Review: Gritty, grubby and a generally good read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 16, 2012
This is a good old fashioned detective story using "science" to set the scene and animate the plot.Gavin Kiel - and bunch of others - acquires super powers of a sorts during a freak accident at the LHC.  He's a security consultant and the novel is told in the first person so the science behind his mysterious powers remains mysterious. Which I liked because it allows Gavin to wave his hands around by way of explanation before admitting defeat in the whys and wherefores of the dark matter/dark energy physics that apparently did what it did, and concentrate on the guts of the novel.To be fair, I initially found the short, choppy sentences that Heppner uses distracting, but within a chapter I found they added authenticity to Keil's voice...he's a gruff guy who doesn't generally spend time focused on the Big Picture and so gruff prose makes sense.Not that Kiel can't think, it's just that he's concentrating on keeping under the radar of the Shop, a kind of Swiss-based assassins club that scooped him up, moulded him into an efficient killer, and then cut him loose when he lost the passion. So he schleps around San Francisco, stealing from criminals as a kind of ethical balance with the occasional PI job thrown in for good measure.Of course, status quo does not make for a good novel, so Kiel is visited by a colleague from his past - and given a secret gift to hide for good measure - and that's when his life turns upside down.From there it is all well paced adventure, with Kiel pitted against equally amazing super-powered baddies, helped by super-powered goodies and confused by apparent super-powered inbetweenies.Heppner doesn't take it too seriously and gives Kiel enough of a conscience that he's conflicted, contrary and combative in turns, which adds to the fun.Overall this is an easy read and it reminded me of Jeff EdwardsDome City Bluesin feel. So if you like detective stories with an overlay of science and lashings of violence, give "Accelerated" a try.