Review: The Master review
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 19, 2014
The Master follows a Talent agent named Rex Stout as he attempts to uncover the plot of a wicked manipulator simply named The Master. Master uses a poison that drives men to homicidal madness to control others, and plans to ensnare Rex into becoming a tool. Rex is stranded in South American with few resources and few people he can turn to for help. However, as a Talent agent he will see his mission through. The premise of the story was interesting and grabbed my attention within the first few pages. This is a competent spy thriller, although it lacks some refinements.The conversations can be dry, but generally are used to progress the plot or flesh out the characters rather than for idle chatter that just bolsters the page count. Perhaps the stiffness of the dialogue is attributed to the time period. There isn't too much to Rex's character. He's resourceful and has good ideas now and again, but sometimes makes mistakes that nearly result in his capture. None of the characters really struck me as incredibly deep. The Master obviously wants to control the world through fear and slavery, but further motivations or even the reasons he has chosen to carry out his plan this way are obscured. Many of the villains are described as money hungry abusers, etc. The writing is clear and descriptions are not exactly vivid, but it's more than enough to get the gist across. Some of my favorite parts involved Rex traveling through the dense jungle and Pamela taking note of the strange creatures (and of course, the plethora of ways they could kill you).The Master is also short enough to be read in an evening or two. Not the best spy thriller I've read, but good enough to earn a recommendation to fans.