25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent Neuropsychopharmacological Update of the Icarus Myth, February 18, 2009
This review is from: The Dark Fields (Paperback)
This debut from Irish writer Glynn is both a solid page-turning thriller, as well as a decent neuropsychopharmacological update of the Icarus myth. Set in pre-9/11 Manhattan, the story revolves around pudgy middle-aged schlub Eddie Spinola. He lives a depressing and uninteresting life in his squalid Avenue A apartment, barely making a living in a dead-end job as a copywriter for a no-name publishing company, with few friends and fewer prospects.
Eddie's long downward slide into oblivion is interrupted when he runs into his former brother-in-law on the street. Vernon was a coke dealer in the '80s, and after a few drinks and catching up, turns Eddie onto his latest product -- MDT48. This illegal designer drug is sort of like Viagra for the brain, providing superhuman powers of concentration, retention, learning, focus, ambition, charisma, etc. (as an example, Eddie is able to learn a foreign language in a few days). After his first pill, Eddie is hooked and goes back to Vernon for more -- only to find him dead. Fortunately, Eddie finds his stash and thus has plenty of pills to propel him through the coming weeks.
The story then more or less charts the metamorphosis an average person might experience under such a transformative drug. A minor triumph at work segues into wildly successful day trading, and from there into high level M&A finance. Of course, along the way, Eddie ups the dosage and also starts to experience disconcerting blackouts. Eventually, he also realizes he needs to figure out a source for more pills, figure out how what's causing the blackouts, deal with the Russian loan shark he's in debt to, and maybe, just maybe, try and reconnect with his ex-wife. There are a lot of threads going at once, and as they converge in the final third of the book, the results aren't always as compelling as the journey.
There are a few elements of the plot that are kind of sloppy. For example, Eddie gets involved with the Russian loanshark because he wants a quick infusion of cash to up his day trading capabilities. However, at his rate of success, he could have made the same amount of money in a matter of days. Secondly, it's not until rather late in the story that Eddie starts to think about how to secure a permanent supply of MDT48 -- but it seems like the focusing power of the drug would have put that on his front burner, rather than the back. The old Eddie was a procrastinator, but not the newly enhanced Eddie. There's also a whole background thing about the US possibly going to war with Mexico that doesn't seem to serve any purpose. Finally, the book is littered with Anglacisms that simply wouldn't be said (or thought) by American characters. This is a pet peeve of mine because all it would take is one relatively eagle-eyed American reader to flag these for the author or editor.
These problems aside, it's a relatively enjoyable slick thriller that is easy to connect with. Even though Eddie isn't a particularly likable or interesting character, most readers will find no problem placing themselves in his shoes and wondering what they would do if they stumbled across MDT48. And there's a certain amount of pleasure to be had racing through the final third of the book to learn if Eddie's MDT48-fueled brain has somehow managed to find a way out of the corner he's painted himself into. Not particularly deep stuff, but reasonably entertaining -- not surprisingly, it was reported in 2008 that the book is supposed to be made into a big budget film starring Shia Lebouf.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good read, but the movie "Limitless" is better..., March 9, 2011
This is an excellent first novel -- a gripping and unpredictable plot, interesting characters and so on. I was lucky to gain an early preview of the new movie "Limitless" and I was blown away by it.
I then read the book, so it could be the order in which I did it, but I found the movie to a noticeable improvement on the book.
Better storyline (well-crafted by Leslie Dixon), more fleshed-out characters (de Niro!) and a far better ending (which they apparently changed during re-shoots anyway).
But I did enjoy reading the book immensely, so I do recommend it.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dark Fields, November 2, 2009
This review is from: The Dark Fields (Paperback)
I found this book on the subway, and as an avid reader, I couldn't help my self. I couldn't put it down. I have not been so pleasantly surprised before. I have since bought this book for friends and they all have enjoyed it. I love it...can't wait for his next book!
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