Review: There's nothing funny about alien abduction....
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 6, 2011
From the cover and description, you would be forgiven for thinking this book belonged in the humor section. It does not. At times, this is a dark and scary book. Mr. Quirk walks a very difficult path. He has a million ideas which he wants to communicate with his readers at the beginning of the story. However, he manages to do it clearly and gracefully.The action moves quickly and you do care about the protagonist. The world (universe) is well thought out and logical. He takes concepts as wild and divergent as a game show hundreds of years in the future which pits the villains of yesteryear against each other, aliens from a half dozen different worlds, a child's nightmare of abduction, and fits them all cleanly together. It all makes sense. It's all thought through.You know the old saying, "If there's a gun on the mantelpiece in the first act, it had better be fired by the end of the third act?" The author does go a little too far to make sure that you've noticed each and every gun on his mantelpiece. At times, I felt this made the story a little too predictable. For example, when the spider people suddenly explained the details of their power system and what would happen if they ever lost power.... well, let's say that I wasn't too surprised when they lost power a little while later. This happened more than once.I also feel that the tone was sometimes a little inconsistent. There were some very dark and rough scenes, and then there were a few others which felt like they belonged more in a children's book. I hope that the author is able to be more consistent in his next book. He could do either ably, but does have to choose. (I hope he chooses to go dark next time.)- But without question, I will be reading that next book. This is an excellent story and I recommend it very highly. If you enjoy watching Alien Autopsy or the many conspiracy programs on TV, this book is for you. If you've been reading the covers of the tabloids for years and want a way to fit them all together, Mr. Quirk has done this for you. Check it out!