A Rollercoaster Ride, and pretty good, too.
347607
There are no perfect people in this book, just lots of human frailties, but it's definitely one rollercoaster ride.
Of course it's going to have a happy ending, at least for three of the women, because one of them still has a little more learning and living to do, but she's getting the hang of it. I would recommend it.
472081
This book really takes the reader on a roller coaster ride.  Some people might think Keeper is a bad guy, but he is just doing what he must to protect his family.  I loved the immediacy of the story and the moral dilemmas the characters must navigate in the process of surviving the unthinkable.  And sequel is just as good.  Buy this book and read it several times.  I know I did.
2232348
WELL. That was one hell of a ride. I haven't read a book that grabs you by the throat and demands to be read in a long time. And this is only the 2nd book of Mrs. Atwood's that I've read (The Handmaid's Tale being the other). Though I also loved "Handmaid," I'd have to say that "The Heart Goes Last" is better if only because the story itself is so complex, and full of twists and turns. This is the book that kept me up late last night because there's a point where it physically becomes impossible to put down. The gist of the story is this. Stan and Charmaine are a married couple living out of their car, and broke in some dystopian future America where a massive depression has caused millions of people to lose their jobs and homes. One day Charmaine sees an ad for Consilience, and a chance at a normal life again. In Consilience, they share their home with another couple and they alternate spending one month in prison for one month "outside" with jobs and food. Of course you know what they say about a deal too good to be true....
771686
A friend of mine recommended this book to me, and it didn't disappoint.  It's not a hard read, but still takes you on a wild ride of twists and turns, and loops and hills, kind of like a really good roller coaster!  And like a really good roller coaster it leaves you wanting more!  I hope there's a sequel.
2897432
This was a pretty good thriller that had a lot of action, and a little different slant to the main character of the story.  I think the author did a good job of weaving the tale, and keeping you interested.  Without having a spoiler, the ending did come to a logical conclusion but he set the stage for the next book in the series with an open-ended scene.  I picked this up for free during a Kindle promotion vs. its regular price of 99 cents, and I certainly received more than 99 cents worth of entertainment value.
3841771
I got this free for a honest review

Claimed by Her Viking Wolf by Doris O'Connor, this one is a roller coaster ride. Went from being really good, to being meh, to being okay. I felt like there was an emotional disconnect for me. I wanted it to be better than it was. Having said that, it is good, just I expected more.
Kimberly is camping with her sister, and they get an unexpected guest from the past. Way past. Like he is a real Viking past. Kimberly shows her guts, courage, and compassion. I liked that very much. She is a historical romance writer so meeting a man who could come from one of the pages of her novels was more than she ever expected.
Asger, son of Liufr he is a different character. He has many layers and they are all complex, I think perhaps I did not understand all of the layers he had, and there fore felt a disconnection to this story.
Over all it is good premise and good character connection. The time travel piece actually gets pretty, well trippy. But it is good over all. I am glad I took this interesting and new journey.

  Four Twinkling Stars
2094701
A rollicking roller-coaster ride with a gaggle of unusual characters through the fantasy of cyberspace. A non-stop, action loaded tale, that kept me glued to this book. Twisting, turning in exuberant fantastical situations packed with codes and double entendres that must be deciphered by three gifted teenagers and one hip adult in order to abort the future distraction of Earth.

The ultra smart teenagers are uncharacteristically polite to one another, and attendant adults, which added to my reading enjoyment.  Packed to the brim a with torrent of witticisms, punctuated by movie one liners  from the beak of a pet macaw, that serendipitously heightens the hilarity of the conversations.

Plots and subplots constantly in a turmoil of incredible inventive goings on. A page turning read, that demands scripting into a fantastic movie.
2279592
The entertaining thing about this book is that we get a complex situation, and a lot of action to get us caught up in the story. It also isn't too drawn out of a story, so everything feels pretty well paced.  We keep reading to find out what finds out to happening to all the main characters though because the author has caught us from the beginning.
  One of the confusing things about this book is the fact that it seems to be from the children's perspective, but yet we are getting a lot of scenes that the kids could not have seen unless they were actually there. I'm sure they are reflecting back on what someone told them, but it is way too detailed from someone hearing it second hand.  I felt she shouldn't have been trying to guide it from a child's perspective, and just stayed as a perspective that guide it all without bias.
  I'm not sure how realistic the cases are in this book, but I don't really care. I think the enjoyable thing about fiction is that the rare things can happen, and we can be as outlandish as we want as long as there is still some entertainment going on.
  Anyways, this is an entertaining book. I think the genre it best fits in is drama, though you can get a little bit of the romance vibe from it also. It doesn't get too cheesy, or let the cheesiness overwhelm it.

This book was provided by Booksneeze in exchange for a review.
2141641
A pretty good read. I was expecting some kind of cyber mystery thriller, and I got that and then some. Within 30 pages I was invested in the main characters and well on my way to wanting to know how this story would end up?
Mr. Mather takes us on a global ride, eventually bringing together the multiple facets that we're introduced to at the beginning. It's not too often I end up asking myself, is this fiction or fact? With Mr. Mather's descriptions and insights into what we may be, are, facing in our new cyberworld, yes, be afraid, be very afraid. Even if half of what you read is fiction.
1059430
Poignant.  I kept flipping back between reality (I've seen that behavior too many times), and unreality (nobody could be that outrageous!).  You never quite know where you are going, but it is a fun ride.
542686
What a rollercoaster of a book. Despicable characters you like a lot. With names like Terrier, Shepherd, Collie, Pinscher, and Airedale.  A crazy family committed to the criminal life, yet who live a lower middle class life, apparently not using the money and goods they've stolen to benefit their lives. When the men hit middle age they develop dementia and/or Alzheimer's, something the protagonist Terrier (Terry for short) fears will befall him. Terry's mom beseeches him to pick medicine for his father and grandfather, and for goodness sakes, pay for it, don't steal it, because it is so hard to find a good drugstore.

Terry has loved and lost the girl of his dreams, who is now married to his former best friend, Chub, who runs a legitimate garage but who also provides vehicles and escape routes for gangs planning various robberies. Terry's interference brings pain and misery onto himself and Chub.

I haven't read the first book in this series, The Last Kind Words, and I wish I'd read it before reading this one, as there are many unanswered questions that supposedly are known if you read the first book first. Nonetheless, this was a very interesting book, and difficult to put down. The writing is very good, the characterization excellent. I intend to read the first book as soon as Amazon can delivery it, and I will look forward with great anticipation to any future stories about the Rand family.
2821811
A fun ride for sure.  Not really my genre, but I really enjoyed this -- -- -- -- -- --
2860882
Starts with a dash of science, and then explosions and a shootout. Good so far, and good from then on. This is Blade Runner / The Fugitive/ Alfred Besters The Demolished Man.

This is a thriller, and a good one. It is cinematic, but I don't mean that as a put-down. Often, when people describe a novel as one that should be made into a movie, it is because the the action is easy to picture, characters are hollow, and the world is sketched in, with no depth or richness. Not so with Change Agent. The action is exciting and well written, and you are transported to a new society that feels real. We get to know and like Kenneth Durand, Genetic Cop, and his erstwhile companion, the dwarf criminal Dr. Bryan Frey. There are some problems with other characters, but don't let them stop you from reading this book.

 Daniel Suarez first three novels:  Daemon, Freedom, and Influx led me down the same path as Ernest Clines Ready Player One and Armada, from elation to disappointment. But Suarez took one more book to make the descent. I almost gave up on him, but he bounces back big  with Change Agent,. I skipped his fourth book, Kill Decision but now I better go back and give it a try.

This is near-future science fiction. But now near future can encompass big changes, given the accelerating rate at which science and technology and rocking the world. Suarez posits a world in which Silicon Valley backed the wrong horse. Gene editing and bio-tech are where its at. Everyone has sophisticated computing power at their fingertips because it is cheap as dirt and easy to get. Even the disenfranchised often have glasses that can beam hyper realistic virtual reality straight to their retinas.

Forget Princess Leah and her fuzzy hologram warning; seemingly solid people and objects can stand before you indistinguishable from reality. But unlike Vernor Vinges great Rainbows End, this is not where Suarez is going. Genetic manipulation can cure terrible diseases, but they can also change humanity.  Kenneth Durands job with Interpol is to use clever algorithms to detect and stomp out brushfires in the form of unregulated labs that are willing to make any change to your embryo that you desire. Is it OK to do this? Is Durand trying to stop something that should not happen or just be tightly regulated? Daniel Suarez lets the story give you a kind of answer.

Trying not to give out spoilers but still give you a taste:
- Our poor protagonist: He loses himself.
- Tattoos can be a curse or a passport.
- Would you like a ride in the belly of a shark?
- If you look like a thug, do you start becoming one?

The problems?
This isn't 5 star because the other characters, although ably sketched in, are really just that, sketches. The author spends more time on the internal life of a two-bit bio hacker names Desai than he does on Kenneths wife. Kenneths police colleagues are similarly just cameos.
Also, the ending is satisfying, but a bit too easy and pat.

I like that when all is said and done, Suarez comes down on the side of scientific progress and technology as a good thing. Yes, they bring new problems and new crimes, but also the means to fight them. You cant stop change, so learn to ride the tiger.
1956654
I enjoyed this book. Four stars, to me, is a very good rating on my scale. I rarely give five stars to any fictional work due to many factors (which I won't belabor). I loved 'Stan'. I love that people are all imperfect in their own way, protagonist's and antagonist's alike. The ride was a roller-coaster and tying up all the loose ends provided a couple twists near the end. One I didn't see coming until very late, another I was beginning to suspect. All in all, I really liked it!
1696863
This story is a rollercoaster with twists, turns, ups and downs. Just when you think you know where the story is going it changes  course and heads into a dark tunnel at top speed.
4543898
Like a great rollercoaster ride, "The Perfect Candidate" thrills with unexpected twists and turns.  Christopher Metcalf's Lance Priest is a complex, intriguing, yet enigmatic hero.  I'm looking forward to learning more about him in the next book.  Being female, I'm also hoping for more about Lance's budding relationship with Marta.  Mr. Metcalf is a great storyteller with wonderful pacing.  There's a lot of action, but Lance and his story remain clear.  My advice?  Hop on and go for a ride.
4186890
To accompany the multiple voices I hear in my head comes the thriller VANTAGE POINT, a white-knuckle rollercoaster ride told from the--you guessed it--vantage points of several characters:  from a TV producer (Sigourney Weaver), to a Secret Service agent (Dennis Quaid), to a tourist with a videocam (Forest Whitaker). . .to the POTUS himself (William Hurt).  I thought the constant rewinding--and replaying--of the same hectic scene (an assassination attempt on the President who is abroad in Espanol) was terrifically invigorating; different perspectives make for different realities (what appears as major to one character turns out to be inconsequential to another).

The action is tight, the pacing adrenaline-fast, and the suspense and intrigue aromatically heady, as a group of terrorists perp a complicated plot involving murder and mayhem (for reasons known only to themselves, certainly not to the viewer).  It's as over the top as elephants flying to the moon on gossamer wings (for instance, access to the Prez is a snap), yet the titanic suspension of disbelief is half the fun.  While others have lamented that VANTAGE POINT is nothing more than a copycat of 'been there, done that,' to me, having never seen an episode of&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/24/dp/B000NDEXK2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">24</a>, this flick delivers original excitement and suspense by the boatload.
--D. Mikels, Author, The Reckoning