Customer Reviews

The Devil's Eye: An Alex Benedict Novel

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was very excited to get the new Alex Benedict novel by Jack McDevitt, having read "Seeker" and "Polaris" and being a big fan of both. In those, the author wove together hard sci-fi with intriguing archaeological mysteries for the characters to unravel. "The Devil's Eye" begins much the same way as previous books, with a tantalizing cryptic message, a seemingly impenetrable puzzle, and what appears, at first, to be an unrelated historical occurrence. But the mystery, which grabbed me and kept me reading, is fully resolved halfway through the novel, and that's when, in my opinion, the story takes a nose dive. Instead of mystery and suspense, McDevitt turns "The Devil's Eye" into... well, into "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" - in short, it becomes a novel about political posturing. The author is experienced enough to never let the story get bogged down too much, but the novel feels like two different books, and to my taste, they don't mesh well, and frankly, it's not what I've come to expect from this fictional duo.

My other disappointment was how the author appears to be running out of original ideas; the SF here isn't mind-blowing, I won't give it away, but I was let down by the reveal. And there are moments where the author steals ideas from his previous novels, and he even repeats events *within* "The Devil's Eye" - there are at least two crises which are duplicated, with small changes, later in the story. Finally, the ending seems rushed and all too convenient - tacked on to provide the requisite happy ending for all involved. He doesn't even give Alex an archeological puzzle to solve, which has been the cornerstone of the two previous books - here, the token "treasure" pretty much falls into his lap. I've viewed the Alex Benedict books as a kind of "Indiana Jones" of the future, but this one changed the pattern, to lesser effect. All in all, a disappointing entry.

Do you have a sweet tooth for good, clean science fiction? Not for one of the scores of so-called "novels" that exploit the Star Trek or Star Wars franchises, but something worthy of Arthur C. Clarke, or something as good as Joan D. Vinge's Catspaw. If your sweet tooth is aching, pop this book into your mouth and start chewing.

As far as I know, Jack McDevitt has no degrees in science. He knows enough to satisfy me, though I am just a lowly math-science salutatorian from high school, supplemented by a few college-level courses. And Jack doesn't flaunt his knowledge. Nor does he bog the reader down in any lengthy passages of dull description. His prose is responsibly written in contemporary style. It's streamlined, well-polished, and easy to read. Everything that is needed to move the story along is there, and nothing more is there.

The Devil's Eye has much dialog, which makes it a quick read, but the dialog is necessary and appropriate. And it's not excessive, like that in Isaac Asimov's novels.

Some readers may consider one or more of the action sequences a bit unconvincing, if not sleazy. I think they are tolerable, except for one escape sequence. (I won't spoil the story by describing it.) Certainly you will not have to stomach anything like Rambo's charge of a line of Vietcong who are firing automatic rifles, leaving Rambo unscratched.

The Devil's Eye has a good science-fiction mystery. It is not obscure, and you might figure it out. I was disappointed that I did not figure it out, because once it was revealed, it seemed fairly obvious. But I think that is a kind of mystery that is pleasant, the kind that you have a decent chance of figuring out and that makes you wonder why you did not figure it out.

I have read hundreds of novels, most of which were science fiction or fantasy. I have read all but one of the fourteen novels that I know Jack McDevitt has had published. (My local library did not have A Talent for War, which I am now waiting to receive from an amazon seller.) I understand what good, clean science fiction is. So far Jack's novels have qualified, including The Devil's Eye.

Notwithstanding the weak action sequence, I am giving this book five stars. Jack's grasp of science, his good prose, and the mystery make it deserving.

While this is far from McDevitt's best or most original work, I always enjoy going back to the Benedict/Kolpath universe for another visit. This series of books, along with the Hutch novels are a nice change from the heavier stuff I also like to read, such as Baxter and Reynolds. McDevitt's style always gets me engaged and eager to find out where the story is going. The one specific plot item that I think he's gone to the well once too often with, is the sabotaged transport vehicle that is good for a few pages of mild or little suspense, since the reader knows darn well that nothing is going to happen to the principle character(s) so early on in the narrative. I hope that's the last we see of that. Other than that, the story unfolded with enough originality to have made it well worth my while.

As a fan of McDevitt I enjoy his ability to combine descriptive writing, likable characters, and big ideas. This book started out like many of the others with an interesting premise. A famous writer, Vicki Greene, has had her mind purposely erased after giving the protagonist, Alex Benedict, a large sum of money without explanation. Inferring that Greene wanted to draw attention to something important, our two protagonists, Benedict and Kolpath, familiar from previous novels, retrace Greene's every step on the odd planet of Salud Afar, from which Greene had just returned. The planet's perturbed orbit is beyond the galactic rim and McDevitt aptly describes the mood of complete isolation this planet has from the rest of the "Federation". But as you settle in for this protracted investigation, you slowly get the uneasy sense as the pages pass that this plot may be going nowhere. Now in fact there is eventually a resolution to the mystery but the never ending investigation takes our heroes on so many journeys, down so many blind alleys and along a path so meandering that by the time that one does reach the end one has stopped caring or even remembering the plot and has totally lost track of the characters since it is impossible to tell the few significant ones apart from the many irrelevant ones. To add insult to injury, after the great revelation, the book continues for another hundred pages with a subplot that is a pointless anticlimax. I have enjoyed every previous book by the author, especially the slower detective-style ones, because they always led inexorably toward a satisfying denouement. But here the ultimate revelation does not follow from previous plot development and seems contrived and disappointing after the endless lead-up. If you value your precious time as I do, I regret to say give this one a pass.

This has everything that Alex and Chase fans enjoy: a central mystery - this time done in a unique way, familiar characters, an established universe, and politics. Difficult to put down.

Nice job all the way around on this addition to Jack McDevitt's Alex Benedict the antiquarian's sci fi novel series: well-paced plot and sub-plots, interesting characters and characterization, superb use of settings, funny. A well-written, tight piece of fiction. A favorite 'episode' is the first person narrator Chase Kolpath being interviewed by an alien race's equivalent of Oprah or Barbara Walters - through the aliens' own TV-like media.

Literary agent Nathan Bransford is always coming up with something interesting to post. The other day it was one that sounds old but was new to me: "If you could live in the world of one novel, which would you choose?" I'd choose the space opera world of Alex Benedict and Chase Kolpath, as created by SciFi author Jack McDevitt. Actually there are four novels. Any one of them would do fine.

The Devil's Eye, which I recently finished in e-book, was another outstanding one. I began with Polaris and then its wonderful sequel Seeker, only to discover that I missed the first one A Talent for War. So I read and enjoyed it, too, before reading The Devil's Eye. Now it seems there will be a fifth one, Echo, this fall. Their world, in which there is so little crime the police are happy to get a new case, seems ideal. Their planet, Rimway, is in a galaxy far, far away, in the arm of Orion--my favorite constellation.

Not everyone gets to travel by starship like Alex and Chase do, but the opportunity is there. Just flitting about in gravity-free skimmers would be pleasant enough. (I do wish they'd figure out that someone is likely to tamper with theirs and plan accordingly.) Also having one's personal AI, linked to a galaxy-wide net to research anything by voice. But what I like most is the way McDevitt writes. Conversationally. I flow along with the story, happily ensconced in the moment, not entirely concerned about where events are going. Just enjoying the ride and hoping it never ends.

In The Devil's Eye, the fourth book in the Alex Benedict/Chase Kolpath saga (and when is Chase going to get equal billing here?), a mysterious message from a famous horror writer (Vicki Greene) sends Alex and Chase to the furthest reaches of humanity, actually just outside the galactic rim to the planet Salud Afar. After sending her message,Vicki Greene consented to a mind wipe - literally wiping out all of her memories. Alex and Chase decide to track down her movements, to uncover why Greene contacted them in the first place.

Salud Afar is an interesting place. When they arrive, "In our rear, a gauzy arc marked the rim of the Milky Way. Salud Afar was a small bright globe, dead ahead. Otherwise, the sky was utterly dark, save for two stars, one bright and one dim." Is this correct? Wouldn't other galaxies act as bright spots in the dark heavens?

In any case, the trail of a horror writer can lead you to some interesting places. And when this trail leads to real horrors for 2 billion people, the story is bumped up a level or two.

As an added bonus, The Devil's Eye also brings the Mutes back into the story.

I don't think you have to have read the other 3 previous novels in order to enjoy this tale. But if you do enjoy this one, try the other 3, particularly Polaris and Seeker.

I just finished reading The Devil's Eye and thought it was good, but not as good as other Jack McDevitt books I've enjoyed. I disagree with some other reviewers who said they felt the climax was reached in the middle of the novel, and that the latter half was uninteresting -- although it's true that there is a high point in the middle of the novel.

Bottom line, I'm glad I read it and I'll continue to keep an eye out for Jack McDevitt novels.

As always McDevitt has put out a good book that is hard to put down once you get started. It`s one of his Alex Benedict sci-fi
mysteries. Alex and Chase are trying to find out what happened to a famous horror writer. The trail takes them into a really nasty
government coverup where abuse of power by the government goons is just the tip of the iceberg.
The book is well written and the story is a good, but the plot is predictable. I had the central mystery figured out long before
it was revealed in the book. But in a nice twist solving the mystery is not the end of the book as with most mystery novels.
Rather it serves to give rise to the second part of the story with a couple of reasonably good sub plots.

Spoilers....

The science in the story is more than a little nutty, even aside from the standard sci-fi problem of zipping around at 30,000
times the speed of light. Having stars ejected from the galaxy is not all that uncommon, but having a habitable survive in a
stabile orbit is really pushing it. The blue giant star would be unlikely to form where it was and could not have survived
long enough to have gotten where it was had it been ejected. Gamma Ray Bursts don`t last 3 and a half days. A long one is 3 seconds,
and their sheilding solution would be unstabile and probably not very effective even if it could be built.

Still it`s a book worth reading. After all, having bad science in a sci-fi novel is more the rule than the exception.