A review by yak_attak
Dare to Know by James Kennedy

3.5

Compulsively readable, but annoyingly smug, Kennedy's Dare to Know is both captivating and irritating in equal measure, and your enjoyment of the book is going to primarily be based on how well you can handle the 'smarmy self-aware divorced middle-aged scumbag narrates his life and how much a dick he is' core of the novel. There's some really fun philosophy here, and by the end the book has degenerated into very fun eldritch unknowable horror (Also that - by the ending things get....vague, so you gotta be okay with that too.). But the core, the message, the thing you'll remember most is basically "shitty white man is mediocre and has a breakdown *so hard* you guys."

That said - and it is a pretty off putting, trite concept - I'm intrigued by Kennedy's other books, because if they have a similar strength of style, prose (very modern, yes, but still) and interweaving plotting, with some great imagery... well, this was still a fast, fun, cool read. Maybe not going to be one of the things I most remember, but I'd also rather read this again than a number of other popular sci-fi books out there these days. If the blurb sounds good, pick it up, I doubt you'll be disappointed.