Utopia by Lincoln Child
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Book Reviews of Utopia
Book Review: Definitely a Utopian read!
Summary: 5 Stars
Utopia's not just a theme park--it's a world. Or, rather, four seperate worlds, located in the remote Nevada desert. High tech--Utopia runs on robotics, all controlled by the Metanet, developed by Dr. Andrew Warne. Incidently, Warne's ex-lover, Sarah Boatwright, is running the park.Utopia's a safe, fun place. Everything is "real"--it's as if you've stepped out of the normal world, and into a side demension. It's so nice, the security force doesn't even carry weapons.
Today, however, is different. Because today, someone new has entered the park. He calls himself John Doe: a suave, intelligent, sophisticated, ruthless man looking to earn himself a retirement fund from his day job--terrorism. With Doe is a small team of professional terrorists and hackers. Their goal: to take control of Utopia.
Doe is perfectly willing to negotiate transactions with Boatwright in secret, without the guests of Utopia knowing. But if she dares to cross him...well, if that should happen, then Doe will turn this Heaven into Hell on Earth.
"Utopia" is a thrillride of thrillrides, a pulse-pounding race as Warne, Boatwright, a robotics technician, and a professional bodyguard who happens to get caught up in the action, pursue the menacing Doe through the park. You will be on the edge of your seat the entire time, I kid you not.
Lincoln Child--coauthor of some great novels with Douglas Preston--successfully makes his solo debut with this novel. If you're a fan of the Preston/Child novels (and you don't have to be to enjoy this book), then you know exactly the excitement you're going to get.
Lincoln Child's "Utopia" is a suspense novel to be reckoned with. The park comes alive around you, and the characters develop their own heartbeats. It's a novel of suspense, emotion, humor, thrills, and science, as a "perfect" world is turned upside down by one man's horrific greed.
This novel's gonna do to theme parks what "Jaws" did to the ocean. Definitely a must-read for thrill seekers!
Book Review: Great plot + great characters = great novel!
Summary: 5 Stars
As a big fan of the works of Lincoln Child and Doug Preston, I certainly was looking forward to reading Child's first solo attempt, "Utopia". I was not disappointed! It was a solid, entertaining novel from the first to the last page. Child shows off his great imagination by taking the reader to a 21st Century theme park filled with "smart" robots, holographic images, and good, old-fashioned fun.The plot revolves around the designer of the said robots, Andrew Warne, who is called to the theme park (Utopia) to figure out why some of the park's robots are acting strangely. The romantic interest of the story comes into play because the executive director of the park is his former lover, Sarah Boatwright. Warne's arrival coincides with the start of a mastermind plot to steal millions from the park by disrupting the rides and terrorizing the guests. Heading up this scheme is a great character known (rather unimaginably) as John Doe. For the bulk of the novel, John Doe has Sarah, Warne and the park officials on their heels trying to keep him from creating a mass panic. My favorite character in the book, Angus Poole, is introduced at this point as a mysterious "federal agent-wannabe" who arrives at the nick of time to save the park. (Or does he?)
Filled with a couple of great plot twists, you'll soon find yourself flying through the book as you reach the satisfying ending. Rarely, do I wish that a book would go on and on, but I certainly did with this one. It was a pleasure to read and will be a big hit with the fans of Preston and Child. It should also appeal to those who enjoy the works of Michael Crichton because of it's technical nature.
This is a book crying out for a screenplay, so I would not be surprised to see it as a major summer blockbuster in a year or two. But, before that happens, do yourself a favor and grab a copy of "Utopia" and enjoy a great story.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Book Review: Child can do it on his own
Summary: 5 Stars
There always seems to be a good Lincoln Child & Douglas Preston novel to read every couple of months, and generally when books are pumped out like that they seem to become a little repetitive. But fortunately thats never happened with these authors. They've continually brought solid technologically advanced page turners that never seem to quit. Thats why it was interesting to see these two split up for a bit and see what they can do on their own.Utopia is a theme park beyond all theme parks and puts Disneyworld to a crying shame. The characters are forced to deal with a group of alleged terrorists who are after some advanced holographic technology exclusive to the park. But there is a twist later on.
I don't know anything about holograms or robots but apparently Lincoln Child does and he knows a lot. Unless of course he's making all those big words up and he really doesn't know what he's talking about. But I'm pretty sure he does and the research he must have put into the novel must have took some serious time. Thats one thing that I've come to appreciate about the work he's done before, and it's refreshing to know that Lincoln Child can pull it off by himself.
The only problem I had with the story is the timeline of the whole thing. The chapters are actually time intervals, and the whole story happens in one day. For the most part it was pulled off well, but sometimes it felt the action would have taken longer than the time the chapter actually lasted. But this was a minor flaw and it doesn't effect the over all flow of the book.
I look forward to more joint ventures between Lincoln Child & Douglas Preston and more solo efforts, I can never get enough of Special Agent Pendergast.
Book Review: A very good story. 4 1/2 stars, I rounded up.
Summary: 5 Stars
Utopia is a 21 century amusement park, the most advanced park in the world. Utopia is made up of four (a fifth to open soon) different "worlds" under a dome. Camelot, a midieval world; Callisto, a futuristic space-station world; Gaslight, a turn-of the century London themed world; Boardwalk, themed after those turn-of-the-century parks located near a beach; and soon to open Atlantis, themed after the lost-continent of the same name.The story takes place during one day. The park is running smoothly, when terrorists quietly let themselves be known to the big-wigs, making demands or causing terror. Dr. Andrew "Drew" Warne, a robotics expert from Carnegie-Mellen University, visiting the park as an external-specialist, finds himself doing more than what was expected, but instead leading the way to saving the park and it's visitors.
Utopia is a beautifully written book, sometimes the descriptions and thoughts written within the story will remind you of a good-piece of fast moving literature. I very much enjoyed reading this, and found it exceptionally hard to put down and I actually cared about the characters. Even some of the terrorists were intellectual and fun to read about.
There were just a few problems with the book, however. The character of Georgia, Warne's daughter, seems, for 14 years old, to act both too young and too old. Also I truly hated Sarah Boatwright, the Chief of Operations of the park, and past girlfriend of Warne. She was just an egotistical, annoying and irresponsible person, and I have no idea how someone like Warne would have ever loved her.
Book Review: One of the best reads I've had in awhile...
Summary: 5 Stars
Because I can't stand to travel without reading material, I had to stop at the Orlando airport before the flight back to Portland and find a paperback "just in case" I ran out of books. I ran across Utopia by Lincoln Child. Great surprise, and one of the best reads I've had in quite some time.The story line revolves around a terror threat in a high-tech amusement park (yes, you can easily imagine Disney here). A small band of terrorists have rigged a number of "surprises" in the park in order to make a large monetary heist and to get some proprietary software involving the holographic attractions. An outside specialist there to work with the robotic network gets wrapped up in trying to stop the killings, one of which could be him or his daughter there with him. When it becomes clear that an employee of the park must be part of the team, no one is sure who to trust any more.
Since I'm a Disney fan, I loved the setting of the theme park. The plot line of the terror threats is carried out well, and the pace is just about perfect. It's a longer paperback (434 pages), and it took me longer to read than many books of late. It could be because I was actually savoring the read and trying to make it last.
If you get the chance to read this one, do so.