Deprivers [Paperback]

Steven-Elliot Altman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2, 2003

In the future, there will be a new reason to be paranoid: Sensory Deprivation Syndrome.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Altman, co-creator of the theme anthology The Touch, a well-received charity venture that allowed contributors to riff on the imaginary Sensory Deprivation Syndrome (communicated through skin contact with a "Depriver"), has taken SDS and built a two-part novel around it, but its effects pale beside similar comic-book antihero fare such as the popular X-Men films or The X-Files. In part one, Cassandra, Queen of the Depriver underground, recruits Robert Luxley, a Depriver assassin whose touch causes 15 minutes of paralysis, to help retrieve her brother Nicholas from the clutches of the ambiguously evil Mr. Deveraux. With the help of Sparrow, a mystically inclined Lakota Indian, Robert learns how to recognize other Deprivers by their auras. Unfortunately, the action quickly bogs down as various characters discuss ethical options instead of wholeheartedly battling the factions that would use SDS for their own nefarious ends. In part two, Alex Crowley, a normal man who loved his Depriver wife and now wants revenge for her murder, turns to Sparrow's Indian mentor for help. The better parts of the novel focus on Alex's vision quest. After he becomes a secret agent, he has to fight his conscience more than he fights the bad guys. This book succeeds neither in creating archetypal comic-book antiheroes nor in humanizing the characters enough to give them three-dimensional depths.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Altman's paranoid thriller plays on the same fear of the unknown that countless others have exploited over the years. The "deprivers," victims of Sensory Deprivation Syndrome, have the capability of depriving others of a variety of things, and they cause everything from blindness to deafness to paralysis. Robert Luxley has forged a career as an assassin out of his ability to paralyze, and then he discovers other deprivers. After they and their capabilities becomes common knowledge, there is an outcry for their mandatory registration and limiting their rights because they are dangers to society. The story follows first Luxley's and then groups of deprivers' struggles for understanding and equality, turning later to agent Crowley of the Ministry, a top-secret organization that has a reactionary attitude toward deprivers. Crowley, married to a depriver but not one himself, tries to temper the damage deprivers do. In the end, a not-entirely-surprising potential solution of the depriver problem is achieved, and several ends are left tantalizingly loose. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Ace Trade (December 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441010938
• ISBN-13: 978-0441010936
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,796,644 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Deprived and confused, November 19, 2009

By 

James L. Woolridge "Wooly in PSL, FL." (Sunny Florida) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deprivers (Hardcover)

Steven-Elliot Altman can never decide what direction the book should go. So we get sci-fi, social statements, intrigue, and on and on and repeat. I started the book and thought, oh, so cool, but that was replaced as I continued with oh, here we go. Way too confusing. The authur can write but the message in this one isn't consistant.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars X Men Meets the Fugitive, March 24, 2004

By 

P. O'Rourke "Patrick T. O'Rourke" (Highlands Ranch, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deprivers (Paperback)

This book is classic X-Men, you just need to substitute the word "Depriver" for "Mutant." Actually, the mutation is that in near future some people will develop the ability to deprive other of particular senses (sight, taste, balance) by touch. Once the government finds out about it, they want to pass registration acts and require deprivers to wear gloves. Like I said, its X-Men Revisted.

In part two of the book, a "normal" who married a depriver is on a quest to find out who killed his wife. Again, this strikes me as straight out of the Fugitive.

The derivative nature of this book notwithstanding, it's not a bad read. The pace moves quickly and some of the characters are moderately interesting. Makes a good book to read on a plane.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deprivers will infect your dreams, December 15, 2003

By 

R. Andrew Heidel (BROOKLYN, ny United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deprivers (Paperback)

Steven-Elliot Altman's Deprivers is as frightening as the Hot Zone and reminiscent of the Aids scare of the 80's. Told through compelling characters it seems like it could be true, or right around the next corner.

Be careful who you touch. You'll get more than cooties.

Highly Recommended!