John RickardsReseñas

Pretty good story. I enjoyed it.

A thoroughly dark, horrifying story of monsters on the loose in Virginia. A 14- and 12-year old pair of brothers try to escape. Pretty visceral and nihilistic, but very effective. This was excised from a novel, Zero Day, which tells the story of the monsters in another part of the country in greater detail, I suppose. It does sort of make me want to look at that book to see where the monsters came from in the first place....½

Perhaps turning Jesus into a foulmouthed San Francisco police homicide detective isn't the greatest idea going, but there are a few amusing moments in this brief flurry of violence. An unfinished second story doesn't fare as well, however. Still, the writing isn't bad, and this might be an author worth exploring further.

[John, AKA Sean Cregin, takes issue with sockpuppeting:

http://namelesshorror.com/]

[John, AKA Sean Cregin, takes issue with sockpuppeting:

http://namelesshorror.com/]

Death. It’s not a pleasant topic under even the best of circumstances. And even though we all know we’re going to die eventually, the idea that there are things we can do to live healthy and prolong our lives gives us at least some feeling of comfort and control.

But what if you knew exactly when you were going to die? Not only did you know, but that it was exactly 1 year away and there was absolutely nothing you could do to prolong or prevent it? That’s the situation facing the “Clocks” in author Sean Cregan’s The Razor Gate.

Someone in Newport City has developed a powerful new medical technology, and unfortunately for the populace it’s being used in a terrifying way. People are being randomly taken, injected with a fatal virus, and returned. Sometimes they’re returned to where they were taken from, other times they wake up in a random location. Always, however, they find a note informing them they have exactly one year to live, and that their countdown to death is irreversible. They have been given The Curse.

The authorities know about the Curse, but have worked hard to keep its existence under wraps for fear of starting a panic. The lid gets blown off, literally, when a Clock with nothing to lose detonates a bomb on a crowded street in the heart of the city, killing dozens and injuring scores more. Now two people who were at the scene and survived, cop Charlie Garrett whose girlfriend is a Clock, and journalist Maya Cassinelli who knew the apparent target of the bombing, are dead set on getting to the bottom of who’s behind the Curse. They aren’t the only ones, however, as a powerful secret organization known as The Foundation also wants answers so they can take control of the technology behind the Curse for their own financial gain. It’s literally a race against time to see who will be the first to secure the source of the Curse, and a potential cure for it.

In The Razor Gate, author Sean Cregan has created an intense, intelligent, engaging thriller. The near-future Newport City is brought vividly to life under Cregan’s skillful hand, with the setting being familiar enough to feel real, but just foreign enough to feel exotic. Blackwater Port, a floating city within the city, is particularly intricately laid out, and its unique location and culture give it a decidedly ominous presence, making it almost a character itself. And while on its face The Razor Gate is a straight-up thriller, there are larger societal issues being addressed just under the surface, particularly the never-ending struggle between the rich and poor.

Cregan also handles the brutal reality faced by the Clocks adeptly, describing the various reactions those affected have – anger, stunned disbelief, renewed vigor to enjoy the time they have left – as well as the ripple effects their condition has on those who love them. None of us want to die anytime soon, but you should definitely want to take a trip through The Razor Gate.

I yield no no-one in my enthusiasm for speculative fiction, and anticipating a story which featured a secret doomsday curse, a dodgy cult and a menacing behind-the-scenes Organisation – with a touch of dystopia thrown in for good measure – The Razor Gate had me slavering at the mouth like Pavlov’s dog.
Alas, what a waste of saliva. I was disappointed at every turn. The book is a stand alone but I realized after a few chapters that I might have enjoyed it more had I read The Levels, the first in the series.
Journalist Maya Cassinelli lost her job after falling foul of a corrupt police lieutenant so when she witnesses a suicide bombing in which a former boyfriend is killed and his briefcase stolen, she hopes to write an exclusive eye-witness account and get her job back.
People are being kidnapped, rendered unconscious, and ‘cursed’ i.e. injected with a substance that will kill them in a year’s time exactly: it seems one of the victims – known as Clocks because their life is ticking away – was the suicide bomber who killed Maya’s ex and dozens of others.
Then there is a cult, led by a man who claims to have survived the curse, promising to help other Clocks; and the policeman Charlie Garrett who fell in love with a victim he met at a police-sponsored Clock Support Group and whom he is desperate to save.
Finally there is The Foundation, a sinister organisation of rich and powerful people who secretly control the city and want to control the bio-technology behind the Curse, and won’t let the death of innocent people get in their way.
Jumps back and forth in time, many and varying story threads and a large cast of minor characters do not make this book easy to read: confused, disjointed and unconvincing – a plot-driven thriller with no thrills and precious little plot – The Razor Gate is better left on the shelf.

Former FBI agent Alex Rourke is now a private detective. Seven years prior, Alex led an investigation which resulted in the conviction of Cody Williams for murder and the abduction of a series of young children in the New England area. Now Cody is dying and he wants to speak to Alex. In the hope that the killer might reveal the location of some of the bodies, Alex meets with Cody and becomes convinced that one of the children might still be alive and held hostage. His desperate search for the missing girl uncovers a layer of old secrets and horrific crimes.
The violence factor is high in this novel and may be disturbing to some.½

The 'hero' smokes too much, and I guessed the reveal way too early. Nothing special. Forgettable.

Strangely, my copy has no ISBN number listed.