Taking a slight break from the crime genre, James O. Born jumps behind the moniker of James O’Neal for the science-fiction novel THE HUMAN DISGUISE. It left me a bit puzzled. It seems he tried to cram in every type of sci-fi into one book: the dystopian future, alien races, threat of invasions, areas that are just wastelands.
O’Neal has some very clever ideas, like all of New York pretty much being overrun by cockroaches and the idea of a Miami has a revisionist Old West town, but his main character of Wilner is just a head-scratcher, coming off like some throwback to old detectives, yet firmly planted in a futuristic story.
I could go on, but it left me cold and confused. O’Neal uses his crime-writing skills as the basis for the story, with all the sci-fi being window dressing. The major problem is that the plot is highly predictable, to the point that most readers will know exactly how things play out. A major stumbling block for me was the opening chapter, in which the writing is so stilted, it became frustrating to follow.
But that slowly clears up as things start to move along. While this will probably appeal to a good number of folks, it left me disinterested, where I had to force myself to continue. —Bruce Grossman
Related posts:
- The Immortal Game: A History of Chess, or How 32 Carved Pieces on a Board Illuminated Our Understanding of War, Art, Science, and the Human Brain
- The Butcher’s Granddaughter
- Where Memories Lie
- The Chess Machine
- The Silver Swan
