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tyunglebower 's review for:
The Omega Factor
by Steve Berry
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...