Review: An interesting premise but a somewhat flawed delivery
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 22, 2014
Lane Anslow's brother, Johnny, has always been something of a loose cannon. A brilliant scientist, Johnny is bipolar and given to high highs and very low lows as well as erratic behavior. Johnny is involved in something he believes will finally be his ticket out of the everyday struggles faced by anyone who's not a member of the elite. But when he goes missing and the plane he's set to travel on crashes, Lane has to rely on his skills and the help from someone on high to find out what Johnny has been working on.THE FOREVER MAN is a futuristic sci fi story set in a crumbling and suffering version of the United States. Medical discoveries have advanced to such a point that people can live much longer lives - if they can afford it. And yet, the desire to live forever is still overwhelmingly prevalent.The book begins with a 100+ year-old man, Zed, digging up a child's femur in the desert. It then immediately jumps to Lane Anslow on a job. Lane is a cop for hire, sent out to supplement the real police when a task is deemed too dangerous. It's an interesting concept, and the setting is appealing, but I never felt as though I was getting the whole picture. It was more a vague idea of this somewhat dystopian future setting where the government has all but collapsed and everyday society is forced to live under the thumb of crime lords while the super rich enjoy the benefits of medical advancements like the one that allows Zed to live well beyond his years.There are flashbacks to Zed's origins as well as Lane and Johnny's childhood, most of which slowed the overall momentum of the book for me. They were interesting and - in some cases - necessary character development but I really wanted to get more of the world building and the present day plot.THE FOREVER MAN is an interesting read in spite of its flaws, one that does set forth a frighteningly possible future scenario!