On an oil rig off the coast of Alaska, fifteen test subjects, all of them death-row inmates, have joined a gruesome experiment with unprecedented implications.Government researchers are attempting to enhance the human body, but they change the men into something else instead. Led by a mysterious figure who evokes Colonel Kurtz and Satan from Paradise Lost, the subjects escape and bring the United … subjects escape and bring the United States to its knees.
Only two men can stop them, Tom Reese and Karl Lyons. Tom and Karl will have to cross an America on the brink of collapse. And at the end they’ll experience the horror of the dark continent.
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“There was a secret that the world ignored, and it was this: the future wasn’t forged by majorities. The future was forged by very tiny, very motivated minorities.”
NOTE: Spoilers if you haven’t read book one.
This book continues the story from THE PROMETHEUS MAN and you should really read the first book to get the full effect of this story.
Illegal stem cell research on humans continues in this book. Tom Reese is back, drifting from job to job, trying to keep his identity low key – because there are people all over the world that want to find out why the experiments done on him seem to be a success.
Karl Lyons is still trying to shut down the illegal operations and when both he and Tom hear about testing going on at a deserted oil rig off the coast of Alaska, they head there (separately) to try to stop it.
What happens next I didn’t expect. I enjoyed the first book even though I usually don’t read spy thrillers. This book was much better to me. I liked all of it but especially about the last 2/3 of the story.
I highly recommend both books if you like spy thrillers, medical thrillers, horror tales and exciting stories.
I received this book from Aspen Press through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.
Well, that quickly went off the rails. The blurb for this one looked so promising, but the reality wasn’t at all what I was hoping for. It reached a point where I started wondering if the cliches could actually outnumber anything resembling an original story, and to be honest, I’m not sure which came out ahead. Then, to add insult to injury, character development is sorely lacking, and what I did learn about the characters, I didn’t like. And just to round it all out, the second half ramps up the gore to the point that it kind of felt like a low budget horror flick. I did finish, mostly in hopes that it would improve. It did not, at least not for me, but I will say that unless I missed something, this one can be read as a standalone. The story is fast-paced, and I’m sure there’s a market for it, but it clearly missed the mark for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
If I had stopped reading this at exactly the 50% point, I would have rated it higher. The 1st half of the book was more of a SF/Suspense/Horror combo, and I was generally entertained. Dialog was a bit weak, but the story was interesting.
Part Two just went screwy, completely off the rails with a now apocalyptic/mad man trying to destroy civilization. The 2nd half just didn’t gel, and all the never-ending, gruesome killing, unbelievable plot events (I can suspend disbelief with the best of them but come on) and lack-luster dialog became tiring. Overall, disappointing.
3 and 1 / 2 stars
Warning: much violence and gore. Do not read if you are timid about those things.
The world has gone crazy with extreme violence and skyhigh unemployment. Shadowy, scary people are hunting other people. Unnamed government agencies are taking over. Or, are they?
In order to prepare for the war they predict is coming, in order to create the “perfect” soldier, a horrible experiment is taking place. Death row inmates have been chosen to participate. What will be the outcome?
Tom Reese, the only surviving test subject of the first round of “stem cell enhancement” and still relatively sane, is on the run with his girlfriend. They have been found by agents of the government. A wild chase ensues.
Meanwhile, Karl Lyons, undercover CIA Agent, is captured in China and sent to a place where you get “disappeared.” Badly beaten under the guise of “interrogation,” he plans a bold escape from the facility.
In a secret location in the ocean near Sitka, Alaska, a freak storm hits the old oil derrick that is not anchored to the bottom. The derrick rocks, is damaged and the inhabitants are released!
When Tom and Karl team up to do something about the escaped convicts running wild and being destructive throughout the US, things get very tense and wild.
Dr. Azamor, a psychiatrist, also stars in this book. She is an interesting character with some interesting ideas. I like the way that psychology is used in the first half of the book. Dr. Azamor constantly questioning herself and speaking with the various inmates, especially Kronin. Kronin’s manipulation of the people to whom he spoke reminded me strongly of Hannibal Lector and his machinations regarding the use of other people.
This is a fast-paced, tension-filled story of what happens when self-important men get ideas above their stations. It was well written and for the most part followed a logical path. There were a few typos and the novel sometimes took leaps that I couldn’t quite follow. All in all an engaging read. If you like apocalyptic reads, this book is for you.
I want to thank NetGalley and Aspen Press for forwarding to me a copy of this good book for me to read, enjoy and review.