Customer Reviews

Reaper

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(31)

 

 

Not much more can be said about this so-called thriller. The characters are totally uninteresting and are so superficial, you'd swear you have already encountered them in countless other movies and TV shows. The lead character, the doctor with a grudge, is so predictable and corny, you'll almost root for the villians to succeed. The female woman is so lightly developed, you know that there's not much to her personality, let alone her psyche. And the plot absolutely fails to excite or thrill the reader on both the technical as well as the high tech level. Forgetable book.

At the tender age of 32, Ben Mezrich is a writer with good skills that have yet to reach their maturity. "Reaper," while an enjoyable diversion, is full of plot holes and stereotypical characters. The leading characters of Nick Barnes and Samantha Craig are so "perfect," they are nauseating. Add to this those crises in their lives that have left them bitter, and you have two heroes that need to grow up! The plot is rather interesting: a biological virus spread through televisions and computers. We also have three over-the-top villains: Marcus Teal, a black billionaire, who wants to use his technology to "CONTROL" who gets ahead in the business world, most notably, of course, minorities and the poor guys; Melora Parkridge, who is like a modern-day Margaret Hamilton, who wants to use her technology to wipe out technology altogether, for some reason the reader is never fully told; and then we have nutso Ned Dickerson who is being "controlled" by the virus. He's a whacko who is the real culprit in this serpentine maze of incredulities. "Reaper" in the hands of a more mature writer, could have been fun, but it ends up being one of those books you would have passed on had the promotion and premise not been so intriguing. Yawn.

This book really lacks the substance of a good thriller. The plot, however unbelieveable, is brought about using such an old, worn, predictable formula that it really doesn't offer much suspense. The characters are brought in like stereotypes and offer little to interest the reader. Villians are surprisingly weak and predictable so that it doesn't offer any suspense when they plot out something nefarious or when they get thwarted by the good guys. The hero and heroine are also from the same mold. A good-looking, bitter and tragic doctor and a young, smart, cold on the outside but hot on the inside type of babe government investigator--hmmm. how unique. Of course the two should fall into bed as soon as they can and the author really doesnt' try to develop anything believeable on this.

If you were looking for a text book on how to write just the most awful novel possible, this might be a landmark contribution to the field of literature. I can think of few books that rival this mess for tops on my all time least favorite list. From the insane silly plot to the plastic characters, this novel sways from one disastrous misguided idea to the next.

I can see that I am not alone here in tanking a book so heartily. Often I dont enjoy a book and then am startled to see that it is getting mostly four or five star reviews from my fellow critics. So it heartens me a little to see that for once, not only I but just about every other reviewer is joining hands in panning this trash to its fullest. The sad thing is that I have to give this story at least one star. 'Reaper' makes the argument that we should be able to remove that one star, its so bad that it does not even deserve that.

After finishing Reaper, I think you'll conclude that this is just one of so many books now in the medical/thriller category. Unlike the good ones, however, this book seems so formulaic that it tires easily and can't give you much thrills or excitement. The plot has some interesting aspects to it, although I found it a bit too far-fetched. The charactes in the book were so predictable and common that they must have been borrowed from other novels or TV shows. Author could have been more creative in that regard. The seemngly endless climax left little satisfaction and I agree with other reviewers who felt that somehow, the author changed his slant in the middle of the book to de-emphasize the virus and suddently go after something else that was more interesting.

The author's choice of characters and the writing style don't amplify much suspense or interest. Instead, you feel like a detached observer and never really get involved. The lead character was so superficially developed and his love interest was so predictable, you wonder why the author even bothered. The climax was so tedious and exhausting, it leaves you wondering how this could have come about. The greatest tragedy is that the virus is brought about so well at the start of the novel but by the time the climax unfolds it has remarkably become secondary to the novel--something that shouldn't really have happened. Better plot construction, and a more carefully thought out story line could have done wonders for this book. As it is, there are many other books that are far better than this one...

The book is unable to generate any fear in the reader that "this could actually happen" so it fails to excite and thrill on that kind of level. That's not necessarily a big weakness, but when you couple that to the very inconsistent writing style and the absolutely horrible characters, you end up with a pretty ordinary and unremarkable book. The last chase scene at the end seemed like it lasted for days and days--I don't know exactly why, but I can see from other comments from other readers that we all felt that it was way overdrawn and became almost comic in nature. I'm sure that wasn't what the author had in mind. The overall premise could have been real but the author was unable to convince me. I think the idea of combining a "medical thriller" with a electronic high tech type of story was somewhat interesting, but this author failed to bring it about to a successful conclusion.

This book really doesn't manage to excite or thrill the reader. The overall plot isn't new--another psycho with technical ways to carry out a grudge against the world. The people out to stop fhe bad guys are quite unrealistic and a bit too far fetched--a good looking ex-doctor with his own personal ghosts and a sharp looking babe with medical degree and seeming endless government budget. Ugh!! Why couldn't the author have come up with something more original than this? The action is fast but totally predictable. The so-called surprises and twists and turns are nothing more than the expected changes in the novel. What is disappointing is that the medical virus, which was so carefully developed at the start of the thriller, becomes totallys secondary by the end so that its almost as if the author forgot about the virus at the end--not a good thing! I'd recommend that if you're after an entertaining read you try other books that are from better know authors...you're more likely to be thrilled and left with a satisfying end.

This book is seemingly one of so many medical thrillers. Unfortunately, to me, this book seemed like a rip-off of other books so that the plot, the characters, and the literary tricks were old and boring. I thought that the overall pace of the book was very uneven and that the characters were so matter-of-factly presented, that this seemed less like a novel and more like some sort of high school report. The medical aspects were never properly developed and, after spending a lot of time at the start of the book about it, the ending seemed horribly short and unjustified--did the author simply get tired of writing?

Very ordinary plot and very very predictable actions. The whole premise was very wild and not well thought out. Many faults in logic--never did answer why some of the victims fell victim to the "virus". Main characters were very shallow and seemed like cardboard characters. Ending was the pits.