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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
So much longer than it needed to be. So much repetition about the (factual) horrors perpetrated by the Catholic Church and its various officials. So much repetition about the secret that that was driving the plot of this story. And on and on.
Oh, and the pair of bad guys: one tall and thin, one shirt and stout, as if trying to parody every bad guy do since the original 101 Dalmatians. But it is not even played for laughs.
This is either a spoiler or a gift that may prevent you from investing time in this book:
The secret supposedly will bring down the Church by destroying peoples faith in the Pope and the Church. Yet the book details atrocities, crimes, and corruption which went in for centuries and had not destroyed the Church. The secret here parked in comparison, so the whole premise of the book fails. The surprise twist at the end also fails to be surprising.
Oh, and the pair of bad guys: one tall and thin, one shirt and stout, as if trying to parody every bad guy do since the original 101 Dalmatians. But it is not even played for laughs.
This is either a spoiler or a gift that may prevent you from investing time in this book:
The secret supposedly will bring down the Church by destroying peoples faith in the Pope and the Church. Yet the book details atrocities, crimes, and corruption which went in for centuries and had not destroyed the Church. The secret here parked in comparison, so the whole premise of the book fails. The surprise twist at the end also fails to be surprising.
Slim van de uitgever, om 'The Omega Factor' in het Nederlands als 'Het Geheim van Gent' te publiceren.
Zonder die commerciële ingreep zou dit boek van 'de Dan-Brown-van-den-Aldi' nooit tot op mijn leesstapeltje zijn gesukkeld. Laat staan er uitgelicht zijn.
Maar kijk: Berry is er - dankzij de keuze van de mooiste setting van de wereld - toch in geslaagd mij, in het zog van Nick Lee en zijn grote liefde Kelsey Deal, quasi-geboeid mee te slepen van Gent naar Carcassonne en terug, op zoek naar de boodschap die de dekselse Jan Van Eyck op de originele 'Rechtvaardige Rechters' heeft verstopt.
Jommeke is het. Maar ook een beetje Suske en Wiske. Want na het lezen vergeet je nooit meer dat het Lam in 1432 werd voltooid, nauwelijks een jaar nadat Jeanne d'Arc op de brandstapel tot stof en as weerkeerde. En kwam niet àl mijn historische kennis uit de (blauwe) meesterwerken van Willy Vandersteen? Jazeker. Tot nu, dus.
Wie deze zomer twee nonnen door de Hoogpoort wil zien rennen, mag deze thriller blindelings in de reiskoffer stoppen. Als u nét iets dieper wil ingaan op de tijdgenoten van Filips de Goede en de slachtoffers van de Inquisitie laat u hem maar op het stapeltje.
Dan pakt u beter 'De Bourgondiërs' in.
Zonder die commerciële ingreep zou dit boek van 'de Dan-Brown-van-den-Aldi' nooit tot op mijn leesstapeltje zijn gesukkeld. Laat staan er uitgelicht zijn.
Maar kijk: Berry is er - dankzij de keuze van de mooiste setting van de wereld - toch in geslaagd mij, in het zog van Nick Lee en zijn grote liefde Kelsey Deal, quasi-geboeid mee te slepen van Gent naar Carcassonne en terug, op zoek naar de boodschap die de dekselse Jan Van Eyck op de originele 'Rechtvaardige Rechters' heeft verstopt.
Jommeke is het. Maar ook een beetje Suske en Wiske. Want na het lezen vergeet je nooit meer dat het Lam in 1432 werd voltooid, nauwelijks een jaar nadat Jeanne d'Arc op de brandstapel tot stof en as weerkeerde. En kwam niet àl mijn historische kennis uit de (blauwe) meesterwerken van Willy Vandersteen? Jazeker. Tot nu, dus.
Wie deze zomer twee nonnen door de Hoogpoort wil zien rennen, mag deze thriller blindelings in de reiskoffer stoppen. Als u nét iets dieper wil ingaan op de tijdgenoten van Filips de Goede en de slachtoffers van de Inquisitie laat u hem maar op het stapeltje.
Dan pakt u beter 'De Bourgondiërs' in.
So obvious, so boring, and so unnecessarily repetitive in its plot facts. Nothing much really happens.
Good audio. Sophisticated mystery based on the Catholic Church and stolen artifacts. Took a bit to get all the characters straight. V good Historical fiction. Not so flattering to Vatican
In the author's notes at the end of this novel, Berry tells us that this is the first time he has written a non-Cotton Malone stand alone story since The Columbus Affair, some ten year previous. He goes on to mention just how long the gaps usually is between his stand alone efforts as opposed to his signature series of books.
For my own part, I have not READ anything by Berry since The Columbus Affair. (My review of that is on here.) That's because I am among the half a percent of readers that ONLY read his stand alone novels, and have never read any of the Cotton Malone series.
I've also written reviews for his two earliest stand alone novels, The Third Secret and The Romanov Prophecy. Those two are among my favorite genre fiction works I've ever read. Good pacing, history, descriptions, with action and characters that feel like people, that you care about.
When the Columbus Affair fell far short in all of those aspects, I told myself that everyone write a dud sometimes. I looked forward to the next stand alone by Berry, and left it at that.
Cue the ten years. And...cue more disappointment.
I don't understand. Has Berry converted to all ghost writers, like Patterson has been doing for years? Because I know he can write an engaging and alive historical thriller. More than once! And yet this latest effort was a slog. Again. (And I was listening to it on audio...)
If it's ghost writers, he needs new ones. If it's him...what happened?
The characters are quite flat. There are too many of same. The narrative spine, the Ghent Altarpiece, actually ends up having little to do with anything that happens.
And what does happen takes forever and a day to get going, because Berry has become the dreaded "as you know, Bob" kind of author. That is to say, pages and pages of history and scholarship in the middle of a scene, usually delivered by one character talking to another in a manner they would not at all speak, just to convey the shit ton of info "Berry" found in his research.
And the subplot. Man. It should at least connect in some lasting way to the main plot. In the case of this novel, the subplot clung by a frayed string, at best, to the main story. There's red herring, and there's, "why the hell was this even included?" In Omega, we get the latter, sadly.
In fact it feels like scraps from two, or possibly three books the author couldn't finish, and didn't want connected with Malone, so he shoved them into this.
Which is ironic; the author's notes mentioned Nick could be back. (Was he ever here in the first place??) And that he could at some point meet Cotton Malone. That's author/publisher talk for, "I'll publish a crossover at some point."
In closing, I will note that the first two Berry books I listened to on CD were read by the same narrator. These last two were not. Though it would be fair to ask me the question, I'm ahead of you; I don't think I liked the first two just because of the reader. The reader of The Omega Factor was also a fine reader, but he didn't save this novel for me. The reader may give or take a few points on the margins of a novel, but it won't make a failed effort pass.
Sad to report the Omega Factor is, by Berry's early standards, a failed effort.
Maybe in another ten years...
For my own part, I have not READ anything by Berry since The Columbus Affair. (My review of that is on here.) That's because I am among the half a percent of readers that ONLY read his stand alone novels, and have never read any of the Cotton Malone series.
I've also written reviews for his two earliest stand alone novels, The Third Secret and The Romanov Prophecy. Those two are among my favorite genre fiction works I've ever read. Good pacing, history, descriptions, with action and characters that feel like people, that you care about.
When the Columbus Affair fell far short in all of those aspects, I told myself that everyone write a dud sometimes. I looked forward to the next stand alone by Berry, and left it at that.
Cue the ten years. And...cue more disappointment.
I don't understand. Has Berry converted to all ghost writers, like Patterson has been doing for years? Because I know he can write an engaging and alive historical thriller. More than once! And yet this latest effort was a slog. Again. (And I was listening to it on audio...)
If it's ghost writers, he needs new ones. If it's him...what happened?
The characters are quite flat. There are too many of same. The narrative spine, the Ghent Altarpiece, actually ends up having little to do with anything that happens.
And what does happen takes forever and a day to get going, because Berry has become the dreaded "as you know, Bob" kind of author. That is to say, pages and pages of history and scholarship in the middle of a scene, usually delivered by one character talking to another in a manner they would not at all speak, just to convey the shit ton of info "Berry" found in his research.
And the subplot. Man. It should at least connect in some lasting way to the main plot. In the case of this novel, the subplot clung by a frayed string, at best, to the main story. There's red herring, and there's, "why the hell was this even included?" In Omega, we get the latter, sadly.
In fact it feels like scraps from two, or possibly three books the author couldn't finish, and didn't want connected with Malone, so he shoved them into this.
Which is ironic; the author's notes mentioned Nick could be back. (Was he ever here in the first place??) And that he could at some point meet Cotton Malone. That's author/publisher talk for, "I'll publish a crossover at some point."
In closing, I will note that the first two Berry books I listened to on CD were read by the same narrator. These last two were not. Though it would be fair to ask me the question, I'm ahead of you; I don't think I liked the first two just because of the reader. The reader of The Omega Factor was also a fine reader, but he didn't save this novel for me. The reader may give or take a few points on the margins of a novel, but it won't make a failed effort pass.
Sad to report the Omega Factor is, by Berry's early standards, a failed effort.
Maybe in another ten years...
I like the historical element of this book, though I think we'll have to read the next one to see more of the character development of Nick Lee. Would be nice to know the outcome or result of Nick Lee's adventure and the impact it had on its job.
A good read.
A good read.
Another great stand-alone book introducing Nick Lee. VERY interesting, full of history, and twisty-turny mystery!!
Recommend!
Recommend!