Having now purchased a copy of the latest version of this novel which promises to address many issues in this pre-release I find I have nothing to add or subtract to my review. Some of the issues that some people saw may not have been issues for me. I did manage to read it through entirely once again and found it to be just as entertaining the second time through.

Being a frequenter of GoodReads.com I came across this gem of a book as The Nine Inch Bride. It was probably a title far from what would interest me. But, with goodreads I always get the free offers about three days too late and I expected that to be so with this book anyway. To my surprise I saw that it was offered for a much longer time than usual. The caveat being that I would have to write a review.

Being no stranger to the need for reviews I thought this was quite reasonable and download the book which it turns out is the first half of a whole, which has been split and is named Book one: Conundrum.(the first conundrum being that my copy calls itself the Stone of Conscience)

I must admit that the beginning of the book intrigued me. But as with some other readers it segued soon into something less bearable for a time. For me it was just that it was bit too morose with the downward spiral of the life of our protagonist. It's when the suspension of belief occurs that the story picks up pace again. So does our protagonist's life.

At this moment it is almost safe to say that one might wonder that the events that follow isn't just a fabrication of our protagonist. But slowly we get the notion that the fantastic has happened and it is all real. But, the most interesting and intriguing part of this portion of the novel is that it becomes almost a political science diatribe. Unfortunately it takes getting about half way through the book to get there.

It's worth the trip.

In some way the long political discussion borders on perhaps a intimation that this might be a commentary on socialism. The real and elusive never quite attainable socialism that lives only in philosophical discussions.

The character that delivers it runs their own gamut of potential - from angel to devil. They just draw the reader in with what seem like selfless acts- to what seem like intelligent conversation about current political failing in democracy - to a bit of an imp suggesting almost the unthinkable.

Ultimately we're led to believe the goal is to help the real and elusive never quite attainable democracy that lives only in philosophical discussions to finally come to full bloom. Something that possibly is being held back by circumstances of today's global economy and capitalism.

I mentioned socialism earlier because along the line there is a familiar thought mentioned about how once the system is allowed to purge itself- capitalism will dissipate or just sort of go away to make way for the true democracy. Our protagonist's new friend wants to help this process along.

I want to see how this works out for them, that means I will have to obtain the next half.
(Which might be named A Stone of Conscience.)

It's a shame the author is Anonym-ous but there seems to be a measure of paranoia in writing when simple names are misspelled deliberately to inadequately obfuscate the reference of whom they are speaking.

J.L. Dobias author of Cripple-Mode Series ( )

Nine Inch Bride reads like a screenplay. I can quite easily see Jason Bateman as Ken and Penelope Cruz as Sahar. The film/book moves along as typical film axis, where our hero's world is turned upside down and he faces the loss of his livelihood, his assets and his girl, the airhead heiress. This goes on for 100 pages, and the book takes a sudden turn into fantasy, as Ken, in attempting suicide, is saved by a living Barbie Doll, the nine inch tall Sahar. She turns out to be the girl of his dreams, a beautiful, extremely bright and perceptive analyst of politics and finance, all self taught. Oh, and she's a multibillionaire, able to beat the markets at will, trading away without ever raising flags at the SEC or the IRS.

Unfortunately, the next fifty pages are basically a rant by Sahar, listing all the ills and evils of American society and capitalism in general, how we went wrong, where we went wrong, where we need to head, and how. And apparently, she is in the best position to pull off the needed changes, because she knows and understands, and has the bucks and the chops to pull it off. She's entirely self educated on the internet, and Ken is the only "big" besides her father, a Mexican illegal, she has ever met.

It's a sort of Atlas Shrugged soliloquy, endless pages of rant, but this time from a kind of leftist-libertarian perspective. Nonetheless, you can easily see this as a film, even a series of films, as this book is just the beginning of a serial, it is promised.

The conceit throughout is changing one letter in a name to make it "new". So, John Salt instead of Galt, Boomberg instead of Bloomberg, Krump v. Trump, Box News, Darbie & Ken .... cheesy.

It's a fast read, and should make a great film, what with all the special effects required. But it's no Atlas Shrugged, if you were looking for a serious analysis. ( )