Customer Reviews

Implant

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The books starts out OK. The first 100 (or so) pages are about average. It gets much better from then on though! I def. wasn't able to put the book down for the last 200 pages and ended up staying awake until 4:30am to see how it all ended!
In the end, things get pretty wild. I'm not sure how realistic it is (I'm not saying it isn't...), but one thing is for sure: This is one entertaining story!

First book that I read by Wilson. Very interesting storyline. Not the typical type of book for me to read, prefer something by King or Koontz, but a welcome break.

the first book i ever read by wilson was this one (though it proved not to be the last). anyway it was pretty good....there were way to many coincidences at the end...gina just HAPPENED to notice 2 of them.im not saying what cause that would give it away.and the needle just HAPPENED not to be loaded with the drug.everything just kinda fell into place too quickly, but overall pretty good.

F. Paul Wilson has made his mark with horror/dark fantasy novels such as The Keep and the Repairman Jack series. He has written other things, however, including some medical thrillers. Implant is one such novel and it shows that Wilson has skills beyond a single genre.

In Implant, Gina Panzella is a young doctor who is keeping quite busy. Besides her hospital work, she is also assisting Duncan Lathram, a renowned plastic surgeon who has been Gina's hero since he saved her life after a childhood accident. In addition, Gina is applying for a position with Senator Marsden, who needs an assistant for his work on a medical ethics committee. It's while interviewing for this job that she runs into her old high school acquaintance, Gerry Canney, who is now an FBI agent; by coincidence, Gerry is investigating a couple suspicious deaths of Congressmen associated with the Committee.

One link between these victims is that they both had Lathram as a plastic surgeon, and indeed he is involved. Lathram has a clever plot in mind, motivated by revenge. Gina starts catching on and Lathram, despite his paternal affection for her, is not about to let her interfere.

Implant is, in many ways, a rather routine thriller, but Wilson is able to infuse it with enough life to make it a real page-turner. This was my first exposure to one of Wilson's non-horror novels, and I was quite pleased. Like the bigger names in the field, such as Michael Palmer (who I've also read and enjoyed) or Robin Cook (who I have not read), Wilson handles the medical thriller genre well, and this is a good read if you like the genre or suspense fiction in general.

From such a great writer as Wilson, Implant cannot help but be a disappoinment. The main problem is the character of Duncan Lathram. As a bad guy, he just does not work. From a narrative point of view, his motives for his actions were too understandable. He had a reason, and a good one. (Whats a few dead senators?)

He is therefore entirely too sympathetic to despise as a villain. And, anyway, how can you hate a guy who likes a good cup of coffee? Only when he turns on our heroine, did I feel any animosity toward him, and even then, he felt so bad about having to do it, I just pitied him.

Suspension of disbelief is a little trying at points and theres a line of dialogue at the end that just took me right out of the book. It was a quick read, however, and I enjoyed being taken on the ride, I just didnt like the scenery.

Within the first 2 chapters, you know Who and What. The only suspense is Why he's doing it, and what he'll do when when he realizes that the heorine is on to his scheme. It's not the best book I read this summer, but was still enjoyable.

Plus, I give the author credit for using the work "kakistocracy" to refer to the US government. Even if you're not into medical thrillers, you might enjoy this one for it's unflattering depiction of your congresscritters.

Good story line. Well written. Wilson keeps the reader interested. I couldn't help but feel that this book would make a really good movie (that's not meant as a negative comment). I definitely recommend the book, however, for Wilson fans, don't expect the up-all-night read ala The Adversary Cycle collection.

I usually give up on a book if it doesn't grab me, so it says something that I did finish this book. However, the "thriller" parts of this book just weren't thrilling enough. Maybe I'm jaded from having read some really great thrillers. There just weren't any big surprises in the story. I don't want to say it's not a good book, though. Like I said, I was interested enough to finish it. But it's not a can't-put-down.

Up and foremost let me state that F. Paul Wilson writes in a fantastic prose and makes his characters come to life in a way so natural I've seen few writers do. He even makes the bad guy totally believable and sympathetic. And that's something that rarely happens in these 'page-turner' kind of thrillers!

But all that isn't the problem with IMPLANT.

It's just that there isn't any excitement in this book. The plot is SO straight forward. It is revealed early one what's going on and what the motives and means of the antagonist are and that doens't change. There's no plot twists, no big suprise in the end. From page one on I knew where this was going to end. And in all of the almost 400 pages nothing happened that even got me a little excited or had me (at least partially) entertained. I HATED THAT!

I won't bother going into the plot (not that there is much to spoil or anything), it's silly and farfetched and not worth to mention. I mean, what are the chances of an evil doctor just happening to be asked to perform cosmetic surgery on the president of the USofA? A doctor with a shady past, I must mention, who happens to be under investigation by the FBI for the deaths of a few US senators. I think the secret service will go around him with a hoolahoop!
And I won't even begin about the lovestory subplot between our heroine Gina and the handsome FBI agent....puh-lease!
I think you get the point.

I'm do give this two stars because of mister Wilson's writing skills. When his plotting skills improve I'm sure there will be a higher score.

On the plus side, IMPLANT got me interested enough in this writer for me to go and buy some of his other books. I recently purchased both SIBS and THE SELECT and I hope they'll be able to entertain me a little more. This one was totally forgetable though.

I had a hard time putting this book down to go to sleep. I was intrigued with the dark behavior, the suspects, what the implant is (or might be), the people, and the story. I kept reading, page after page, because I couldn't put it down. Then, oh my, the ending, great twists! I always try to figure out what it will be, but when I read this -- all of the pieces fit together in a way I didn't expect, yet when I read it I thought, "What a great way to end this book."