Review: KOP by Warren Hammond

KOP by Warren Hammond

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Summary:

Veteran police officer Juno has been assigned a new partner and an important homicide case. Police Chief Paul Chang, his close friend and former partner, is in trouble, the crooked empire he has painstakingly built threatened by a mayor pledging to root out corruption. So when a good PR opportunity comes to solve the murder of a city official’s son, Chang calls in Juno. The investigation leads to unexpected places, implicating those high in government and organized criminals alike.

Review:

It is a credit to Hammond’s writing skill that his main character, a corrupt police officer, is not reviled as a villain. He is in fact incredibly likeable, believably cast in the hero’s role. The futuristic setting, as important in this novel as another character, is well-drawn and compelling. This gritty cop drama is well-plotted, each twist a surprise. The conclusion of the novel is a bit abrupt, but leaves the reader anxious to read the sequel, Ex-KOP.

Review: Plague Year by Jeff Carlson

Plague Year by Jeff Carlson


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Summary: 

Cam and his small community of fellow survivors live on a small mountain peak just over 10,000 feet above sea level.  Below this altitude is an invisible ocean of fatal nanotechnology.  Cam’s community struggles to survive until a stranger arrives to help them, setting off an unforeseen series of events.

Nanotech specialist Ruth works in the International Space Station, far above the machine plague below.  But in order to craft a cure, she must go back to Earth and find the origin of the plague.

Review:

Jeff Carlson’s debut novel grips the reader from its opening sentence.  A strong character-driven tale, Plague Year contrasts people’s heroic side with their basest instincts.  Delving into fears regarding technology, weapons of mass destruction, and political intrigue, this book is both chilling and timely.  

Review: The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman

The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Summary:

MIT lab technician Matt Fuller discovers that the calibrator he was working on can disappear.  At first it vanishes for only a second, then for several seconds, then minutes.  Matt decides it is, in fact, a sort of time machine, able to leap into the future for longer and longer periods of time each instance he activates it.  He designs an experiment to send a turtle into the future, then finally himself. 

When he reappears about a month later, Matt is accused of murder and arrested.  To escape his circumstances, he leaps into the future once again.  Stranger futures await him along with the growing desire to find a way to move backward in time to the beginning.

Review:

Joe Haldeman deftly weaves the elements of physics, religion, and technology together in this tautly imagined and plot-driven story.  Despite the occasional high-level physics verbiage, the novel is a compelling read, completely unpredictable and un-put-down-able.