Customer Reviews

Flashback

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(34)
1 star:		(45)

 

 

In a former United States devastated by economic and political collapse, former police officer Nick Bottom, a Flashback addict like much of the country, is pulled from the ruins of his former life and hired by a Japanese businessman to solve the six year old murder of his son. But what does the murder have to do with the car accident that killed his wife and sent him into Flashback's warm embrace?

When I saw that Dan Simmons' next book was going to be called Flashback, I pre-ordered it immediately. Flashback is a drug that allows the user to relive memories and was first introduced by Simmons in the wonderful Hyperion Cantos, one of my all-time favorite books. Did it live up to the standard set by Hyperion? I'll tell you in a little while...

There were a lot of things I liked about Flashback. Flashback and the culture surrounding it made a great plot device. I thought that using Nick Bottom's Flashback addiction to explore his own memories to help investigate who killed Nakamura's son was a pretty novel idea. I liked the converging plotlines with Nick's estranged son Val and his father-in-law Leonard. I liked the relationship with Nick and Sato, Nakamura's watchdog. I loved the references to other Simmons books like Hardcase and Hyperion and the references to Shakespeare and Keats. Most of all, I loved the serpentine nature of the mystery and how it had to do with Dara's death. The world was very well constructed and was a bit of a throwback to the cyberpunk dystopias of the 80's.

That's a lot of likes but the dislike was very hard to ignore. The tone of the book was so conservative that it made Rush Limbaugh seem like Hilary Clinton by comparison. While I can understand that since the setting is a dystopia ruled by a Caliphate of militant Muslim there was going to be some anti-Muslim sentiments, the anti-Muslim venom Simmons spewed liberally throughout the text got harder and harder to ignore. Simmons also goes on to bash health care reform, global warming, green technology, and a lot of other things. While I'm all for people thinking for themselves and having their own political beliefs and even found myself agreeing with Simmons on a few points. But I don't think a novel is the right place to showcase those beliefs. I didn't like it when Heinlein did it, I hated it when Brad Thor did it, and I sure don't like Simmons doing it now. He took a great premise and went all Sean Penn with it.

So did Flashback live up to the standard set by Hyperion? It did not but not for lack of trying. If Simmons wouldn't have been so ham-fisted with the political stuff, I would have rated it much higher. Even still, I found it to be a pretty enjoyable read once I learned to avoid the political diatribes.

I really fail to see what all the uproar is about. I am an Upper West Side liberal, and disagree with almost every conservative viewpoint Dan Simmons appears to have. So what?! He created a completely plausible world and told a great story. I can read a book or see a movie and not necessarily agree with all of the creator's premises without that preventing my enjoyment of the work. I would strongly urge anyone who hasn't read Flashback yet to ignore the criticism about its politics. I couldn't put this book down.

I feel somewhat emotionally invested in the work of Dan Simmons so I find myself unable to stop reading (yet!) even though his last few works have been disappointing. I first started reading Dan about 20 years ago when Summer Of Night came out. Dan instantly jumped into my top handful of authors and stayed there for many years. I read everything he put out and it was all exceptional; I didn't care what genre he was writing in. I loved it all. He was a gifted storyteller. I could get lost in his work, the way you should get lost in a fiction writer.

Things have changed. The Terror was a bit of a slip and things have gotten worse with Drood and Black Hills. Flashback is probably my favorite of the last 3 but it certainly is not a great book. It is an interesting multi-genre (SF, mystery, action) story that is fun at times. The characters are a bit cliched but I was able to care about what was happening to them. The story was certainly a worthy idea for a book. But, the same as all his recent work, there is too much of Dan Simmons in the book. I know that he wrote it but I just felt like I was constantly being schooled, constantly exposed to the author's opinions about everything, not just politics. And here's the thing - it seems that I lean Dan's way politically. I do have a problem with the US getting 4 billion dollars a day deeper into debt and I don't think anything good can possibly come out of this. And I still thought he was overly preachy! I know it's fiction but throughout the book the reader is constantly subjected to lessons about everything. He knows more than you do and you need to be enlightened. How is one possibly supposed to lose yourself in a STORY when you are barraged with intellectual asides constantly. I couldn't care less about Shakespeare and I am tired of Shakespeare content being inserted into a novel where it adds absolutely nothing except to indulge the author.

When I am schooled like this for so long I start to take for granted that the author is much more intelligent than I am. BUT the conclusion to the book is so tidy and improbable that I don't believe he is as smart as he thinks.

I guess I am overly criticizing a book that I liked somewhat. But unfortunately Simmons' early greatness is in glaring contrast to this average and somewhat pretentious tale. It has become an interesting experiment to me to see when exactly I will stop reading him. So far I haven't missed one. This one was good enough to make me come back for one more, and then we'll see.

The newest mega-novel from literary star Dan Simmons is a keeper. If you like a story that is well-plotted, has realistic characters, and pushes the boundaries of "what if" then go out and buy this book. Flaskback envisions a plausible, but dark, near future for the United States, where many of today's worst nightmares have come true. The federal government has quibbled itself to near extinction and holds limited, geographically restricted power. Immigration has overwhelmed the populace, giving vast, threatening powers to those who have the most gun power. Drug use, in specific, the use of the powerful and addicting drug Flashback, is the norm. Flashback is the ultimate escape drug, allowing the user to go back to past life events and relive them in as if they were actually occuring for the first time. What a marvelous notion - especially for the populace of the US where not much more exists than former glory, former fame, former achievement, former love and hope. Consumerism has burned itself out in a blaze of rash spending. The economy has tanked, and in a brilliant stroke of irony, people now live in abandoned shopping malls and strip mall stores.
The protagonist, Bottoms, is a former Denver police officer, fired for addiction to Flashback. His wife, Dara, was killed in a car accident, precipitating his entry into the clutches of addiction. His teenage son, Val, despises him, friends are a thing of the past, and his only good times are those he can spend in Flashback reliving his former life with his beloved Dara. Bottoms lives in one-sixth of a Baby Gap store in an abandoned mall and drives a car, a term very loosely applied, he refers to as a gelding. Clearly, life is not good.
There are, as always, the fabulously wealthy and powerful - included at the top are the Japanese ruling class - yes, the Japanese wield incredible power in the US. One of the nine regional advisors in the US, Hiroshi Nakamura, a "hundred-times-over billionaire," hires Bottom to find out who killed his son, Keigo. Keigo was murdered six years ago and Bottoms was the homicide detective assigned the case. The case went cold and the murderer was never apprehended.
Bottoms gladly agrees that he is the man to solve the case, as he envisions all the Flashback he can buy from the expense money alone. Not the best start to solving a mystery, but Bottoms clearly had no intent to do so anyway.
He cashes in his advance, buys sufficient Flashback for 600 hours "with Dara" and checks in at a local flashcave to be watched over and cared for as he starts his imagined epic flash. Of course, this is not to be, as Mr. Nakamura's body guard, Sato, finds Bottoms and quickly ends his pleasant dreams. Bottoms is forcibly thrown into the case with Sato at his side and the adventures begin.
Bottoms is one of those old-time detectives; gritty, arrogant, with a ready patter as a cover when he doesn't know something, which is often. But he is a good cop and has the right skills, albeit a bit rusty, to piece together a puzzle that starts out to be a homicide investigation and ends up being something far more powerful and dangerous. His investigative skills and quick thinking serve him well in this fast moving tale.
In the end, the mystery is resolved. But with this answer comes even deeper and more provocative knowledge. Bottoms learns of the sources behind the the downfall of a nation, revealed by the powerful Japanese advisor. It is a tale of great ideas used to thwart great results. Of constant reworking tired old processes to stimulate new results, with no success. Of how political correctness can strangle a nation unwilling to take a stand on anything related to social policy. Of trying to please everyone at the same time, and in the end, pleasing no one and loosing everything.
At the end of this noir tale, Bottoms is left with a troubling insight, one which might have been the redemption of a nation had it been heeded. Life is pain. Pain is okay. Life without pain is no life. A pain free life is a series of constant, unnoticed defeats, that when aggregated, have catastrophic effects on a nation and on the people who have willing followed into the abyss.
Simmons tells this grand epic with great pathos and brio. He gallops through Bottoms world and we hang onto to tail of the horse hoping not to miss a single word. The story is a familiar one; the moral, one we well know. But through Simmons masterful eyes, it come alive yet again, carrying us to its end, immersed in a world of the past that may await us in our future.

It seems odd to begin a review of a book by writing a review of other reviews, but I came here to see if others are enjoying this book as I am, and was startled by the uniformity of the negative responses. Talk about an agenda--now if one even deals with the issues in this novel, one is slapped with the label of FOX News/Beck/Limbaugh robot. It's amusing to see how those on the supposed free speech-loving left seem to freak out when people even TALK about the issue of what the rise of militant Islam could mean for the world. I suspect that if the rightwing wasn't concerned with this issue, the left would be denouncing Islam's treatment of women, gays, civil rights, etc. But Limbaugh and Beck don't like militant Islam, so the left goes into kneejerk mode. Forget that NPR/NYT/MSNBC/CNN etc. etc. etc. show that point of view has far more outlets--somehow, one writer exploring these issues must be denounced for daring to bring up the topic.

Dystopian novels are about possibilities, not realities. I don't see people complaining that 1984 was inaccurate, or that since we're not living in any number of dystopias those books should be ignored. Why are liberals, who don't seem to post these thoughts on threads about books showing a rightwing Christian uprising (The Handmaid's Tale could be attacked on every point FLlashback is being bashed for, but it's not, because it's okay to fantasize about THAT kind of future, which is far less realistic than the one imagined here), are freaking out over a book that takes our real life and extrapolates from it? It makes me wonder, why are they so afraid of a book that's supposed to frighten? If it were such a bad book, you wouldn't be so worked up about its futuristic scenario, would you--it'd be like flipping out over the future shown in the film of Battlefield Earth.

The complaints that the rise of Japan is unlikely, and Simmons should have made China the economic powerhouse show a weird unexamined racism I won't go into, but why is showing Japan as an economic world power so bizarre? If I told you in 1985 that the Soviet Union wouldn't be around in ten years, you'd have laughed in my face--but that was the truth. If I told you that not long ago there was concern by rightwingers that Japan was buying up too much American property, you might think I was nuts...except it was true. If I told you eleven years ago that a handful of Muslims would destroy the Twin Towers (after a previous attempt using explosives failed)...well, you get the idea.

This novel is about taking several realities--militant Islam, the American economy, drug use, the alarming amount of time people (not just Americans) spend on mindless entertainments--and pushing them, seeing what happens if we continue down the paths we're on. That's precisely what open-minded people should be starving for in their reading. Doesn't make it a great novel just because of that, but so many critically-praised and bestselling books merely applaud the reader for positions he or she already holds, while the readers think they're so smart and wonderful for holding them and for reading a critically-acclaimed book.

Well, this book is about scaring you. It's about waking you up to some uncomfortable realities--not the ones in this book, but the ones this book grows out of--and to me that's the very best kind of speculative fiction. I'm not even going to comment on the writing, the characters, the setting (ok--the setting is one that fans of Philip K. Dick and other futurists just eat up, from the cars to the drugs to the lifestyles, there's just so much creativity here), but merely the extrapolation. While every other fiction writer seems to be afraid to talk about any of these subjects in any but the most PC ways (PC is not liberalism, by the way--but you knew that), Simmons looks at them and says, "OK, let's see what happens if all these trends continue."

There has never been and there never will be a dystopian novel that gets it right. Dystopian novels are not about predicting the future, but they are about showing that today's events are just seeds for possible futures, seeds that may sprout and grow, or seeds that may die without bearing fruit. But I commend any writer of spc-fic who dares to look at today, at realities that cause people to flip out and call names, that gets the hair on the back standing up.

That's what fiction is supposed to do--challenge. That's what Flashback does.

In "Flashback", Dan Simmons creates a bleak and scary future in which the modern world has become scrambled. The US has gone bankrupt and lost its position of world eminence due to poor political decision making and its inability to compete with myriad forces which chose to fragment America and the world to some extent. Anarchy and lethargy have created a world in which ruthless powers and ethnic cooperatives seek political domination at any cost. Old alliances have dissolved and new more ethnically aligned alliances have arisen resulting in a society and world in which extreme beliefs and philosophies are honored and compromise and "middle ground" are detested. It reflects much of the polarization one reads of in most of the world today.

Certainly, "Flashback" has many interesting and thought provoking ideas and constructs to digest as it is read. Flashback is a drug that when inhaled allows the user to focus on a real past memory and then relive it in its entirety while lying in what seem to be modern day opium dens. Nick Bottom, a former police detective in Denver, has lost his will to function and resorted to flashback addiction to dwell daily with his precious memories of his beloved wife who was killed in an apparent accident 6 years earlier. Nick has sent his son, Val, to Los Angeles to live with his dead wife's father, Leonard, out of his personal apathy and lost values.

A powerful Japanese leader, Hiroshi Nakamura, has retained Nick to solve the killing of his son Keigo--a crime that has gone unsolved by all, including a healthier Nick years earlier. Nick is soon caught up in a struggle to feed his addiction, solve a case that has never left his mind, and avoid a showdown with Nakamura. Additionally, Val and Leonard are on there way to Denver and Val's hatred for his father is blinding him to much of what he sees. Simmons employs two intertwining threads, Nick investigating a cold case, and Val seeking his father to build the suspense and to examine multiple elements of a future society where 85% of the population is addicted to flash and life is threatened on all sides by warring ethnic factions, thuggish criminals, shortages of necessities, and tent cities in the middle of mammoth football stadiums. Visualizing the future as conjured by minds like King, Burgess, Simmons etc. are appealing to the curiosities of modern readers who wonder "whose future will come to pass and what will it look like"? We all can play mental "what-if" games when envisioning post-apocalyptic and dystopian futures.

"Flashback" can be enjoyed by those who can suspend their political distractions in order to examine one author's vision of a disintegrating society in a future marked by anarchy, war, corruption, and drug addiction. Pacing is uneven at times and some characters are much more fleshed than others. "Flashback" contains pathos, dark humor, political extrapolations, enduring love between and among family and friends, and a lot more to recommend it as a flawed but entertaining sci-fi noir thriller.

Please bear with me, as I hop on my soap-box for a minute. I promise I'll review the book -

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?

*ahem*, I'll try that again...

First, let me get the AA piece out of the way. My name is Steve, and I am a Democrat. ("Hi, Steve!")

Does that really even matter? No. It shouldn't. I'm not a Communist, Marxist, (yadda-yadda), but I have Democratic morals. So what, right? Here's my point - yes it IS possible to be a Democrat and still love this book. Why? Well because this is just FICTION. Yes, the future in this novel is bleak and scary, yes the political leanings in this book are certainly towards the right, yes some of the characters are racist - WHO CARES! This is still a very well-written book with tons of intrigue, mystery, the whole nine.

Dan took what was in his mind a possible scenario, and wrote a fictional novel out of it set in a dystopian America. Authors have been doing this for years. This does NOT mean that Dan is a crazy, racist, wing-nut blah-blah-blah. If that were the case then the author of the dystopian work 'A Clockwork Orange', Anthony Burgess, is truly one sick puppy - but people still love his work! (myself being one of these people)

Here's the problem: more and more people are polarized because of political differences. It's almost like religion to some people, so when someone comes up with an opposing viewpoint people get extremely 'butt-hurt' (sorry, not a tactful term, but accurate). So, if you are the type to get 'butt-hurt' over differing political ideals then this book is not for you - go back to reading dystopian works about anarchist children, serial rapists, etc. However, if you are able to set political differences aside and just enjoy a nice work of dystopian fiction, regardless if you're a Democrat or Republican, or in between, then by all means check this book out!

I have been slammed defending this book by other reviewers in the comments of other reviews, essentially being called a DINO (Democrat In Name Only) just because I enjoyed this book. Odd that reviewers like these will then say 'Well, it's not the politics that bother me, it's that the writing is poor!'. Bull. If you weren't so 'butt-hurt' by the political aspects then why would the favorable opinion of mine, a Democrat, even matter to you! Gah! So frustrating! IT'S FICTION PEOPLE! People say 'Well, just read the first line in the book - that is proof that this book was written poorly!' Hey, how about reading the rest of the lines, eh? This book was NOT written poorly. I'm sure I could dig through any of Dan's books and find lines that aren't written perfectly. Who cares. By the way, the first sentence is "'You're probably wondering why I asked you to come here today, Mr. Bottom' said Hiroshi Nakamura." (Ooh - the horror, right?)

(Okay, breathe easy)

Alright, I'm off the soap box now. So here's the review, as promised:

Former Denver detective Nick Bottom lives in a very broken America. We have gone bankrupt. America has become ripe for the pickins for the Caliphate, Japanese, Mexicans, etc. Suicide bombings are common, stadiums are used to house prisoners, we are down to 44 states, our military has long been stretched WAY too thin. Essentially, we are helpless. Instead of trying to do something productive about it, most citizens have become addicted to a cheap drug called Flashback.

Flashback is an interesting drug. This drug allows you to live vicariously through your former-self. You inhale the drug, focus on a memory and the drug will take you there, allowing you to relive that moment. You are still aware of your current-self while on the drug.

Former detective Nick Bottom has lost his wife. Like many others, he is addicted to Flashback, which caused him to lose his job. Money is so hard to come by, which is doubly-painful when you have an addiction. A very powerful Japanese dignitary named Nakamura offers Nick enough money to feed his Flashback addiction for life if Nick can solve the murder of Nakamura's son. This seems like an impossible task, the case has been cold for six years and Nick wasn't able to solve it before - nobody can seem to solve it. Nick is also trying to solve the murder of his wife.

Making matters worse, Nick's teenage son Val wants nothing to do with him. He lives with his Grandfather (Nick's father in-law) in California and he belongs to a flashgang. Flashgangs commit heinous crimes, and because they are twisted people they flash back to said crimes (rape, murder, etc).

That's about as much as I'm going to give away as far as plot.

This book, like the drug, is ADDICTING! For a Simmons novel this one moves incredibly brisk. Little-by-little the mystery moves closer to resolution as we see the story unfold from a couple different angles. One thread follows Nick, another his son Val. Simmons leaves little cliffhangers throughout making it downright impossible to put down at times.

Okay, there is a little bit of beef, so I couldn't give it the full five stars...

Many of the characters aren't fleshed out as well as those found in Simmons' other work. I wouldn't go as far as to say they are 'cardboard' or whatever, but this is no Carrion Comfort, which has AMAZING characters. Also, though the end is good, it doesn't quite meet the potential it had given how intriguing the rest of the story is. There are also a couple areas that seem a little too 'convenient', but it is rare, and I don't want to go into those for risk of spoiling important plot elements. The problem is that Simmons puts himself on his own scale - it's hard to give this one a five when he has such jaw-dropping books under his belt like Hyperion and Carrion Comfort. That being said, this book is still good. Very good.

So, if you can get over the political aspects of this book then certainly check it out. I actually found the political aspects interesting, even if my own political beliefs don't align with those in this book. Besides, over 90% of this book surrounds the murder mystery, this isn't "pages and pages of extreme right-wing rhetoric" like many reviewers are trying to lead you to believe. I question if many of the reviewers here have actually read this book!

I've read twelve of Dan Simmons books and now I think I've now found my favorite. I very much enjoyed Drood, Terror, Hyperion Series, and Ilium/Olympos duo. I seem to be in the minority of readers who has not enjoyed his horror/thriller genre. Summer of night and Carrion Comfort put me to sleep. Flashback is story of a post apocalyptic world where America is addicted to a drug that allows people to relive past experiences rather than deal with the present. The style of writing is exceptional and the ending is quite good. This story is not "searching for an ending" like some of his others.
One point of caution that I would like to make is this: If you are politically sensitive and are on the far left hand side of the political spectrum, you may not enjoy this book. If you are open minded and enjoy Dan's writing style you will love this one.

I could not get into this book and could not finish it because of Simmond's need to point out at every turn how (a) green energy (b) health care reform (c) research into global warming (d) muslims .... are responsible for the downfall of a once-great America. It gets in the way of the story, and it makes the entire book seem unbelievable. Are all his books like this, or is this intended as a parody?

It seems weird having to state my political stance in a fiction book review, but given the nature of the other reviews on here, I feel it's necessary. I am a die hard, bleeding heart liberal. Basically a socialist, to tell the truth - I want healthcare for everyone, and I think janitors should make the same as heart surgeons. And yes, like may other reviewers, I was pretty shocked at the politics (or future politics) described in Flashback. I kept wondering if Simmons would put a disclaimer at the end stating that the entire books was a joke. BUT THEN I REMINDED MYSELF THAT IT'S A FICTION BOOK. What Simmons writes about may not even be what HE feels is a possible future - but even if he did, it wouldn't be relevant. What IS relevant is the STORY. And Flashback is a GOOD STORY, somewhat reminiscent to PKD's A Man In A High Castle. Remember - if authors like Simmons were bullied out of being able to write an interesting, creative, and entertaining read like Flashback simply because people didn't like the politics behind it, the US would be a very very boring place to live.