Overview:
If your nation failed in its most desperate hour, who do you think would step into its place?
A solitary man approaches a farmhouse through a vast wheat field in the American Midwest. Few know his name or his past, not even his employer, the CEO of World, Incorporated, who barely understands or cares what drives him. The CEO has called him by the codename “Sliver” since they met, and for the last four years Agent Sliver has efficiently accomplished covert missions that might ultimately give the company an edge on its competitors. But this is no ordinary tale of corporate espionage:
World, Incorporated is one of five “supercorporations” which, having overthrown the world’s governments in the wake of decades of growing financial turmoil, spend their near-limitless resources competing with each other for global supremacy in the post-national society of 2058. They compete to accumulate the greatest share of loyalty from the world’s population, employing both great public works and clandestine sabotage of their rivals to do so. Sliver is an agent of the latter, and he is very good at his job.
This captivating action-thriller, a "1984" for the information age, follows a conflicted young man along his often violent path to revenge and redemption in a 21st century dystopia. Unknown to that man, the mission awaiting him in the farmhouse ahead will not go as planned. Nothing will be the same after.
Review:
Dreadful cover but I want you to relax Tom because you wrote an amazing story. First, let’s get the technical stuff out of the way. I care little about grammar, I’m always searching for a great plot first. But the author delivered on grammar for those out there who are concerned about that area.
The story is about an agent named Sliver who works for the corporate juggernaut World, Inc. He’s basically an assassin even though he runs away from that title as if it's a cross-eyed girl with no teeth. (I’m trying to be funny)
Does anybody like Dr. Who? Because I do and in a way this writer adopts the whole companion thing from that series. Throughout the story he’s accompanied by his talking ship, a young girl named Kelly and a cyborg named Rex. His group of friends who call themselves the Shredders also appear. Sliver and all the people I just mentioned are characters you want to hang out and play Mario Kart with. Nobody made you want to stop reading, they were all enjoyable characters.
Another cool character in the story was Shawn Chase. He’s kind of the John Stewart/Stephen Colbert type of “journalist”. Those two comedians play a big role in politics and the politics was heavily present in this story. I loved every bit of it, ranging from the news blog entry dedicated chapters, the corporate takeover, taxes, credits and nukes…oh my. As a political junkie that all made me happier than a Government Shutdown or State of the Union night.
Of course there’s the main plot, which focuses on Silver’s hate for a CEO named Carnegie. We eventually learn the disturbing reason behind his hatred for the man.
The story opened strong, even though we had to get through a bit of character description before the action. I loved how even though it was set in the future, it felt as if the story could take place today. I researched the author aka cyber stalked him and based on his profile it’s not surprising he managed to put together a story like this that makes politics seem “hip” and throw in some cool action scenes.
As for the ending, it didn’t catch me off guard but the lead in was entertaining.
Rating:
I would recommend this book to my friends and enemies, 4 out of 5 stars. Tom, dude, give that cover a major face-lift. At least consider putting an awesome new world flag with some corporate logos all over it on the cover.
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008IXJ32W
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