Customer Reviews

Charisma

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Review by Lynn Nicole Louis

Steven Barnes has been around a while, having penned some collaborations with Larry Niven in 1981 and 1982, with Stretlethal, his first solo out (at least according to his web site) being released in 1983. Other books of his I've read and enjoyed include Gorgon Child, FireDance, and Blood Brothers. Lately though, it seems he's been very busy, with numerous book being released over the last few years. You can find reviews on www.SFReader.com of his recent novels Lion's Blood and Zulu Heart.

Well versed in martial arts, Barnes characters are often unique and intense individuals caught up in violent struggles. He's one of the best action/fight writers out there, with a special ability to create characters that are at once strong and vulnerable. His books reflect the abundant energy that Barnes obviously possesses. He also seems fascinated with the concept of the Japanese term Bushido, or The Way of the Warrior; that undeniable Warrior Spirit that pushes some people to the peak of their potential, be it for good or evil. I've enjoyed everything of his I've read, and Charisma is no exception.

The magic of childhood, the gritty reality of growing up, love, honor, ambition, redemption.... You'll find all that and more here in a book you won't want to put down.

Lynn Nicole Louis
Read the full review at www.SFReader.com

As an avid SF reader for over 30 years I wholeheartedly recommend reading this one! Barnes is the kind of writer whose brilliant use of language and characterization add rich layers to an already great story concept. Hard core SF readers will find this to be more of a psychological thriller in the vein of Phillip Dick than a hard science focussed work.

His central premise of using the essential nature of a hyper sucessful person as a template to be transferred a group of young "at risk" children is described a bit vaguely. However as the cornerstone of the story it does have impact as he unfolds all the clever twists that expose the flaw in the template's character. As we follow several of the children through several harrowing experiences the dark truth unfolds in a fine example of the thriller mystery form.

His acute observations of character details and inner emotional dialog draw you inside each of the central characters very rapidly. Each character - particularly the children have story arcs that pull you relentlessly forward. This is a true page turner, very hard to put down!

Plan, by the time you are halfway through this book, to allot all your time to reading it. You won't want to put it down.

Steve Barnes is quite an extraordinary writer having co-authored best-selling science fiction with top-seller Larry Niven, and having written episodes of Outer Limits, Star Trek and Baywatch. Baywatch? Yes, he's blended all these different genres together here, in this book to provide a superb read.

This is a very smart book that does a great job including touchstones from contemporary life-- little details that we all live, experience and touch. They make it more real, more immediate, so we connect better with the characters, the scenes where the action unfolds.

It's hard to define the genre, but I'd compare it to James Patterson's Where the Wind Blows, which also used a plot about an experiment to build better children, gone awry. Call it mainstream fantasy with a slightly science fictional touch.

There are five or six different interwoven story threads that Steve Barnes does a beautiful job tying up neatly by the books suspenseful end. Each one develops characters we get to know and love or hate.

I had a chance to meet Steve Barnes recently. He is an amazing bundle of positive energy. This shines through in the writing. He's a disciplined, passionate writer, martial arts black belt, loving father and principled good guy. Yes. He made a good impression on me. There's a lot of character and integrity that shines through in the book, plus just enough sexuality to make it an adult book.

What blows my mind is the premise for the scifi aspect of the story-- that you can record behavior patterns and train others to reproduce the patterns of special people-- fits very nicely with some research I presented in 1981, using ski biofeedback to train beginners to move like experts. My model back then theorized that "template athletic biofeedback" could be used to teach average people to perform like great experts. Steve Barnes has taken this idea (obviously something he independently came up with) and woven it into a great story.

Sometimes a book is truly scary due to it's plausibility rather than it's intent to be frightening. Barnes did an excellent job in portraying a situation that could arise. He set up characters that were believable and portrayed them with wide emotional brushes. You really dislike the bad guys but are somewhat confused by your emotions for the "good" guys. Kids are involved and if even fictional harm to kids is hard for you, this may not be your cup of tea. I have a tendency to get emotionally overwrought if kids are threatened so you may want to have a calming glass of wine at your side as you read. I found the book an excellent read and frankly quite different from the rest of Barnes' stuff I have read.

This tale made me shiver. I'm not paranoid but Barnes spun a yarn that makes you think, "Do we really know what the powers that be are up to? Do we even want to know?" Charisma is intelligently scary!

albeit a good movie. The kind I'd want to see.

First off, I did enjoy this book. The story was interesting and engaging. The main characters are pretty well developed and you do find yourself rooting for them. It was a relatively fast-paced read and I found myself sprinting to get to the end and see how it all came together. This is a story worth reading.

On the negative side, at times the book seemed to read like a screenplay, with a bit too much visual description, with sometimes very clichéd results. Such as villains pretending to be good or harmless and then eyes going "dead" when no longer being watched. You can see this same "effect" performed by almost any TV show or movie villain at some point while they are on-screen. It works perfectly in that medium, but seemed out of place in a novel.

When I was finished and read the short bio of Steven Barnes on the back flap it made sense, as Barnes actually has a screen-writing past.

The story itself, as I said earlier, was very interesting. It was fascinating to think of the possibilities of what could be accomplished with the proper training when it comes to our children. Is it really possible to produce strong vision and focus in children who come from broken down families and lives?

I like to think it is, but hopefully without using the methods tried by the characters within this book.

Happy reading.

I feel that Mr. Barnes is an excellent writer and a good story teller. However, I had a few problems with the story. One, I am not sure who pen this story as a sci-fi. It is not, though I am not a fan of the genre. Secondly, for me it took too long for me as reader to have any understanding of what was going on. I think it was around the two hundreth page that I began to have an inkling of what had happened to the children. Thirdly, the implied event under the bridge with the motor cycle crew and the guys from the gay bar did not give me any idea of what happened, though I suspected. Mr. Barnes characters kept alluding to the incident. However, it was about the 240th page before he specifically spelled out what happened.

The story took too long to unfold. He did not give enough imformation for me to follow the story until I have read over half of the book.

The story unfolded towards the end. But before than, I was annoyed as a reader at the pace and the amount of vital information to understanding the story took ages.

Because Barnes is known primarly as a science fiction author, this book is often mistakenly found on the Sci-Fi shelf at book stores, instead of with the thrillers or general fiction where it belongs. So science fiction fans beware - there's very little for you here.

What is here is a solid story that does a plausible job of getting us inside the head of an adolescent of above normal intelligence. I especially liked the character of Renny Sands, a man who is re-energized by the possibility of a career-making story.

If the book has a weak point, it is the instant attractions that various characters feel towards each other. I'm all for love at first sight, but the frequency with which two people know everything they need to about one another eventually became a little distracting.

Quibles aside, the plot is fascintating and the character interesting. I definintely recommend it.

Those who only know Barnes through his collaborations with hard sci-fi master Larry Niven should be pleasantly surprised by this genre-esque novel about a group of highly intelligent and amazingly motivated children from small-town, USA. There are elements of horror, romance, mystery, western, and yes, even a touch of sci-fi, but the result is none of the above, but rather a basically mainstream story about what makes successful people tick.

Although one may question the characters' motivations, and there's at least one scientific point that seems like quite a stretch, there's no denying the power of this engrossing mystery. The kids tend to steal the spotlight, of course, especially when we see how they play the system and manipulate the adult world as they see fit. Renny Sand is the inquisitive reporter who covered an infamous scandal that shook the town years earlier. He returns now, after some reversals, driven by his desire for Vivian, the beautiful mother of one of the boys. And while Sand is a pleasant and engaging enough character, he ultimately doesn't seem to have much to do in this novel. We think he's being set up as the hero of this tale, but when all's said and done, it's really the gun-slingin' grandma who saves the day, and the sections featuring her and her husband seem slow and largely irrelevant until the climax where all the pieces come together. Barnes probably should have dropped these two altogether and made Sands the hero.

That quibble aside however, this book is a serious page-turner, with mysteries at every turn: the Aristotle project, the pre-school scandal, Sheriff D'Angelo's secret, and the late great Alexander Marcus' weakness, are all explained in good time, but not so quickly that we lose interest in the story before it's been played out. A very entertaining and altogether satisfying read, but not yet the masterpiece we're hoping for from Barnes.

Charisma is, insofar as I am aware, the ninth solo SF novel by Steven Barnes. He has also collaborated with Larry Niven (and others) in seven other SF novels.

In all his novels, Barnes focuses on the realization of human potential. Initially, such realization was based on the principles of martial arts and continues to do so to some extent, as witness the prominence in this book of the Nine Principles of Musashi. In his later works, Barnes draws more upon the discoveries and speculations of psychology.

In Charisma, a behavioral research laboratory has developed a series of treatments that can impress a person's personality unto the mind of a young child. Moreover, this regime can be applied en masse -- i.e., to many small groups of children -- by relatively unskilled personnel. With secret funding from another group, the laboratory precedes to test these procedures on selected, but uninformed, children throughout the country.

One of the test groups is involved in an infamous childcare abuse scandal in Claremont, Washington. Renny Sand had covered the case and met the family of Patrick Emory, one of the allegedly abused children. He was impressed by all three, but greatly stirred by the poise and beauty of Vivian, the mother. Six years later, the now down and almost out reporter stays overnight in Claremont, asks a few questions, learns that Otis, the father, has left his wife, and almost decides to visit the family, but instead sends a friendly email to Vivian.

Now 13 year old Patrick Emory, and his buddies from Claremont Daycare, are small-time entrepreneurs, earning money for themselves and helping Vivian increase the profits from her shop, Costumes, Period. The local dopers are having trouble with an outside motorcycle gang who intend to take over the drug trade. The outsiders beat up Manny, the dopers' youngest son and Patrick's friend, and then call out the locals to a meet by throwing a brick with a note through the front window. Since the locals are not home, Patrick and associates find the note and then throw the brick, note and all, through the front window of a local gay gym. When the outsiders get to the meeting place, the overdeveloped ironpumpers work them over so bad that several gang members leave town.

Patrick is fated to have other contacts with the motorcycle gang and to learn more about his nightmares and other oddities.

This novel tackles the old question of nature versus nurture and illustrates how both influence behavior. While the central premise -- impressing personality traits -- is probably not possible at this time -- except maybe in CIA labs -- it could well become feasible. How far should it be used? Other books have addressed this question -- see Phoenix Ship by the Richmonds -- but Barnes has approached the subject in a different way.

Barnes keeps getting better with each book. If you thought Blood Brothers was good, read this one. Recommended for all Steven Barnes fans and anyone who likes deep psychological thrillers, honest and hardworking heroes, dirty scumbags getting their just deserts, and a touch of romance.