Review: Gruesome - an underutilized word in today's language
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 10, 2013
This writer definitely gets your attention from the very beginning of FAST. The name FAST applies to a team of Marines, loosely based on the Delta Recon model of dedicated butt-kickers.The theme here is not unfamiliar, in some ways similar to the movie ALIENS (the second Alien movie). You have a restricted environment, horrible monsters on the loose, kid(s) threatened, and the action heroine, who really plays the major supporting role in the book for the FAST team.THE GOOD: Absolute, solid page to page action. Heroes/heroines, some tough bad guys and monsters. The 'insider scientist' Gould is a particularly despicable creep. As for the science of the monsters, I really can't make a guess, it's outside my scientific field, but the most important aspect of this science is that the writer has the ability to make it all seem plausible to his readers, and isn't that what counts. I read for enjoyment and to be entertained and this book certainly provided that. Years ago (back in the early 1950's) adults had an expression that was common "It hurts like the dickens...". I never understood what they meant until I got to 5th grade and was forced to read Charles (Dickens), so I really appreciate a book that entertains.THE BAD (well not bad really - just a little not-so-good). There are a few cliches in two of ending man-to-man fight scenes which are set up pretty early in the book (don't want to give a spoiler here), so they aren't unexpected. Some parts of the book also read like a video game with the level of violence.THE CONCLUSION: Ah, the dilemma of the half star! I probably would have given this book 4 1/2 stars, but as you all know, half's aren't allowed. This is a first book for this writer and from that respect, it's a doozie.  His writing refines itself by his second book, PLAZA, which is more cerebral but actually a (slightly) better read, and a total 5 star from the beginning (no half star waffling on that book). All-in-all I have enjoyed both books. So to resolve the issue of stars, I bumped it up the half to 5. The page turning seemed to merit that level.