Customer Reviews

The Consciousness Plague

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Dr. Phil D'Amato, NYPD forensic detective is a character who is easy to like. Smart, witty and well connected, he immediately becomes a person who the reader cares about. He is a worthy twenty-first century heir to my favorite, Sherlock Holmes.

The story is an engrossing mystery that weaves together serial strangulation murders of young college women in Manhattan and mysterious memory gaps triggered by a new antibiotic that seems to attack unknown microorganisms that unify the bicameral human brain.
The reader comes away entertained and educated in such diverse (yet related by the author's erudition) subjects as communication via the channels of the left and right brain, Marshall McLuhan, the essence of art, the successive (possible) rediscoveries of America by the Phoenicians, Irish (Celtic) monks, and Vikings, and a popular brand of perfume.

Most of the action occurs in New York City but the West Coast, the Midwest and Europe are included as locales. We learn about the importance of Lindisfarne, where one of my favorite illuminated manuscripts, the Lindisfarne Gospels, originated. We are introduced to the hypothesis that the Phoenicians, on their way to North America, taught the Celts to write.

Each revelation, no matter how esoteric, enriches the weave of the mystery, and draws the reader in deeper. Thus this excellent page turner also triggers awareness of many fascinating areas of communication. There is also a well developed supporting cast including police, academics and a politician or two.

I came away feeling enriched and entertained. The Consciousness Plague is a good read. Buy it.

Phil D'Amato returns in this sharp, enjoyable, sometimes
superb novel. Levinson weaves together the search for
a serial murderer (police procedural) with a baffling
series of memory losses that may be related to the very
basis of our consciousness (science fiction). One of the
problems I often have with novels that try this kind of mix is that the science fiction is lumpy -- it doesn't really fit well
with the mystery part. But The Consciousness Plague handles
that beautifully -- Levinson serves the mystery with one
hand, the science fiction with another, the blend couldn't
be more natural. I think that this novel is, in many ways,
a better introduction to Phil D'Amato than The Silk Code
(though parts of that novel may be more profound).

The Consciousness Plague is Levinson's best novel
so far. Like all of his stories featuring New
York forensic detective Doctor Phil D'Amato, this
science fiction novel is so close to fact that
sometimes you can't recall if you actually read a news
story talked about in the novel or not. This time,
D'Amato investigates the possibility that our brains
work the way they do because of bacteria communicating
between themselves in our brain -- because of this, a
new kind of antibiotic begins to make people lose their
memories. And the loss of memory messes up an ongoing
investigation of a series of stranglings in Riverside
Park in New York City. The result is a bio-thriller,
police mystery, science fiction story all rolled into
one. I've been a fan of D'Amato since the beginning.
In fact, I heard that a movie was made of "The Chronology
Protection Case" -- a short story -- and I can't wait to
see it. In the meantime, I've got The Consciousness Plague.

This is the first book I've read by this author and it's a sequel, although this didn't diminish my enjoyment of the book. The first half or more is a nice combination of SF with modern police procedural. As the book progresses, though, the writer seems to lose an idea of where to go (and to some extent he's painted himself into a corner).

I liked the forgetfulness problem, although frankly Phil Dick has done this far better (FAR more frighteningly and effectively) in books like Ubik (if you like this one, Ubik will blow your doors off). Still, for a little novel, I enjoyed it, read it in about two sittings.

I agree with much of the criticism in other reviews here, but can't be too hard on the book. The writing is reasonably well crafted, if methodical, and I enjoyed it, even if suspending disbelief got harder at the book progressed.

I really wanted to like this book. Paul Levinson's novel promised great things: 1) it has an intriguing premise 2)I've liked mixed genres books before 3)The setting and science is interesting. Unfortunately, Levinson's book fails to take off the way I had hoped. The characters seem as if they've been pulled from mediocre mystery movies. The dialogue comes across as second rate Hammett or Chandler. The narrative too many coincidences. It seems ready made for a sale to Hollywood.

The novel has some redeeming factors. Levinson has the core of a fascinating character in Phil D'Amato. His fascinating story idea needs more narrative development but comes across pretty well. The science seemed pretty valid if a bit far fetched. I haven't read any of Levinson's other novels or short stories so can't comment on how this compares to his other stuff but he does show promise as a writer.

The major flaw with The Consciousness Plague is that it comes across as a treatment for a science fiction movie but one that might be a Sci-Fi original program with a limited budget and scope. Levinson's editor David Hartwell should have worked with the author at refashioning the novel and fleshing out the characters. It also would have helped to reduce the coincidences that crop up throughout the book and the easy narrative breadcrumbs that lead Levinson along the way to his conclusion.

This mystery has an interesting scientific premise: a medication is killing bacteria that enable the brain to remember. The characters start having memory lapses, blanks in their recollections of conversations and other events, including deaths that may be murders. The premise could have been developed as a science fiction idea with vast implications. Unfortunately, the novel evolves into an increasingly conventional detective story, and the memory loss issue fades until it seems like an afterthought. This may be a case in which mixing two genres in one book did not work.

NYPD forensic detective Phil D'Amato encounters a frightening loss of memory while assisting on the homicide investigation of a series of stranglings. The loss is not profound, but his short bout of amnesia is unnerving and causes him to forget an important telephone conversation. Apparently, he's not the only one who is becoming forgetful either. Several people around him have experienced the same strange losses of memory. With a few curious questions, D'Amato finds they all have something in common: Omnin, the new antibiotic prescribed by their physicians to combat the flu.

The secondary story of the homicide investigation is disjointed from the main plot line. What the characters forget seems to have little relevance to the investigation, though author Levinson tries to force it anyway. Almost from the onset, D'Amato's character believes the memory loss phenomenon is related to the Riverside stranglings, and so Levinson sets out to prove it. Unfortunately, he fails to make the connection. Even at his finest moments, it is quite a stretch to see the effects on Omnin in the murder investigation. It is sheer coincidence that the people his detective queries in his memory investigation end up being criminally involved in the killings.

The discussion of how the human brain relates to memory and how memory affects history was as close as Levinson got to intriguing. The medical aspects and police investigation were definitely lacking. His writing style is flat and the plot has too many weaknesses to be enticing. The climax is anything but climactic and the story just winds down to a conveniently opportune ending. Perhaps Levinson fell victim to his fictional adversary-memory loss-as this book is anything but memorable.

Reviewed by Maili Montgomery, Mystery Ink

What do forensic science, ancient Phoenicians, a New York serial killer, and amnesia all have in common? These are the ingredients of the latest Phil D'Amato adventure from Paul Levinson. This blends the science-fiction/mystery genres into one page-turner of a read. The science-fiction part deals with chemical and forensic sciences. The mystery angle is who's been killing all of these young ladies in New York? And the fact that most of the characters lose their memories at least once because of some FDA-approved anti-biotic that gets into the brain while trying to cure the flu definitely is not conducive to solving this mystery. See how D'Amato and company get around this problem to solve the mystery. I liked the story. I liked the humor. I liked the book. Try it.

Paul Levinson mixes all sorts of goodies together to produce this triumphant return of Phil D'Amato: the origins of the alphabet, theories of consciousness, viral plagues, and more. It's a great fun, mix, for both sci-fi fans and mystery readers. Let's hope there's more of the amiable Phil to come.

Even if you're like me and you've never read the previous Phil D'Amato stories, The Consciousness Plague will draw you in. It's an engaging, intellectually thrilling novel.

The basic plot is this: a new antibiotic wreaks havoc with the brain's ability to remember, thus hampering a complex murder investigation. But to summarize it like that is to do the book an injustice. It's a story torn from the headlines and balanced on the cutting edge of modern memory science.

Levinson mixes disparate items into a seamless plot. Things like a police investigation into a serial strangler, copy-cat murders and the fascinating theory that a bacteria-like organism in our brains has given rise to our consciousness form a compelling, exciting yarn that stretches from the ancient Phoenicians in England (and possibly America!?) to modern-day New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Levinson's writing is easy and thought-provoking - his character, D'Amato, speaks directly to the reader, as in the best noir tales - drawing on all aspects of Western culture, from Beach Boy songs to medieval monks, with discussions of the blood-brain barrier and northern Italian cuisine thrown in for good measure. Yet he somehow ties it all together with a satisfying conclusion that leaves you hungry for more.

By the end of The Consciousness Plague, you'll want to catch up on all the Phil D'Amato you may have missed!