Customer Reviews

Bad to the Bone (Original Fiction in Paperback)

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I liked the decriptions of the races, very exciting, especially the climactic Worlds race. But the stuff off the bike was just pure muddled confusion to me. I often wondered if this book weren't written by someone that doesn't speak English and the confusion was due to a bad translator. I'm still not exactly sure what was going on.

A supremely intense book that is a fast read except for the convoluted, chemically induced prose that suggests that the pumped up state that drives people to sacrifice everything in pursuit of being the best --- ever. Be ready to re-read sections as you are caught off balance, without ever falling of the paceline of the mystery that unravels. The story has elements of cyberpunk in the pace and prose that the most hardcore Gibson or Stephenson fan will enjoy this, even in the absence of nothing more technical than a hyper-tricked out bicycle in a chapter about a stage that takes place in the velodome.

An excellent introduction to the attraction of professional bicycling racing, the monotony and the glory or surviving. It also captures the team dynamics of professional cycling, that most are hard pressed to explain in an obviously individual sport. The author clearly knows his cycling history and peppers the story with vignettes that add color and tradition to the classic sport. The author has done his research and the extrapolation of advances in sports medicine seem plausible and frightening. A subplot involving a female detective is insufficiently developed but thankfully doesn't distract from the main story.

If you have a cycling fan in your life, get this book for her or him right away.