Weapon [Audio Cassette]

Robert Mason (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1991

Weapon by Robert Mason
(Author of Chickenhawk)

First book in the Solo series. Weapon was adapted for the film "SOLO"

New York Times Notable Book 1989

Solo, a two-billion-dollar weapon discovers himself while being tested in the jungles of Costa Rica.

"One of the best chase adventure novels of the eighties...Where other techno-thrillers end, Weapon is just warming up." —Martin Cruz Smith

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The star of this ingenious debut novel is Solo, a highly sophisticated robot. Endowed with an intellect and feel ings, Solo experiences conflicts about his role as a killer and, eluding his Pen tagon masters, aborts his helicopter mission and crash lands in a Nicara guan village. "Readers will eagerly await Mason's promised sequel to this rousing anti-techno-thriller techno- thriller," concluded PW.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Dove Entertainment Inc (September 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155800405X
• ISBN-13: 978-1558004054
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,630,426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard to put down!, February 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Weapon (Hardcover)

Weapon is about Solo, a Department of the Army Research Project into Artificial Intelligence who refuses to kill during a training exercise in Costa Rica. Solo runs away into Nicaragua and is rescued by village kids and when the Contras attack, kills 35. Lots of thought went into this book. The discussion between the village priest and Solo about souls is wonderful. I couldn't put it down. It has an appendix of readings on AI.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Weapon" is far superior to the film" Solo" in every possible way, April 22, 2006

By 

Raegan Butcher (Rain City, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Weapon (Paperback)

I caught enough of the atrocious film adaptaion "Solo" to see it was based upon this novel. I figured anything had to be preferable to that film and when I found WEAPON I was, quite literally, blown away. How the filmmakers managed to lose every single cool and thought-provoking and (at least to me) sort of heart-tugging aspect of this incredible novel and replace it with awful B-movie action cliche's is truly a marvel of first rate Hollywood hackery.

The novel concerns the killer robot prototype Solo who is described as looking like a "black department store mannequin but without any facial features"...and that is (i think) the key to the novel's success: it keeps Solo an ambiguously human looking but not too human looking robot--not just another muscle-bound actor posing blankly like Arnold S. in The Terminator.This is a thought-provoking book as well as a ripping good action yarn, packed with detail about the war in Nicaragua and all sorts of interesting concepts about "self" and identity--it ranges into lofty areas such as religion and philosophy quite easily and with a lot of charm. This is certainly one of the best of the modern Frankenstein themes depicted in an american novel.

Too bad Hollywood blew it; I hope Robert Mason at least got a nice chunk of change from the movie studios; it must have been sheer hellish torture for him to view the complete desecration of his fine novel.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good and thoughtful read, December 16, 2008

By 

Pastor of Disaster (Wexford, Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Weapon (Paperback)

Thankfully Mr Masons writing career appears to have turned out more successful than his Swiss Army penknife import business, or indeed his "improve your life through chemistry" importing business! This tale of a self aware combat android with a heart of pure gold is well written, thoughtful and humorous in a way that also comes across in Chickenhawk, his best known (non-fiction) book. I have read this a couple of times and will read it again soon. Recommended. The film is a turkey though.