Next book

THE ECSTASY

John’s hefty novel may remind some, in a weird warp-speed way, of the kitsch-TV classic The Love Boat, even though the...

Anything can happen—murder, deep-space sabotage, and lots and lots of sex—aboard the 23rd-century interplanetary luxury liner The Ecstasy during its Earth-to-Saturn cruise.

John’s hefty novel may remind some, in a weird warp-speed way, of the kitsch-TV classic The Love Boat, even though the author, in a “Special Thanks” section, credits such wide-ranging influences as Kurt Vonnegut, Joseph Heller, Douglas Adams and Tom Robbins (plus some PC-game designers). The setting is 2258 A.D., as the Dutch-registered luxury cruise spaceship Ecstasy embarks on an Earth-to-Saturn run with 5,000 tourists and crew members (including an onboard defense force). The great ship accommodates manifold interests in its social clubs and amusement/shopping arcades. But sex seems paramount—whether it’s stalwart Capt. Phil Sherwood’s wife’s ongoing fling with an alien or unchaperoned teens determined to copulate in every corner of the craft (the ship also boasts a legendary in-house prostitute, Zena). Intrigue, drama and mystery come in varied doses: the assassination of a Swedish VIP, obsessed stalkers, a minor cancer scare for a female passenger (the latter easily solved by future medicine). But the main...thrust...is a conspiratorial computer program (called a “sub-routine”) deep within the ship’s operating system that sends The Ecstasy on a seemingly uncontrollable, hypervelocity journey into the unknown, far past Pluto. The program is modeled after an orgasm. Yes it is. The work’s length, scope and detail are impressive, even when some parts seem like unwelcome stowaways (e.g., episodes of occult magic include a mystic, materializing Templar Knight). And these 23rd-century folk seem unusually stuck in the pop culture of the 20th-century’s baby boomers; references include cable TV’s Ancient Aliens, traveling Route 66, Barry White as an aphrodisiac, and authors Stephen King and L. Ron Hubbard. On that Dianetical note, a loathsome character specified as a critic of Scientology gets a summary execution verdict and is shoved out of the airlock. A lengthy epilogue/analysis dominates the last 100 pages, pondering the age of consent and incest and blaming much of past society’s ills on psychiatry. “Julie, your Cruise Director” mates with Barbarella, in more ways than one.

Pub Date: April 24, 2013

ISBN: 978-1482561739

Page Count: 822

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2015

Awards & Accolades

Likes

  • Readers Vote
  • 257


Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT


  • New York Times Bestseller

Next book

DEVOLUTION

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

Awards & Accolades

Likes

  • Readers Vote
  • 257


Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT


  • New York Times Bestseller

Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).

A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

Pub Date: June 16, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine

Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020

Next book

THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA

A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.

A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.

Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.

A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.

Pub Date: March 17, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Tor

Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019

Close Quickview