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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An amazing and mindbending thriller,
By
This review is from: Neuropath (Paperback)
Thomas Bible is a professor of psychology at Columbia University. Suffering from the failure of his marriage, he finds solace in being a father to his two children, Frankie and Ripley. One night, his best friend since his college days, Neil Cassidy, a brilliant neuroscientist, arrives on his doorstep. (Bearing booze, an ex-college roommate's duty, of course.) As the two of them get drunk that night, talking, Neil finally reveals to Tom that he has been lying about his job. For the past few years, Neil has been working for the NSA, interrogating terror suspects through the use of invasive neurosurgery. By flicking off certain neural switches in the brain, Neil has discovered that he can get the terrorists to tell him everything he needs to know. Thomas is horrified by this revelation, only reassured by Neil claiming that he has recently quit the NSA.As Thomas arrives at work the next morning, he is greeted by FBI agents. The agents play for Tom a disturbing video sent anonymously to them. The film details a neurosurgery in which the patient, who is conscious throughout the procedure, feels either pleasure or pain when the unseen neurosurgeon flicks a switch in her brain. Thomas is appalled at the video, struggling to comprehend what he has witness, when the FBI agents shock him even further--his buddy Neil is believed to be the neurosurgeon responsible. Soon, Thomas finds himself helping a beautiful FBI agent, Samantha Logan, track down Neil as he continues to commit further atrocities. Struggling to uncover Neil's motivations for the mutilations, Thomas finally decides Neil is engaging him in "The Argument", a discussion from their college days about free will being an illusion and the dire consequences that follow from that fact. At the same time, Tom finds himself falling in love with Agent Logan. While chasing after Neil, Thomas discovers his life spinning out of control. Surprise twists and turns lurk around ever corner. Just when Thomas thinks he understands Neil's motivations, circumstances shift to show him how truly clueless he is, and when his son Frankie is abducted, his desperation nearly leads him over the edge. Will Tom be able to save Frankie in time? Bakker's novel is so intriguing it is almost impossible to put down. The action flows from one shocking incident to the next, filled in between with profound and disturbing insights. This elevates "Neuropath" above other contemporary thrillers in that it is an intellectual powerhouse of a novel. Bakker offers interesting observations and questions on selfhood, consciousness, love, morality, and government regulation. It's impossible to read the novel and not reflect on it, as it shakes the very foundation of what we conceive of as humanity. Bakker's descriptions are beautiful and poetic, lovingly crafted and fresh. For example in describing Manhattan, he writes: "[a]t once archeological, like a vast inscription with Central Park the indent of some God-King's seal, and yet statistical, like a great 3-D bar graph, charting the sum of human hopes against the GDP of nations--a Powerpoint presentation frozen in monumental stone." Or a simpler example in describing a forest blocking Thomas' view of Neil's cabin: [t]he trees defeated the distances, obscuring any glimpse of the cottage." This is evidence of a mature artist's hand at work, filling his words with both beauty and thought. It's an irresistible combination for the reader, and Bakker works it masterfully. Last Word: What Scott Bakker did for the fantasy genre with the "Prince of Nothing" trilogy, he also does here for the futuristic thriller: namely, set the bar for greatness. For fans of science fiction or thrillers, "Neuropath" is a must-read classic, chilling, original and truly disturbing. It grabs you by your mind, and shakes you hard, never relenting, never apologizing, leaving you shattered by the end. Whether you hate it or love it, you are guaranteed to feel it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just what is a human being? Less than we think it seems...,
By Keith Rowley (Perth, Western Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Neuropath (Paperback)
This is truly one of the darker and more frightening books I have ever read. Seemingly well versed in neuro-science, Bakker uses this novel to argue that at the root of things, the human 'self' does not exist and is merely an illusion, an accidental byproduct of a neural system that simply 'is'. Of course, he never totally succeeds as the character he uses as his vehicle remains all too human, even when stripped of compassion, objectivity and purpose itself. But he comes close.The creature revealed when the humanity is stripped away seems to me to reflect the image of the Ipsissimuss, the ultimate mystic and magician freed of all restraint and identity (read some Crowley if this interests you, but don't expect the aptness of the analogy to leap at you). One of the finest novels I have read in what must surely be a fairly new sub genre. Highly recommended.
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