Flash [Hardcover]

L. E. Modesitt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 26, 2004

Return to the future of Archform: Beauty. In the twenty-fourth century, Earth is vastly changed. Ecological and biological catastrophe have raged across the planet, but for the survivors, it is a world of plenty. Even the poorest live in abundance, and the upper class -- the ascendant -- command technological marvels.

Ten years ago, Jonat deVrai was a rising star in the Marines. But he shocked his superiors by walking away from the Corps after witnessing atrocity and hypocrisy during the Reclamation of Guyana. Starting his life over, he established himself as the world's expert on the effectiveness of "prod"-- product placement, the only advertising which viewers will allow through the sophisticated filters they all use against unwanted intrusions on their electronic link networks. Prod, reinforced with sublims and the "res" -- resonant frequencies, a form of sonic branding -- is the wave of the future.

Jonat now advises multinational corporations on their prod campaigns, his busy life only occasionally disturbed by vivid flashbacks to his military years. Then his comfortable world is upset when the Centre for Societal Research approaches him to study the effects of res and prod on political campaigns.

After a res-heavy political rally for Laborite Republican Senatorial candidate Juan Carlismo, armed thugs jump deVrai in a parking garage. A day later, a sniper ambushes him. What looked like a safe, lucrative contract has suddenly turned dangerous. The stakes raise further when deVrai foils a remote-controlled cydroid assassination attempt on a Popular Democrat candidate. Cydroids built from deVrai's stolen DNA are turning up dead throughout NorAm.

Suspicion and conspiracy race around Jonat. Who wants him dead? Candidate Juan Carlismo's use of prod is skirting the limits of legality. The Centre has its own obscure agenda and may want deVrai as a martyr. The terrorist group PAMD is targeting ascendents in deVrai's family. And one of his clients is known for holding legendary grudges - could he have gone over the edge?

With his life on the line, deVrai must sort flash from fact before it's too late.

Flash is a blend of all-out thriller and thoughtful social, political, and technological exploration that that gets into your mind in a way even res and prod could never match.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Down the mean streets of a future Denver a man must go, in this Chandleresque tale of corporate and political scheming and murder. Fantasy bestseller Modesitt (the Spellsong Cycle) returns to his SF setting of a federated post-U.S. North America ("the Commonocracy") run by large companies ("multilaterals") as much as by governments. Jonat deVrai, ex-Marine colonel, tries to navigate among the corporate clients who seek his product placement ad analyses. When the Centre for Societal Research asks for a similar report on a political campaign, deVrai becomes part of an elaborate plot to further corporate controls over the indentured Martian colonies. Having quit the Marines to stop being used as company muscle, deVrai turns the tables on the executives who try to exploit him, with the help of a law-enforcement AI, Central Four, and "her" humanoid clone bodies, known as cydroids. DeVrai's campaign, as befits a noir hero, has personal costs, leaving him to care for his orphaned niece and nephew. It also comes with benefits, as Central Four's principal cydroid, Paula Athene, grows to self-awareness, independence and romantic attraction. Modesitt strives for emotional rather than intellectual satisfaction. His future has much eye-pleasing chrome, but it lacks infrastructure, making the book seem more contemporary techno-thriller than SF (parents queuing up in hydrogen-powered cars to pick up their kids after school).
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Former marine Jonat deVrai has established a new career as a product placement consultant. Product placement is the predominant means of advertising in the twenty-fourth century, and it requires getting past the filters on individuals' personal network links. Hired to study the effects of prod on political campaigns, he suddenly discovers he has put his life on the line. In a world in which simulation is a high art form, deVrai must sort out facts and factions before he is killed. The process leads to nonstop action, which, however, never sidelines good world-building and characterization. Indeed, Flash shows Modesitt deviating quite notably from his propensity for producing books of high intelligence that frequently drag. A marvelous thriller that plausibly extrapolates from current possibilities in IT, AI, media, and crime, it also constitutes the way for newcomers to get acquainted with Modesitt--at his best. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (August 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765311283
• ISBN-13: 978-0765311283
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,510,143 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After spending years writing poetry, political speeches and analyses, as well as economic and technical reports on extraordinarily detailed and often boring subjects, I finally got around to writing my first short story, which was published in 1973. I kept submitting and occasionally having published stories until an editor indicated he'd refuse to buy any more until I wrote a novel. So I did, and it was published in 1982, and I've been writing novels -- along with a few short stories -- ever since.

If you want to know more, you can visit my website at www.lemodesittjr.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Adult protagonist nice change, but worldbuilding a bit short, September 16, 2004

By 

D. Parvin "dparv" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flash (Hardcover)

Flash is an interesting one-man-against-the-world story but ultimately falls short as the world doesn't quite support the plot. Still, an interesting read.

Jonat deVries is an ex-Marine colonel who resigned after running one too many missions for a government doing the bidding of heartless multinational corporations. He founds a consulting firm that specializes in analyzing the effectiveness of emotionally charged advertising, and then discovers the newest contract he has is a setup. The story basically revolves around his attempts to discover the why, what, and who of his enemies, the use of his spec ops training to destroy them, and how he falls in love.

The fact that deVries is a full adult protagonist is a nice switch from the typical Modesitt junior officer pilot, as well as the fact that he ends up having to deal with family issues - something none of Modesitt's heroes outside of the Spellsong series have ever faced. Modesitt is clearly trying to break out of his formulaic rut, and the plot as a result is better than his last few scifi ventures.

The problem - unusual for Modesitt - is that the world he builds up doesn't quite support the characters. Part of the problem is that the predecessor Archform: Beauty was an interesting exercise for Modesitt in writing 5 separate characters, but the world built up was not particularly well fleshed out given how much the plot shifted around. Flash isn't helped by this. We're still not really sure what happened to cause the ecological disaster that changed the world, how humanity recovered, or for that matter how the technology that deVries analyzes affects people. Modesitt usually gets away with ok plot writing by making a really interesting world; in this case, the plot is above average but the world isn't. Modesitt does a nice job as usual with ironic political observations; as in the Ghost series some of his most powerful observations come from the alternate world he creates.

Still, an interesting read and better than average...just not worthy of 5 stars.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Reads like a diary, September 30, 2005

By 

Joe Hughes (Somerville, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flash (Hardcover)

In this tome, Modesitt demonstrates a real talent for putting words down on the page without advancing the plot one whit. The story's OK, when it's moving, but in the meantime we get so much detail about the protagonist's workday at his consulting practice that we could easily write his invoices for him. Do we really need to know about every single time the character gets up to make a pot of tea, or what he had for lunch and what he thought about the quality of the food?

If Modesitt had cut out half the pages, this book would've been a solid 80's-style cyberpunk yarn. As it stands, perhaps he should've gone for stylistic novelty by presenting the novel as a LiveJournal circa 2100, since that's what the content basically amounts to.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Did anyone read The Octagonal Raven?, August 8, 2005

By 

R. F. Bohn Jr. "RallyRacer" (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flash (Mass Market Paperback)

I have yet to find a Modesitt book I didn't like. I read this technothriller in one sitting, and sucked it down like candy. Don't get me wrong, it was smart and superb - great characterization and plot.

But, did anyone read The Octagonal Raven? We've got a similar storyline and a similar protagonist.

Octagonal Raven features a former military space pilot, now a freelance media consultant, who becomes embroiled in corporate interests and politicians when his sister is assassinated. Flash stars a former Marine, now a freelance advertising consultant, who becomes embroiled in corporate interests and politicians when his sister is assassinated.

Flash does feature the new character types of an intelligent computer (but then again, so did "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress") and linked to the AI is an android that becomes independent and a romantic interest - quite cool.

The Octagonal Raven does feature a lot more (foiled) assassination attempts than Flash, and more flying cars :-)

Both espouse the philosophy of "Big Business Sucks and must be taken DOWN", with lots of internecine squabbling of corporate boards that is really fun to read...

So, buy it anyway - I own 'em both!