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towanda81's review against another edition
1.0
This book made me wish there was an MST3K for reading books. It was so bad, but I had a blast reading it and picking it apart. **Spoilers are herein**
Never mind the fact that the premise was so far-fetched that I fully expect to someday find the National Geographic issue with three articles on Neanderthals, solar flares and autism that this author used to base his plot. Done well, I can roll with far-fetched. This was not at all done well.
The characters were poorly written and didn't develop or change.They accepted things way too easily. Really, you want me to believe a hardened military agent falls in love with his partner over one kiss? Then totally accepts her death and falls easily in love with the civilian that got her killed? Yeeeeahh.
The science was bad, poorly explained and mostly exposition. Then again, so were most of the character's meager backstories.
There were inconsistencies, like how Emily--the geneticist--suddenly knew this strange event was solar flares affecting the magnetic field of the earth without any data or contact with characters who knew this.
Plot events were poorly explained. Were the Chinese involved or not? If so, how? Why did Drew suddenly decide to throw in with this General we'd never previously heard of and orchestrate a mutiny that would betray everything he stood for? Why was Bugle ready to kill his partner and best friend? Over a girl? What was Emily's purpose as a geneticist, at all, ever? She never actually DID anything useful with her work. She just danced through the plot positing half-ass theories.
Other characters were left completely behind. Marcus seemed like he would be a central character, but he got left for a huge chunk of the plot and was basically an enemy when the story returned to him. Whatever happened to Drayer or Ray? We revisit the fate of DNAllied, but no mention of Ray.
I'm sure that people with autistic loved ones, as well as people of color have plenty to say about the indelicacies of this book, too. But since I'm neither, I'll leave that for someone else to pick apart.
Overall, this book was so terrible it became fun to see how much worse it could get.
Never mind the fact that the premise was so far-fetched that I fully expect to someday find the National Geographic issue with three articles on Neanderthals, solar flares and autism that this author used to base his plot. Done well, I can roll with far-fetched. This was not at all done well.
The characters were poorly written and didn't develop or change.They accepted things way too easily. Really, you want me to believe a hardened military agent falls in love with his partner over one kiss? Then totally accepts her death and falls easily in love with the civilian that got her killed? Yeeeeahh.
The science was bad, poorly explained and mostly exposition. Then again, so were most of the character's meager backstories.
There were inconsistencies, like how Emily--the geneticist--suddenly knew this strange event was solar flares affecting the magnetic field of the earth without any data or contact with characters who knew this.
Plot events were poorly explained. Were the Chinese involved or not? If so, how? Why did Drew suddenly decide to throw in with this General we'd never previously heard of and orchestrate a mutiny that would betray everything he stood for? Why was Bugle ready to kill his partner and best friend? Over a girl? What was Emily's purpose as a geneticist, at all, ever? She never actually DID anything useful with her work. She just danced through the plot positing half-ass theories.
Other characters were left completely behind. Marcus seemed like he would be a central character, but he got left for a huge chunk of the plot and was basically an enemy when the story returned to him. Whatever happened to Drayer or Ray? We revisit the fate of DNAllied, but no mention of Ray.
I'm sure that people with autistic loved ones, as well as people of color have plenty to say about the indelicacies of this book, too. But since I'm neither, I'll leave that for someone else to pick apart.
Overall, this book was so terrible it became fun to see how much worse it could get.
kombatant's review against another edition
1.0
Well to be honest I wasn't thrilled by it; 4/10 at best. It was the first book in ages that actually felt a chore to finish, and unfortunately I have a thing about finishing the books I start. I read this one after reading his excellent Frozen Sky novels, so you can imagine how disappointed I was - the plot is full of holes and too far fetched for my own liking. I couldn't even share a connection with the main characters - stuff kept on happening but I couldn't care less. This may sound harsh but I was really disappointed by this because the premises of the novel were there. It was the execution that was lacking.
jmeyers888's review against another edition
I couldn’t bear it any longer. The concept is good, but it becomes too unbelievable as time goes on. People resorting not only to the actions of “cavemen” but to the memories of those cavemen. Not to mention the public sexual interactions of teenagers and men in their midlife. Just eww.
All of it was just too much. Couldn’t hang on any longer.
All of it was just too much. Couldn’t hang on any longer.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Violence, Child death, Sexual content, Classism, Gun violence, Infidelity, War, Dysphoria, and Sexism
Moderate: Animal death
journey_sloane's review against another edition
3.5
Good enough to finish but otherwise nothing stands out.
thesmudge's review against another edition
3.0
Ok, so the overall concept was new to me and I did find that interesting even though.... Neanderthals, really? The characters were ok. It was a filler and it did entertain me.
alexctelander's review against another edition
4.0
Jeff Carlson, author of the Plague Year trilogy and The Frozen Sky, is back with his next science fiction thriller, employing some of the things that made his previous novels so addicting and riveting, as well as presenting a story that is both shocking and gripping.
A catastrophic global event related to excessive solar flares and reactions with the sun is triggered, blighting the planet. Before anyone knows what’s going on, they find themselves not themselves, but regressing to some primitive form, behaving like Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons. A Navy pilot deep in the Pacific, a computational biologist and an autistic boy are all pulled together in a strange way in this changed world. Many have died already; more will lose their lives, but those willing to survive will have to do what it takes.
Carlson has taken a couple of seemingly disparate and interesting what if ideas and brought them together. With plenty of action scenes, Interrupt covers some familiar ground from his previous books with a dominating military presence and how people act when put under extreme stress situations. Interrupt is classic Carlson.
Originally written on November 14, 2013 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews, check out the BookBanter site.
A catastrophic global event related to excessive solar flares and reactions with the sun is triggered, blighting the planet. Before anyone knows what’s going on, they find themselves not themselves, but regressing to some primitive form, behaving like Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons. A Navy pilot deep in the Pacific, a computational biologist and an autistic boy are all pulled together in a strange way in this changed world. Many have died already; more will lose their lives, but those willing to survive will have to do what it takes.
Carlson has taken a couple of seemingly disparate and interesting what if ideas and brought them together. With plenty of action scenes, Interrupt covers some familiar ground from his previous books with a dominating military presence and how people act when put under extreme stress situations. Interrupt is classic Carlson.
Originally written on November 14, 2013 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews, check out the BookBanter site.
readswithdogs's review against another edition
2.0
This book has a really interesting concept and I wanted it to work. However, just when I felt the book was finally picking up steam it started to end. The end seemed rather abrupt and left me with a lot of questions. What exactly was causing the EMPs? And seriously--that love plot moved way to fast. I wish the book further touched on Neanderthals and Homo sapiens trying to communicate and more of Emily's research rather than war with China and the mechanics of the planes and military stuff.
alexctelander's review
4.0
Jeff Carlson, author of the Plague Year trilogy and The Frozen Sky, is back with his next science fiction thriller, employing some of the things that made his previous novels so addicting and riveting, as well as presenting a story that is both shocking and gripping.
A catastrophic global event related to excessive solar flares and reactions with the sun is triggered, blighting the planet. Before anyone knows what’s going on, they find themselves not themselves, but regressing to some primitive form, behaving like Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons. A Navy pilot deep in the Pacific, a computational biologist and an autistic boy are all pulled together in a strange way in this changed world. Many have died already; more will lose their lives, but those willing to survive will have to do what it takes.
Carlson has taken a couple of seemingly disparate and interesting what if ideas and brought them together. With plenty of action scenes, Interrupt covers some familiar ground from his previous books with a dominating military presence and how people act when put under extreme stress situations. Interrupt is classic Carlson.
Originally written on November 14, 2013 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews, check out the BookBanter site.
A catastrophic global event related to excessive solar flares and reactions with the sun is triggered, blighting the planet. Before anyone knows what’s going on, they find themselves not themselves, but regressing to some primitive form, behaving like Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons. A Navy pilot deep in the Pacific, a computational biologist and an autistic boy are all pulled together in a strange way in this changed world. Many have died already; more will lose their lives, but those willing to survive will have to do what it takes.
Carlson has taken a couple of seemingly disparate and interesting what if ideas and brought them together. With plenty of action scenes, Interrupt covers some familiar ground from his previous books with a dominating military presence and how people act when put under extreme stress situations. Interrupt is classic Carlson.
Originally written on November 14, 2013 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews, check out the BookBanter site.
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