Customer Reviews

Grim Reaper: End of Days

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

I have enjoyed Steve Alten's work ever since I first happened upon him in 1997 with MEG. I have read all of his books and have enjoyed most of them tremendously. To date, the only one I didn't much care for was THE SHELL GAME and that had mostly to do with a lack of interest in the genre.

Unfortunately (and it pains me to say this) GRIM REAPER: END OF DAYS is a terrible book.

I was really, really excited for this one. The premise seemed very exciting and original. As a fan of The Divine Comedy I was very curious to see how Alten would weave the ideas of Hell and plague-riddled Manhattan together. In this regard, I was disappointed because the similarities were very superficial and seemed quite forced at times. There is some good imagery, but many of the scenes just don't make sense.

There are also a huge number of characters that the reader barely gets the chance to know, which makes them hard to care about. A more specific focus could really help here.

I didn't have an issue with the 9/11 conspiracy stuff because it played well into the general theme of human corruption, but things did become a bit preachy in this regard, rather than being part of the narrative.

Things get bogged down and the pacing becomes very uneven as the book continues.

I found the events following the last conversation with Virgil and Shep to be rushed and not fully explained.

On top of this, there were an incredible amount of typos and mistakes throughout the book.

I really think this could have been something truly wonderful, but I feel like I just finished reading a draft rather than a finished novel.

I may still pick up the second installment to see if things improve, but I really hope Alten finishes the DOMAIN TRILOGY first.

Well, I was a bit suprised. I enjoyed the extraterrestrial angle explored in some of his previous works. Entertaining. This book? More of an MSNBC VS. Fox News mess. Alten goes on a ridiculous, Bush, Cheney, Abu Ghraib, Illegal-Immoral war, no blood-for-oil, evil Republican rant. Mixed in with a rip-off of Dante. Un-original rip-off at that. Really? Could have got the same thing by buying a Bill Mahr book out of the doller bin at my local book store. Complete waste of time and money. And no, I'm not a Republican, I just look look to fiction/science fiction/fantasy to entertain me. Show me new worlds. Put some new twists on the everyday. Not drop me into a anti- foxnews, Bush, Iraq War, rant. Got it. Alten wants to seriously politicise his books. Cool. I'll read a Huffington Post or Sean Hannity's Newsletter next time and save some money. LAME!

I used to love Steve Alten. I've read all of his previous books and when I saw Grim Reaper: End of Days out on Amazon, I had to grab a copy. I'm about 3/4 of the way though and not sure if I will read any more of his stuff. He's already made me mad about 5 times. Steve, if you're reading this, please keep your political opinions to yourself.

I'm sure you're not the only liberal/progressive author out there, but unless you are writing a political commentary book, please keep your opinions out of your novels. I know you won't belive this, but a majority of American's lean further right than left. You call a screaming group of protesters "Teabaggers" and say that Republicans just want to make everybody afraid while the noble progressives are trying to do the right thing. Please! Blaming Bush and Cheyne for everything is really getting old. Why was this necessary? And in the intoduction you say how you are not anti-military but anti-war, not true. So far you've got most of the military characters in the book characterized as bad people, including the secretary of defense. Sorry, I'll probably finsh this one since I paid so much for it, but it will most likely be my last Alten novel. I'm not even going to get into the fact you make Christians look downright evil and your Kaballah beliefs out on full display.

Ok. I finished it last week. Terrible! The political posturing didn't improve. The miliatary ends up looking like a bunch of mass murderers. A character gets water boarded. Rumsfeld and Cheyney are blamed for pretty much everything wrong in the world. Oh yea, Moses was a bad guy on top of it all. Come on Steve, you can do better!

Having read some of his previous books, I thought this author had possibilities. This book has definitely changed my mind. It is the most disgustingly preachy book I've ever read, I don't know if I can even stomach finishing the last 1/4 of the book. And, bear in mind, I'm of the same political persuasion as the author. This isn't a novel, it's a cross between political propaganda, and religious indoctrination.

I really didn't read this book to be converted to his kaballism, or to read his endless rants about the atrocities committed against the Jews (while completely ignoring the atrocities committed BY the Jews on the Palestinians.)

Combine that with the blatant mistakes that he makes in all of his books, showing that he doesn't have a clue what he's talking about. For example, in this one he constantly says that they speak Farsi in Iraq (they speak Arabic, duh.) Or that a tiny 10 foot boat is some sort of giant luxury yacht, complete with galley, shower, and sleeping quarters.

I do not think I will be wasting my time reading any of Mr. Alten's future books. He's lost touch with reality, and is no longer entertaining.

I originally decided not to read this book based on the reviews, but once it came down in price for the Kindle, I went ahead and decided to since I have read every other Alten book and, except for his last 2, have thoroughly enjoyed them. Unfortunately, this book seems to follow a recent trend of mistakes, typos, and a heavy emphasis on partisan politics portrayed in a heavy-handed manner.

First off, the blatant mistakes that permeate the book: I'm less than 2 years from being a doctor and reading his descriptions of the doctors and their interactions was like hearing nails on the chalkboard. Doctors don't have pay docked for being late, not even at the VA-- if that was true, doctors would be homeless. The way they interacted just rang false and I had a hard time getting into the story during those parts. Additionally, Y. pestis is a BACTERIUM, not a virus. Quit calling it a virus over and over and over. Also, what was explained as an antibiotic is by definition not a vaccine. Seeing the words "vaccine" and "virus" on these pages may not annoy most, but for me it was face-palm bad. Then, a doctor comments "Maybe I should have gone into pediatrics, this'll be my second delivery today." Because all women go to pediatricians to deliver their babies... Some other reviewers have already mentioned the description of the Iraqis speaking Farsi as being inaccurate, and it was a bit embarrassing to have to read that over and over. Lastly, there are numerous typos and grammatical errors throughout this book. This has been a problem with a couple of Alten's other books as well. His editor should be fired, and Alten should demand better of himself and his editors. I know I'm being picky on these matters, but when there are so many mistakes in a novel, it becomes quite distracting.

Now as for the story itself-- it truly is intriguing and frightening, as something like this very well could happen if someone desired. It's plausible, and I won't go through all of the plot for anyone who wants to read it. The connection to Dante's Inferno was interesting, but I didn't get the "epic" sense that Alten seems to have aimed for. Rather, it just seems like a loose outline that he followed in order to tell his story. Towards the end of the book, reality becomes less and less important and the spiritual, as well as the connection to Dante's Inferno, becomes more and more emphasized. Personally I didn't care for this, as I ended up not really being concerned for any of the characters. When you bring in all the spiritual elements, all the plot setups that were developed in the beginning of the book take on less importance since you know you can forego any physical constraints and rules as you go along. Maybe if I had read Dante's Inferno in its entirety I would have garnered greater meaning from this story, but it seemed like a shallow association at best as I read this book.

Another major issue with this book is best summed up by a line from the protagonist. "Vergil, this really isn't the time for a sermon." I nearly laughed at loud when I read this line in the book. Had Alten followed his own character's advice, this book wouldn't have been so bad. However, Alten obviously embraces nearly every single left-wing, anti-conservative, anti-Republican conspiracy theory out there and is quite heavy-handed in expressing these views in a sermon-like manner. The "9/11 truther" in Alten is made quite apparent and, although it augments the story in a sense, isn't expressed properly. They're presented as facts in the narration, whereas had they been spoken in dialogue it may not have been as distracting. The broad statements to describe all Republicans as being the same within the narration do not show any true insight, but rather more of the same political finger-pointing that permeates Washington. The part where the "rich" are all described as scum shows a true hatred from the author. It's funny how the characters are so distraught over deaths of the innocent in Iraq, but when the rich and their families are gunned down, Virgil dismisses their deaths as being deserved because of their selfishness and greed-- even though many who were killed were innocent. But "the rich" are all the same to Alten. The descriptions of military personnel high-fiving each other over drone attacks was simply ridiculous-- even if such behavior occurred, it would never be condoned like it was in the book. The military has higher standards. The most evil character in the book is the Secretary of Defense, and from reading Alten's newsletter, I know this is no coincidence as he has made his hatred of former SoD Rumsfeld known clearly. There are many, many more instances throughout this book, but I'll leave them be. Obviously I don't agree with most of these viewpoints, but I would have been okay with them being in the book had they been presented in a more objective manner. The problem is, they're not. That's Alten's prerogative, but I found it quite distracting and it really took away from the story.

Overall, it's a great plotline told in a mediocre manner and edited poorly. I enjoyed it, but it was also a chore to read. I liked it, and I hated it. I won't recommend this book to anyone, but if you want to read it, have at it. If I had any suggestions for Alten, it would be to find a better editor and to have more people critique his stories before publishing them. This story seems to be "his baby" in that it expresses so many personal opinions, but there's a better way to do it. If he would allow someone who doesn't agree with everything he says to read this book and offer input, I think it could lead to a more objectively told story. Such a story would be easier to read while saying the same things, and thus more believable and less distracting. This book reminds me of papers I wrote for college-- I'd work on them for days, and come up with a perfected product... only to have it ripped to shreds by a critical reader. However, when edits are made and advice is heeded, my previously "perfect" papers became much more than I ever thought they'd be. I think Alten possesses this same potential with his novels, he just needs the right people to advise him.

Steve Alten is one of my favorite authors. I have read every one of his book, and he is one of only two authors whose books I will purchase in hardback (everything else I get from the library) because I want to financially support him for his work. That's why I was so disappointed by his latest novel, a modern day Dante's Inferno mixed with a bit of mysticism and a lot of conspiracy.

The one good thing I can say about Grim Reaper is that, after seeing it appear 25 times, I now know what the word "supernal" means. Grim Reaper has a pretty decent-sounding plot. A modern-day form of the bubonic plague virus is released in New York City, and quickly turns into a pandemic. New York residents must fight for survival as the government tries to contain the virus by any means necessary. Patrick Shepherd is a veteran of the Iraqi war who lost an arm during combat. Leigh Nelson is his doctor at the Veterans hospital, who takes an interest in Shepherd above and beyond what would be considered normal for most patients. After the virus is released, Shepherd is thrown into the story in an attempt to retrieve the virus, while at the same time, protect his estranged wife and child who he hasn't seen in years.

I'll start off with the positives. The story moves pretty quickly. There aren't a lot of dull moments where I found myself struggling to get through a chapter. The characters are somewhat likable, although forgettable as well. Alten has a great relationship with his fans where he runs contests and the winners get their name used as a character in an upcoming book (he has even used me as a previous character). So pretty much every character is introduced by their first and last name. Fortunately, this doesn't get in the way of the story at all, and if you weren't aware of the contest, you wouldn't know it existed. Steve's writing is pretty good, and luckily, he seems to have found a decent editor this time (Meg: Hell's Aquarium was filled with spelling and grammatical errors), as I only noticed one error in the entire book. Lastly, the plot twist with Patrick's family was pretty cool and unexpected.

Now for the bad. MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD. The plot of Grim Reaper is fairly absurd. This is coming from someone who has read five books about an 80 foot long prehistoric shark and loved every one. I first got a funny taste in my mouth early in the book when we are introduced to a character who has developed his mind so much, that he has acquired the ability to levitate, can read people's minds, and somehow has altered his genetic composition so that his entire body is made of keratin (fingernails). I guess this builds on the theory that we only use 1% of our brains, and if we were able to use 100%, we would be able to fly and lift buildings with our mind and stuff. Whatever. I like to think I can suspend my disbelief as well as the next guy, so even though I have alarm bells going off in my head, I plow (clever "reaper" pun intended) through anyway. The virus is unleashed and the rest of the book is pretty much what you would expect, somewhat action driven as everyone races to contain the virus and find the cure. The idea of the bubonic plague being unleashed in 21st century America is a very cool idea, unfortunately Alten doesn't take advantage of it. The story is interspersed with stories about how the New Yorker's react to the plague. I found these the most interesting part of the book. But too much of it focuses on Shepherd and his psychological problems and need to find his wife. Normally this would be the exciting part, but in Grim Reaper, Shepherd is a somewhat boring and 2-dimensional character who isn't developed enough to elicit any empathy from me. The main villain (other than the character who unleashed the plague), is the Secretary of Defense, who just isn't evil enough. I want to hear more about the President, however his affect on the story is pointless and doesn't move it along any at all.

Alten starts to introduce the real villain of the story early on, but it is subtle at first, and progressively gets more "evil" through to the last 100 pages, when I discover that the main villain is the US Government, Republicans, and George W. Bush. For anyone who's read The Shell Game or is a regular subscriber to Alten's newsletter, this shouldn't be anything new. Much of the book relies on whether you believe in the conspiracy theories that Alten does (mainly things like 7 World Trade Center was destroyed by the US, we purposely invaded Iraq for oil, the US created the Swine Flu virus as a weapon, etc etc). While I don't agree with reviewer Jason Frost that Grim Reaper is a "modern day classic," I do agree with him on the conspiracy theories. Anyone who subscribes to Alten's newsletter and has seen the numerous retractions from his "living tips" that he plucked out of email forwards can attest to the fact that he tends to have a slight air of gullibility. I don't mind conspiracy theories at all, whether or not I believe them, but I felt like I was being preached to a lot in this book, and it was somewhat heavy-handed. Regardless, if you have a very favorable view of Bush and Cheney, and if you support the Iraq War, this book might be a little too much for you to enjoy. But no matter where your political loyalties lie, you will still have to face some absurd plot revelations, mostly that the Grim Reaper is not just the title of the book, but an actual character in the book. And I don't mean he's a ghostly apparition that just vaguely shows up in people's dreams. He actually walks around New York killing people and talks to them in some crazy deus ex machina that had me wishing I had never picked up the book to begin with. And if you're still cool with that, wait until Jim Morrison (lead singer of the Doors) makes an appearance out of nowhere (his connection to the story makes no sense at all, and seems to just be in it because someone likes Jim Morrison). Also don't worry about the chapters jumping from the different characters, because by the end of the book, in a city of 8 million, all of the major characters conveniently run into each other while roaming the streets of New York.

My final problem with Grim Reaper also occurs in the end. Do you anything at all about kabbalah and/or Dante's Inferno? Because the whole dénouement revolves around it and about 30 terms and concepts I've never heard of to explain the reasoning for the plague. After about the twentieth page of some character explaining to Patrick Shepherd (and to the reader) what kabbalah is and why everyone must die and introducing a glossary of foreign concepts to me, I just lost interest and gave up. I committed myself to just go with it and not worry about the explanation he was trying to give. Maybe I am the only one who didn't get this, but it was really just way too convoluted for me, even though I had no problem with all of the Mayan prophecies and concepts presented in Domain (Domain Trilogy) (which is actually one of my favorite Alten books).

I really hate to give one of my authors a negative review, and I'm sure people will disagree with me and say I didn't understand the book (please correct me if I'm wrong about something), but I just felt like this was a waste of writing time. I've given two of Alten's "political books" a try now and that's been two too many. From now on I'll stick with the tried and true giant prehistoric monster fiction.

Somewhere in this book, there is an excellent apocalyptic thriller. The Steve Alten who penned Goliath, Meg, Dominion and The Loch could have pulled it off. Unfortunately, this story comes from the Steve Alten of The Shell Game. What should have been a gripping, keep-you-up-all-night thriller is instead an almost incomprehensible mish-mash of left-wing fever dream paranoia, new-age Kabbalah mysticism, laughably ridiculous science, and a dash of good ole PC stereotyping.

There is just so much wrong with this novel that it's hard to know where to begin. Most novels in this genre require some suspension of disbelief, especially when it comes to the science used to drive the plot. However, here we are asked to believe that the CDC and USAMRIID don't know the difference between a virus and a bacterium, a cloud of CO2 came be made to remain stationary at a specified height above an area the size of Manhattan, and a man can jump off a ledge the height of a 3-story building and suffer no injuries or ill effects. Additionally, the same man can be fitted with a complex prosthetic arm that takes weeks of practice to master yet within a matter of hours he wields it with ninja-like precision. And this is just what I can remember off the top of my head.

As ridiculous as some of the science is, the author's seeming obsession with 9/11 conspiracy theories is a more serious distraction. Obviously Mr. Alten is a vigorous supporter of the various 9/11 "truth" movements and no amount of evidence to the contrary is going to convince him otherwise. That's fine. He certainly has the right to believe anything he wants. However, his constant injection of these "theories" into the plot of this story are totally unnecessary and interrupts the flow of the narrative.

The last 1/3 of the book is nothing more than an advertisement for Kabbalah mysticism. Again, if the author chooses to use his novel to push his belief in 9/11 conspiracy theories and Kabbalah mysticism, that is his right. However, if the reader knows nothing about the beliefs of Kabbalah, this part of the story becomes almost incomprehensible.

The book contains a preview of Alten's next work, the third installment of the Domain series titled Phobos. Unfortunately, the preview indicates we're going to get even more 9/11 conspiracy nonsense that has nothing to do with the first two novels. I think I'll pass on this and see if Warren Fahy has anything in the works.

Too bad the book stinks. Dear Nunz. Diiiiistaaaaance yourself from Steve Alten. Seriously. I bought this book because of the saturation ads on CHUD and because I thought Meg was pretty great when I read it in junior high. After reading this, I don't want to go back and revisit it because I'm afraid of what might lurk in those pages now that I'm a grown ass man. Grim Reaper is truly bad, a hodge podge of insane conspiracy theories and scene after scene stolen, nay, "borrowed" from movies of the past ten years. You can also tell that it was basicaly self published because clearly no editor worth his salt went over a single paragraph of this book. Instead, it came out of Alten's typewriter and went straight to the printer. Even more telling, I bought the book the first day it was available and there were already three INSANELY OMG THIS BOOK IS AMAZINFG!!! reviews here on Amazon which is probably where the money was spent instead of editing.

One star because the cover's awesome and because they wouldn't let me do no stars anyway. Stick to GDT next time, Nicky.

MrHyde

On the whole i always finish a book i have started.just obsessive that way. i got to page 70 and decided that this was going to be one of the unfinishable ones. Like many of the other reviews i have no problem with the conspiracy garbage as long as the thoughts and ideas at least appear to be the characters and not blatently the authors. I loved MEG but this is a different kettle of fish. I can't give any author 1 star because of the effort to write any book, but this was close.

At first glance, "Grim Reaper: End of Days" has all the potential attributes to make it a very thrilling horror/thriller novel. Obviously it's written by Steve Alten, so it's predicted it should be highly researched and well written. Secondly, the plot sounds like the makings of a summer blockbuster: A deadly plague released amongst the crowded confines of Manhattan island. And finally, just look at the cover. The grinning visage of the Grim Reaper glaring over the skyline of New York shows the capacity for a for both an entertaining, and possibly scary story.

However, "Grim Reaper" is NONE of those. It's empty, flat, and so full of Alten's weird mix of conspiracy theories and pseudo-religious dogma that it's almost impossible to even read the basics of this book.

In the preface, Alten states that this book may come off as "anti-soldier" but it is in fact a statement of anti-war. That would be all well and good but then why are all of the soldiers in this book made out to be trigger happy, racist, morally obtuse, corrupt individuals. They gun down innocents in the street, disobey direct orders and in Patrick's flashbacks are seen calling EVERY Arab a terrorist, a Godless individual and a scrounge across the Earth. Even a chaplain soldier is quoted as saying it's America's duty and God's calling to kill every single Iraqi.

Speaking of God, that brings us to Altens twisted, warped and all together highly annoying views on religion. His ideas are so twisted and convoluted its almost sad and to be honest, I have no clue as to where Alten is coming from and where he's going. Among the pages there are insights into Kabbala, Christianity, Buddhism, and Judaism. Alten somehow manages to twist all of these World views into one strange concoction into which Heaven and Hell are different dimensions where God is uncaring and Stan is the true master. It gets to a point where these ideals seem to be almost anti-religious...such that being good alone will get you the top of the 10th dimension...or wherever heaven is supposed to be.

Now, I understand novels are generally fiction and I try not to read too much into them, however, even that cannot disguise Alten's far far far far left wing views. That Alten believes America is run by a bunch of war hungry, citizen killing, right wing nut jobs comes off the page and practically slaps the reader in the face. Honestly, you would have to be flat out dumb to not read the author's political agenda hidden amongst the paragraphs. He accuses republicans of being instigators in attacking foreign countries and setting up the NWO, even going as far as to calling members of the tea-party , "tea-baggers." He comes right out and blatantly blames the Bush administration for perpetuating the terrorist attacks of Sept 11 and other "false flag" events. He mentions (maybe I should say "praises" here) all the democrats that rejected the production of the hydrogen bomb, only to unnecessarily mention ("criticize") Ronald Regan for bringing it back. He comes across as a hater of large corporations and private industry, suggests America is producing toxic chemicals to release on her own people, and makes the military out to be a bunch of gung-ho, shoot em all to death crazies. I could continue to go on but I think you get the picture.

Finally, I couldn't get past the weird Dante's Inferno allegory that Alten tries (unsuccessfully) to weave throughout the plot of "Grim Reaper". I'm no stranger to horror fantasy as I've read both "The Stand" and "The Rising", but while those 2 works come off as sure works of literature for entertainment's sake, this one seems forced, as if Alten wants to shove all of his distorted views down our throats. In doing so it comes off as an empty and joyless attempt. In doing so, parts made no sense, such as John Lennon appearing for no reason whatsoever, an amputee's prosthetic suddenly and mysteriously revealing the 72 names of God, a man who decides that carrying his new born infant son into the nearly frozen Hudson river will save everyone, a sex-trafficking operation continuing to run even under a mandatory evacuation, miraculous healing water, and a man volunteering to become the dreaded Grim Reaper. Really, there's so much more I could write, but like this book, it would just be taking up space.

It's been a long time since I've read any of Alten's work and to say I'm disappointed with "Grim Reaper" is a humongous understatement. I won't mince my words here when saying this was truly a ridiculously bad novel. The only reason I continued reading was in some vein attempt in hoping against hope everything would resolve itself and wrap up with a conclusion that made some lick of sense. Needless to say, it never did. What's makes my disappointment even that much more painful is that this was done by the same author who wrote the fantastic "Meg" and the thoroughly enjoyable "The Lock". This Steve Alten is NOT that same author and in trying to be deep and meaningful, he just makes himself that much worse.