underground silo after a unknown post-apocalyptic happening. It’s a terrific novel.

1984 by George Orwell (1950). Goodreads says, “A startling original and haunting novel that creates an imaginary world that is completely convincing, from the first sentence to the last four words.” By the way his Animal Farm (1946) was also outstanding.

Incidentally, the Sparrow killed Cock Robin with his bow and arrow. I don’t believe the author of this 1770 poem is known. (HaHa).