Saturday, November 7, 2009

Ice Hunt

By James Rollins

I found the Synopsis interesting so ended up buying this book. This book is kind of an “edge of the seat” thriller—very interesting and fast paced. As I started reading the book, I was in an ebullient mood, thinking that this is going to be a refreshing story, unlike my other slow-paced novels. Well, it satisfied me till the half way, and then I could easily guess what’s going to happen next. It can pass for an interesting thriller, only if you forget the “easy to guess” climax.

I felt everything happening a little too early in the book. Or maybe the climax is dragged too long that I found everything early. Matthew Pike, a Fish and Game officer, also an ex-Green Beret, finds a plane crashing in the Brooks Range of Alaska. He rescues the lone survivor Craig, a news reporter. Trouble starts when a chopper shows up and drops two villains to kill Craig. Then starts the roller coaster ride of pursuing villains, intelligent escapes and a series of exhilarating plane rides. Matt manages to escape from the villains with the help of his ex-wife Jen and her plane.

American research vessel Omega, captioned by Perry, accidently bumps into an abandoned Russian ice station Grendel. Curiosity drives the scientists, geologists and researchers to research on the ice station. Amanda Reynolds, the research head, along with Captain Perry and a couple of others discover a chilling secret hidden inside the fourth level of the ice station. Determined to let the world know the truth, Amanda summons Matt’s group (as they managed to land the plane near Omega) to the ice station.

The story went well till this point. Then it becomes kind of repetitive—chasing villains and mysterious animals become boring after some time. The escapes were too easy to predict. After a dozen of hide and seek games, Matt discovers the chilling truth—but he knows little that the worst is yet to come until he finds who’s behind all those.

The group escapes and Captain Perry intelligently hides his submarine and brings it on time to help the escaped group. The story ends happily when Matt and Jen reunite. I liked the way the characters are portrayed, they are rich and vivid. The ones which are caught in my mind are the no-nonsense Russian Captain Viktor Petkov, waiting for a revenge for his father’s death; the smart dog Bane; and the cute couple at the Fuel stop.

It can be a good book if you can bear with too much danger-and-escape games. Its very fast paced and you hardly feel like keeping the book.

Read it once.

Dear John

By Nicholas Sparks

I liked few other novels by Nicholas Sparks and so I picked this one. Well, it’s not as enjoyable as his other works like “The Choice” or “The Rescue”. As with any of his other books, this book also deals with human emotions, love, and tragedy. The book was painfully slow and you get irritated with every character save a little pity for John’s father.

John Tyree, an Army officer on a vacation at his hometown Wilmington, NC, enjoys surfing in the beautiful local beach. Love flickers in his otherwise monotonous life when he deep dives into the Sea to retrieve the purse of Savannah Lynn Curtis, a student who builds houses for the underprivileged. He’s a big, tattooed, army guy and she’s a happy student and a teetotaler. He spends much of his vacation with Savannah and her group of friends at a beach house. John is particularly impressed with Tim, Savannah’s close friend.

John’s father strikes us as a peculiar yet an adorable character—a man of practice, regularity and patience (especially with John). He’s too obsessed with his huge coin collection to discuss anything except his “Okays”. All attempts of John in involving his dad in a friendly chat end up futile.

After a couple of friendly meetings between Savannah and John’s dad, Savannah reveals John that his dad’s suffering from Autism. John deciding that she’s curious on his dad as a matter of subject gets furious and flee the place. En route the beach house, he knocks a guy and breaks Tim’s nose. Unexpectedly, they make up for their fights too easily and spend rest of John’s vacation happily.

As the story proceeds, John goes back to his work and Savannah keeps writing as she promised. He comes on a vacation and they again spend a good time. Then the September 11 comes and John reenlists in the army as per his consciousness. Savannah assures that she’s very proud of him followed by a “Dear John” letter announcing that she’s found another love.

John, now depressed and lonely concentrates much on his dad. It's then he feels a pang of guilt for not spending enough time and not understanding his problems. Of whatever Savannah did, she helped him understand his dad better. Again, the tragedy strikes when his dad suffers a heart attack and is bed ridden. After a series of convincing, cajoling and begging he’s taken to a hospital where he dies after seven weeks.

Distressed and left with no one to love him, he decides to meet Savannah, only to find her married. Savannah is no better than John as her husband is suffering from Melanoma and her brother in law has autism. Finally, along with John, we also understand what true love means.

To sum up, the story is quite boring except for some chapters involving John’s dad and his disease. I liked the ending though it may seem impractical. I think for a goody-goody girl like Savannah, it’s too soon to fall in love and end everything so soon. And John seems to have as big a heart as his massive body. The only character portrayed interestingly is John’s dad but alas, he has autism! It’s a light read, not really romantic.

Read it if you are in a vacation or you have all the time in the world.