Customer Reviews

Peaceful Endings: The NOPOSAM Project

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
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This is a techno-thriller that has all the elements that have been "done before" such as covert government operation by rogue group, mysterious illness killing population, and bumbling bad guys. Yet the book is so well written that the reader forgets all that and actually gets sucked in and has difficulty putting the book down.

Doug Talbot, a television cameraman, rushes his daughter to the hospital because she has been taken mysteriously ill. When he gets to the hospital he finds it is swamped with numerous patients with similar symptons, many which die quite suddenly. While there he meets a doctor, Marilynn (with two ens) who takes a big interest in helping his daughter and finding out what is causing the problem. Marilynn's investigation leads to a string of bad guys coming after her and Doug and puts them on a wanted list.

Doug and Marilynn must skirt the bad guys, find a solution to the mysterious ailment afflicting everyone before the police or bad guys capture them. The action is virtually non-stop with high tension. Doug and Marilynn are two very likable characters and the reader starts really rooting for them to upset the bad guys and win the day.

Michael K. Tucker contacted me and asked if I would be interested in reviewing his novel, Peaceful Endings: The NOPOSAM Project. Billed as a nanotech thriller, it was definitely in the genre range that I enjoy. For a first novel, Tucker has done a good job. It suffers (in my opinion) from a common problem in first novels... realistic dialogue. But it's not enough to detract from what was a story that kept me coming back to learn the outcome.

People are dying in droves in tiny Rhode Island from totally unexplained causes. They start sweating profusely and develop an intense thirst. But before anything can be done, they drop dead. Doug Talbot, a free-lance cameraman for the local TV station, gets caught up in the crisis when his daughter Cassandra contracts the strange illness that is killing everyone. He takes her to the hospital, where he's able to get her in the care of Dr. Marilynn (two n's) Harwell, a physician he happened to meet earlier in a local food court. This chance meeting has unintended consequences, however. A covert government agency, the SIA, observed Talbot taking pictures of a high-ranking general in the organization prior to the lunch meeting, and they have both Harwell and Talbot under surveillance. As the medical crisis spreads and the government declares martial law, they also target Harwell and Talbot as "terrorists" who can be blamed for a biological attack. Harwell discovers the real reason behind the deaths, and both her and Talbot have to go on the run in order to expose the truth and save his daughter.

In terms of plot and characters, I liked the story. The premise was interesting, and it's one of those "conspiracy" plots that unfortunately becomes more believable with time. The only problem I had was with some of the dialogue. I find that first time novelists often have dialogue that is too cute and perfect. For instance, Harwell goes off on a rant about a death that she feels she should have been able to predict and prevent. After everything that her and Talbot had gone through, the words just didn't seem natural. If this were one of many novels that Tucker had written, I don't think I'd be quite as understanding. But in this case, it's far from the worst cases I've read, and it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story. This was a fun read, and I look forward to reading his follow-up novel due later.

. . . if predictable medical/conspiracy thriller.

Full Disclosure: I was contacted by the author (or agent/publisher) who provided me with a complimentary review copy.

The premise: Years ago, under the premise of injecting a vaccine, tiny chips were implanted into the flesh of American citizens; chips that were designed to ease the passage from life to death.

The problem: The chips are malfunctioning and innocent people are dying literally of bumps and bruises.

The antagonist: A thoroughly detestable General in charge of a secret government agency.

The protagonists: A television reporter, recently abandoned by his wife and an attractive doctor at the local hospital.

If you've read medical thrillers, techno-thrillers, or government/spy agency thrillers, you can guess where this one is going. But really, it's not a bad read. There are places where the author could have beefed up the dialogue, and there are one or two "continuity" issues an editor really should not have missed -- but for a few evenings of light reading, I found this to be an enjoyable book.

If the author does write a sequel (as is suggested at the end of the book) I'll certainly read it.

I loved this book. Though usually not a techno-thriller reader - and not knowing exactly what to expect - hands down "Peaceful Endings" had me hooked from page one. Hanging on. Right up till the shocking ending. It's a great read for anyone. But a must read for all techno thriller enthusiasts. I'm ready for Michael's next book. And discovered some chapters at www.technothrillerbook.com
Check it out.

Humans are tough creatures, and it takes a lot to kill them. But when people start keeling over from minor injuries, Dr. Marilynn Harwell is determined to find out why. "Peaceful Endings: The Nopsam Project" follows her quest to find out what is going on and soon finds there may be a greater conspiracy yet than her patient's happening to have really weak constitutions. She may be risking her own life to find out the truth. "Peaceful Endings" is a riveting thriller, well worth its price.

Michael K. Tucker's first novel, Peaceful Endings: The Noposam Project hits us exactly where it hurts! He explores our own lives and presents us with a powerful "what-if" novel that will leave you, if not frightened, then a much-more cautious person! For readers, he presents an exciting suspenseful medical thriller that will keep you on edge from the first page `til the last!

Though the prologue lets us know that the government is going to be involved, I was nevertheless caught when the story begins in the life of Doug Talbot, a news videographer at WJAM TV-16 and Dr. Marilynn Harwell from Coventry General Hospital who accidentally sit together to eat lunch due to the lack of seating. Later they are identified as terrorists; simply because of that chance lunch--of course, Talbot's random filming of a covert conversation may have identified him as a problem as well!

Unfortunately, Doug Talbot again met Marilynn Harwell when he carried his young, very sick daughter into Coventry General for emergency treatment. She was just one of hundreds who had become ill and/or already died. The strange thing was that the involved individuals had been fine until a small accident had occurred--for instance, a hairbrush falling on a girl's toe had led to her death!

As Dr. Harwell faced the emergency situation, she sought help from the medical examiner who was being inundated by the many bodies of individuals who had been found already dead. But he had not yet been able to determine if there was any consistent reason for the deaths.

Until Dr. Harwell had him check at a specific place on their bodies...

There were a number of individuals who knew what had really happened. But when General Thomas Uxbridge, head of the SIA, was called on to advise the president, he told him that terrorists had freed a B-Thrax virus into the United States. Talbot and Harwell appeared to be the leaders!

The amazing and frightening thing was that the evidence developed by Uxbridge against the two was so convincing that nobody even questioned him!

Talbot and Harwell really had no choice. They were forced to verify that Dr. Harwell's discovery was correct and to trace how and what could be done to stop the ongoing deaths. But when the medical examiner, while on the phone with Dr. Harwell, was killed, they knew they were running for their lives!

If you don't know what nanotechnology is--you might want to check it out! It's being used today in many scientific fields. Michael Tucker has taken us to the dark side of this technology--shown us what is possible when evil men gain control over something that is created to help mankind. In doing so, he has created an exciting, suspense-packed medical thriller!

Read it--if you dare...


G. A. Bixler

I really enjoyed reading Peaceful Endings! It kept me wanting to read more. This writer style is a lot like another writer I like Dean Koontz. Can't wait until his next book!

I must confess to having a predisposition to dislike stories based on massive United States government conspiracies to do extreme things, especially when it includes the killing of U. S. citizens. In this case, the conspiracy is to embed tiny chips in the people using the cover story of a vaccination. The conspiracy is not widespread, but concentrated in General Uxbridge, the head of SIA, an agency whose purpose is to use whatever means necessary to "protect" the United States. Uxbridge is a pseudo-patriot, believing that everything, including the deaths of innocent civilians, is acceptable if the end result is a furthering of what he sees as the ends of national security.
The chip begins to malfunction in some people, causing them to sweat profusely and then quickly die. Dr. Marilynn Harwell works at a General Hospital and people start coming in and quickly dying after suffering minor injuries. She has no idea what is happening, there seems to be nothing that she can do to stop it. Doug Talbot brings his young daughter into the hospital and he comes to Marilynn's aid when a distraught man threatens to drag her away. Doug is a television journalist and smells a story, although initially he is more concerned about the health of his daughter.
The two join forces and as they begin to learn something about what is causing the deaths, they are declared terrorists by the government and are hunted by regular army troops and operatives of SIA. All are given orders to shoot if Marilynn and Doug do not immediately surrender when sighted. They flee and are able to learn details about the project, eventually tracking it down to the source. At the end, the project is "exposed" although the conclusion is ambiguous.
The story moves rather well but suffers from the flaw that nearly all stories of this form have. Highly trained federal agents are pursuing ordinary citizens and they manage to repeatedly escape, even though the agents can track their location through their cell phones. The agents are ruthless, shooting on sight, so in order for Marilynn and Doug to get away, the federal agents need to be foolish and extremely poor shots. At some point, you reach the level of disbelief that they can continue to get away. However, the worst part is that apparently the chips have been injected into the shoulders of millions of citizens. Yet on page 138, Doug is rubbing Marilynn's shoulder and feels a bump, which is the chip. Furthermore, the medical examiner friend of Marilyn also noted the tiny red dots made by the chips on shoulders of the victims that he examined. The idea that this chip could be physically felt, leaves a mark and yet not be discovered until this time is a severe stretching of your credulity.
The climactic ending, where General Uxbridge is finally stopped, is very artificial, presupposing that American soldiers and agents are mindless automatons that will follow orders, no matter how bizarre. I enjoyed the story, but only to a point.