Customer Reviews

Mind Catcher

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Tyler Jessup, thirteen years old, is on an outing in the mountains when he is struck down in a freak accident--a heavy piece of climbing equipment buried deep in his brain. Fortunately the best neurosurgeon in the country is available and agrees to take the case; unknown to Tyler's desperate father, Dr. Saramaggio is also involved in some--shall we say--questionable research.

The book starts with this premise, tells us a lot about the brain and about the frontiers of research, the possibility of rebuilding the brain with neural stem cells, but then veers off into metaphysics. Can the mind be somehow separated from the brain, extracted by a computer, exist somewhere outside of space and time? And would the world's greatest neurosurgeon do anything--anything--no matter how unethical, to pursue his unorthodox research and the glory that might go with it?

This should be a great book, and at moments it is. It almost works. Unfortunately the writing is uneven, the characters inconsistent, and the events are foreshadowed to such a degree that they lose a lot of their punch by the time they actually happen. At times the narrative drags. There are too many literary cliches--the "mad scientist" mentioned by other reviewers, the grieving father drinking himself into oblivion, the decaying "asylum" from another century with no evidence of modern hospital practice. The unlikely romance...

Then the contrived ending left me with more questions than answers. Well, it was a good book and you will probably enjoy it, but it could have been better. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber

John Darnton, Mindcatcher (Onyx, 2002)

Darnton's latest novel has all sorts of nifty stuff going for it, not least a punchy, adrenaline-rousing plot. Tyler, a thirteen-year-old boy, has been injured in a rock climbing accident. Two scientists, brain surgeon Leopoldo Saramaggio and artificial intelligence guru Warren Cleaver, see Tyler as the gateway to performing a revolutionary new experiment that could further the medical field by orders of magnitude. At the other end of the spectrum are Tyler's father Scott and Kate Willett, one of Saramaggio's team, who find themselves confused by the ethical ramifications of what the two doctors are up to. Add to this a mutual animosity underlying the necessity of collaboration between Saramaggio and Cleaver, and you have all the makings for a decent medical thriller.

And decent it is, if overly wrapped in cliché and a little predictable at times. Darnton draws his characters well and invests them with real emotion, when they're not spouting phrases that were old when Shakespeare was writing soap operas. The pace rarely leaves breakneck level, and usually gets back up to speed within a few pages. The book goes quickly, especially once the operation begins about ninety pages in. It's good brain candy, gripping but eminently forgettable. An excellent beach read, as we head for another summer. *** ½

Mind Catcher is a great read! It is a driving story. A boy suffers a massive head injury. His father goes to all lengths to have him cared for properly and with dignity. An arrogant superstar brain surgeon and his kooky computer-wiz colleague want to carry out revolutionary procedures to restore his brain and his life. The surgeon wants to keep the boy alive connected to a computer and then extract brain cells to be cultivated in a lab and reimplanted into his brain. The computer-wiz plans to extract the boy's mind, his "anima", out of his brain and have it float around in cyberspace. The story raises and teases you with age-old questions about the concept of a soul, its relation to the body and the brain, and its eternal presence. The thriller plot develops in ways one does not expect. The characters are engaging. The style is clear and direct. It is a book you cannot put down.

While the premise for this book is an interesting one- that is, exploring the mind-body dilemma- this is about all the book has going for it. The book is riddled with boring narrative and inconsistent characters, however it betters somewhat in the second half of the book. Many of the conversations in the early part of the book seem contrived to inform the reader about a certain topic- conversations that aren't believable. The angst supposedly felt by the father with the accident of his son wasn't portrayed in a way I felt that was real, however this also seemed to get better with the second half. The first half of the book drags, was inconsistent, annoying, and didn't inspire much interest. I basically never quit reading a book, but I seriously thought about it with this one. If you don't feel like reading through 200+ pages of BORING, pass on this one. I must admit the second half of the book was much more entertaining. I, however, see this book as nothing more than a glorified ghost story. The multiple references to a person seeing the ghost or "anima" of their significant other at the person's point of death was extremely frustrating; the stories put forth by the author felt entirely contrived for the purpose of furthering the book.

Scientifically, the book was quite sound- Darnton did his research. I have a background in psychology and neuroscience, so I have some basis. Minus the reimplantation of neurons grown from stem cells, this book is fairly reasonable in its use of science. Obviously, a child of the age of 13 would not be able to use these neurons (even if implantation were possible)as the child would have already passed many critical periods in his development. The TSR (transcranial sender-receiver) machine is just a bit ridiculous, but I understand why it was needed. Some interesting concepts are contained in this book, but are sometimes muddled. Overall, this book has a lot of room for improvement.

I'm halfway through the book but I am so disappointed with the character of Scott that I wanted to come here and see what other people thought of the book.

Scott does not know everything that we, the reader knows, and yet he wants to stop the experimental procedure that may save his son's life. He has no idea what recovery his son may or may not make but the possibility is there that he may become a functioning human being again. This, however, is not good enough for Scott. He admits he is afraid of not recognizing his son, "the person he once was is gone". Well, that's a little self-serving. We, the reader, know that Sarmaggio is out for personal gain but Scott is just assuming this, he has nothing to base this on. He knows nothing about Cleaver's experiments. I keep thinking "what exactly does Scott know at this point" and what I come up with is that he knows his son suffered a horrible accident and that his brain is damaged. He also knows that many areas of the brain are functioning normally and he knows that there is an experimental procedure that may restore even more function to his son's brain. And yet, he resents the machines that are keeping his son alive. I just don't see his point of view. I can only understand his point of view when I look at it from the reader's viewpoint....but that is NOT Scott's viewpoint. He is not privy to all the information that the reader is. I keep thinking, if this were my son and I was offered this opportunity, I'd take it. Yes, that's my opinion and I would be more open to Scott's opinion if there were some reasoning for it. There's not. Scott is afraid his son may not recover enough to care for himself and yes, that is a possibility but there's also the possibility that he may make a recovery. Scott doesn't even know the odds, the doctors don't know the odds, I can't see any father not taking the chance even if he knew that the odds were stacked against him. I'd want that chance for my kid.

Oh, and what was this ... about the doctor that Kate went to talk to, the one who said how many people died while they were doing the first heart operations. What exactly was his point? Was he saying that research shouldn't be done because you may not be able to save the patient? That reasoning didn't make any sense to me. The patients would've died without the experimental surgery and if they died during it then that's a tragedy but I'm sure something was learned from it. Look how many heart operations are done now, obviously the research was worth it. He seemed to be saying that this type of research is detrimental to the patient. I just don't share that viewpoint and I don't believe many surgeons would agree with that either.

From the bizarre early sequence lifted almost verbatim from Hemmingway's "Big Two-Hearted River" (an homage? A joke? either way I don't get it) to the rambling, depressing, Connie Willis-meets-cyberpunk conclusion, "Mind Catcher" is a work in search of a point.

It is an odd take on the mad scientist/doctor genre, I'll give it that, but the premise at the heart of the book--a PET-type scanner that can suck your soul out through your eyes (seriously!)--is ludicrous to be beyond the possibilty of suspension of disbelief.

This really epitomises a bad techno-horror-thriller. The ideas are utterly unoriginal and the plot telegraphes its moves half a book ahead. It was really only morbid curiosity and insomnia which got me to the end. In case you're curious, they all live happily ever after.

Yuck.

I have read all of Darnton's books and Mind Catcher (as did Neanderthal and The Experiment) kept me rivoted from the first page to the last. Darnton has the talent to combine scientific and precise technical writing with enticing and captivating character plot and development. Anyone interested in philosophical end of life issues from a medical viewpoint and where it perhaps intersects with religious and spiritual notions will find Darton's book addressing some of the most important questions of our time. A great read and an intelligent surprising ending leaving you wanting more Darnton best sellers available as fast as he can write them! I am eagerly awaiting your next novel!

I have just finished the last page of John Darnton's, MIND CATCHER, and can report that it kept me sitting on the edge of my seat from the first page to the last. What an astonishing yet eerily credible concept! This is thinking man's fiction, with complex, heart stopping plot twists. For many years I have toyed with the idea of the existence of "anima", having found a personal version of proof, but not a proof that strayed beyond an article of faith. I have read extensively on this topic, yet never before have I found anything that made the connection between the concept of a soul, or center of life, and our contempory world of cyberspace. The connections between this spiritual precept, that all things, all ideas, all people may exist at all times, and the web, are indeed compelling. Darnton's premise is of course, at once thrilling and frightening. I've read his previous books(being interested in the collision of science, the human condition and ethics), but believe MIND CATCHER to be his best work yet. And even more impressive, through this intricate web of science and medicine, Darnton has drawn deeply sympathetic, believable characters (human, flawed in love and life). MIND CATCHER is not only a great read, but a dramatic and chilling call to all of us, as we embark on this newest century.

This is the first John Darnton book I have read but, unfortunately, I am not motivated to try his others after stumbling through this slow-moving and less than original novel. I found the book somewhat boring up until page 286 (of the paperback edition) when, and I do not think I am giving anything away here, the computer sends its first message (those who have read it will understand). The plot is quite simple: an evil doctor believes he can capture the "soul" of a person and keep it alive even if the body dies. Not overly original but if told right, it could be a really fun read. Yet the avenue to get to the substance of the story is somewhat winding and the book feels almost padded for length. I thought it could have been about 100 pages shorter. The biggest thing that irks me is how this book seems to flip between genres. One minute it's a ghost story, then a medical thriller, then a science fiction novel, and closes out with a climax right out of the movie "Flatliners." What kept me reading was the father-son story but otherwise I barely made it through the novel. I was also disappointed the ending did not fully resolve the elongated story that preceded it. I guess there are two types of books for someone like me who reads at night; those that keep you up at night and those that help you fall asleep. I would put "Mind Catcher" in the latter group.

I was expecting a better book considering the glowing reviews. I'm about 3/4 finished and wish I had not bothered. Its become predictable and boring. Anyone with a medical or computer background would think the main idea of the book is unrealistic. I agree with one of the other reviews regarding the book's omission of what the boy is experiencing, it would've been much more interesting.