Customer Reviews

Deep Storm

5 star:		(79)
4 star:		(44)
3 star:		(33)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I've been a fan of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child for quite some time now and I've read everything they've ever written. At times I've found their solo efforts to be hit or miss. I didn't care for Utopia, but I thougth Death Match, Tyranosaur Canyon and the Codex were all fine books.

This is my favorite. I don't know if it was the setting or the underlying plot of the whole book, the characters, not knowing who was the good guy or the bad guy or not knowing exactly what was going on till the very end that made this book so good. Perhaps a combination of all those things.

The setting is the bottom of the ocean. Peter Crane is brought into a secret research facility to investigate and find a solution to a series of mysterious illnesses. Once he's down there things get stranger and stranger. The pacing of this book is really excellent, the chapters just fly by, even when there's not any action (which there's plenty of) and as each chapter goes by, Child reveals a little bit more about what's really happening miles beneath the water's surface.

Highly recommended for any Preston and Child fan or people who just love a good, intriguing and smart read!

I have enjoyed following the books of Child and Preston. From Relic onwards they have skirted the supernatural and sleuth genres with a panache and joy that is very appealing. Together Child and Preston have the ability to create engaging premises for story lines and characters with at least a minimal outline. However, I have noticed while reading the authors solo efforts that neither is as strong alone as they are together. Working in tandem, they have the ability to fill in the short comings of one another.

Deep Storm might be the best of the solo efforts by Child and Preston. I kept thinking of correlations between this story and a couple of 'B' movies... the 'Poseidon Adventure' and 'Abyss'. Once events start to fall into place and this story takes off, Child gives us pretty much a non-stop action adventure.

The major fault of this book in my opinion, is the very under-developed characters. Child barely sketches out protagonists and supporting characters. If you hold up this book in one hand and a story that is character driven like Russo's 'Nobodies Fool', its almost like looking at an empty post modern wasteland when you scour 'Deep Storm'. Not only that, but the story here is very 'science fiction'. As an admirer of the sci-fi genre before it died out a couple of decades ago, its hard to take any premise of this story seriously. Its so simple-minded. Basically all of this is an excuse for Child to write an action thriller. So lastly, and perhaps most akin, if you were to look at one of Ludlum's better efforts like the 'Bourne Conspiracy', a story composed for non-stop action purposes with little character development, its hard to say that Deep Storm comes close to Ludlum's prowess as a writer.

Hey, if you have not read the early Child/Preston books, you are in for a treat. Start with the first books in the series. They are the best. I would skip this one unless you are like myself and have read everything these writers have done and are curious as to what they are currently working on.

This book is highly recommended for thriller fans, and may appeal to sci-fi fans as well. Wildly imaginative, it'll take you by complete surprise more than once - with an ending that hits you and leaves you thinking! The setting lays the foundation for an atmosphere of unease, and it just gets better from there. As usual, Child's engaging prose draws you in immediately, and his expertly-crafted chapters will keep you turning the pages late into the night. If you think you can predict what's going to happen - you'll probably be wrong! Make sure you're well-rested before you start reading - you won't want to put it down once you begin.

I am a huge fan of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I look forward every year to their collaborations and their individual endeavors. However, this book was really disappointing. I was thinking this book would be on par with Death Match but it's not. In fact, I began to wonder if Lincoln Child was getting paid by the word. He repeated himself a lot, got bogged down with mundane detail in several places, and bored me with descriptions like 'he opened the door, stepped out, then closed the door. Then Crane walked down the hallway.' I mean come on! I always thought that this author 'wrote up' for the reader, making me feel like he trusted his readers to be intelligent enough to handle the premise of the plot without having to explain the basic details of EVERYTHING. Instead, in this book Child speaks down to us, treating us like idiots. This book is a bore. It has nothing of the page turning intensity of Relic, Death Match, or any of the previous books. The only other book I have read that was this boring was Utopia, by the same author. I'm glad I didn't buy either one but only borrowed them from the library. If you have never read any of Lincoln Child's books, I highly recommend checking out some of his other stuff. Don't waste your time on this one.

I always read Child for his imaginative plots and harrowing action, though none of his speculative thrillers are as good as those written with coauthor Douglas Preston ("Relic," "The Cabinet of Curiosities").

The plot of this one concerns a momentous discovery ("the scientific and historical discovery of the century...of all time") under a deep-ocean U.S. oilrig off the coast of Greenland. Peter Crane is a doctor, ex-military, with specialized undersea experience. He has been summoned by the civilian leader of the exploratory expedition. The military side isn't so happy about his presence. Everything is super secret.

Crane descends into an elaborate and advanced undersea research facility where a mysterious illness has been affecting workers, physically and mentally, causing hallucinations and dangerous psychotic behavior. As Crane delves into the possible causes of the baffling illness, the project itself raises some alarming questions - one of the least scary being what happens when humans mess with the earth's core? Sabotage and murder enter the mix as Child ratchets up the suspense.

The plot works fine and the set is highly visual, but the story is hampered by wooden characters who always seem to do the expected thing. Crane is satisfyingly heroic and multi-talented like a good action figure should be. Evil is evil and everyone else is either a foil for Crane's talents or an obstacle to be subdued or overcome.

Nevertheless, Child's latest is a diverting way to pass an evening or two.

Far and away Child's best solo effort. While the characters are a little on the thin side, the premise and plotting are first rate. A little reminiscent of Child and Preston's Ice Limit (which was fantastic), this was nonetheless an excellent, action-packed, Crighton-in-his-prime, thriller. I never wanted it to end. I'm hoping for a sequel or at least a Hollywood blockbuster.

Deep Storm is a fast paced adventure with a number of unique twists. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it highly. I am a Sci-Fi enthusiast, and I think this book would be equally enjoyable to non Sci-Fi readers as well. A delightful adventure that is an easy read and hard to put down!!! What a great and unexpected ending!!!!

I wanted to like this book -- really. But too many implausibilities left me scratching my head wondering where Mr. Child did his research. For example:

- You don't drill a deepwater reservoir and produce oil from the same platform. After a drill ship pokes multiple holes through the ocean floor, another platform is then brought in to route the oil and gas pipelines to a shore-based station (okay, I work for an oil and gas company).

- No offshore platform has legs that go down two miles to the ocean floor. There's no reason to. Instead, oil companies use floating "semi-submersible" platforms.

- Despite all the secrecy and cover stories, there's no mention why the rest of the world doesn't get suspicious when no oil or gas comes out of this Greenland station to feed an oil-starved world.

- And what's with those crazy drilling spheres?? Seems ludicrous that they don't use conventional bits and pipes to drill miles under the ocean floor. Fast, cheaper, more efficient ... and it wouldn't risk lives.

And then Mr. Child simply gives up on plausibility and, instead, has his characters babbling streams of techno-nonsense so the reader won't question his plot logic. He does this one scene after another to explain the lab's structure, medical diagnoses, drilling progress, how computer's work, the alien's world, and finally what they find beneath the moho. Might as well have written the dialogue in Aramaic.

I'll give Mr. Child two stars for his writing chops ... anyone who can keep me from closing a book while feeding me nothing but static, one-room conversations devoid of action deserves some credit. The best scenes are in the first act before the suspense is ruined by plot revelations. But as the story peels away its layers of mystery, what the crew eventually finds down there just isn't very fun.

And, finally, what's with that epilogue? -- a totally unnecessary downer.

Lincoln Child's latest offering "Deep Storm" while a fast reading imaginative thriller, once again demonstrates that without the collaborative efforts of writing partner Douglas Preston his solo efforts lack the same uummph. While some of Child's advanced technological knowledge seems dubious, he cleverly gives the reader small bits and pieces as he advances his plot slowly not giving it all away at once.

The drama plays out on the Storm King offshore oil platform located off the coast of Greenland. Oil drilling exploration at the site unexpectedly uncovered a fantastic archaeologic find purported to be the legendary lost city of Atlantis. Twenty months later a massive scientific research facility has been constructed there two miles below the ocean surface under the dual leadership of military man Admiral Spartan and scientific leader Dr. Asher. The perplexing discovery that the site has been dated at only 600 years old fuels uncertainty as to what is actually being uncovered.

Lately however a spate of unexplained illnesses both physical and psychological have overtaken a large proportion of those working on the converted oil rig. With Dr. Asher's insistence Dr. Peter Crane, a physician with a naval background and specializing in undersea, pressure related afflictions is brought in to get a handle on the debilitating illnesses.

Crane, sworn to secrecy is subjected to exhaustive security measures and initially not allowed access to classified areas. As Crane gets the confidence of both Asher and Spartan and is allowed a freer reign, he begins to realize that the digging being conducted through the earth's core may involve a discovery much more dangerous and foreboding than Atlantis.

Child leads the reader at a suitably measured pace towards the revealing of what actually lies deep beneath the ocean floor as the main characters continually receive warnings that the discovery might be so technologically advanced as to threaten mankind.

This is the kind of setting and story that Mr Child excels at - a closed universe where bad things start happening.

I must admit I kind of groaned when I got a couple of chapters into the book and thought we were on a treasure hunt for Atlantis, but I should have known better.

This book does not disappoint and the plot keeps twisting so you are never quite sure where it is going.