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jamieh2024's review against another edition
3.0
A slightly better than average tale of alien invasion of planet earth.
I really liked the protagonist but had some problems with the way the
ending was.
I really liked the protagonist but had some problems with the way the
ending was.
jch2022's review against another edition
3.0
A slightly better than average tale of alien invasion of planet earth.
I really liked the protagonist but had some problems with the way the
ending was.
I really liked the protagonist but had some problems with the way the
ending was.
xterminal's review
4.0
Michael Laimo, Atmosphere (Leisure, 2002)
The first hundred fifty or so pages of Michael Laimo's debut novel are your typical kidnapping-murder-mystery with a twist, nothing we haven't seen before, with somewhat subpar writing thrown into the mix. There were a few times I'd have been flirting with just not finishing it at all, were not the pace so quick. But it hits [b:critical mass|2956|The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn|Mark Twain|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1161831948s/2956.jpg|1835605], and suddenly becomes one of the finest premises in a thriller in recent years. Almost enough to forgive the subpar writing.
Frank Ballaro is a New York City homicide detective a couple of years from retirement. On his way home early one morning after twelve hours of paperwork on a recently-finished case, he gets out of his car and steps into a puddle of blood. Investigating, he finds a horribly mutilated teen, who runs past him in terror straight into the path of a taxi. As they wait for help to arrive, the kid whispers one word to Ballaro: "Atmosphere." Ballaro and his longtime friend Hector Rodriguez are quickly drawn into one of the oddest cases of kidnapping and murder anyone's ever seen.
The first half of the book is unabashedly setup, and can be a little difficult to get through. Laimo makes it as easy as possible by keeping the pace rapid. Once things take their right turn at suspension-of-disbelief, there's nothing you haven't seen before in a number of TV shows and movies, but Laimo cribs together so many disparate ideas and works them into a narrative whole that it's hard not to just sit back and wonder what sort of twisted mind came up with such a wide-ranging bunch of ideas to throw into this melting pot.
There are a few extreme bits, but for the most part Laimo is more from the Charles L. Grant school of horror than the Robert Devereaux school; not much in here is going to make the reader of modern horror (especially that from Leisure Books) cringe much. This is more straight thriller than horror novel, and should appeal to fans of the genre who are willing to let belief fly out the window.
Aside from some deadwood (cliches, badly-written sentences, oddly out of place words, that sort of thing), Laimo's first novel is a stand up sit down bang up ride, well worth the price of admission. *** ½
The first hundred fifty or so pages of Michael Laimo's debut novel are your typical kidnapping-murder-mystery with a twist, nothing we haven't seen before, with somewhat subpar writing thrown into the mix. There were a few times I'd have been flirting with just not finishing it at all, were not the pace so quick. But it hits [b:critical mass|2956|The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn|Mark Twain|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1161831948s/2956.jpg|1835605], and suddenly becomes one of the finest premises in a thriller in recent years. Almost enough to forgive the subpar writing.
Frank Ballaro is a New York City homicide detective a couple of years from retirement. On his way home early one morning after twelve hours of paperwork on a recently-finished case, he gets out of his car and steps into a puddle of blood. Investigating, he finds a horribly mutilated teen, who runs past him in terror straight into the path of a taxi. As they wait for help to arrive, the kid whispers one word to Ballaro: "Atmosphere." Ballaro and his longtime friend Hector Rodriguez are quickly drawn into one of the oddest cases of kidnapping and murder anyone's ever seen.
The first half of the book is unabashedly setup, and can be a little difficult to get through. Laimo makes it as easy as possible by keeping the pace rapid. Once things take their right turn at suspension-of-disbelief, there's nothing you haven't seen before in a number of TV shows and movies, but Laimo cribs together so many disparate ideas and works them into a narrative whole that it's hard not to just sit back and wonder what sort of twisted mind came up with such a wide-ranging bunch of ideas to throw into this melting pot.
There are a few extreme bits, but for the most part Laimo is more from the Charles L. Grant school of horror than the Robert Devereaux school; not much in here is going to make the reader of modern horror (especially that from Leisure Books) cringe much. This is more straight thriller than horror novel, and should appeal to fans of the genre who are willing to let belief fly out the window.
Aside from some deadwood (cliches, badly-written sentences, oddly out of place words, that sort of thing), Laimo's first novel is a stand up sit down bang up ride, well worth the price of admission. *** ½
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