Review of Doyle's Law
-
Marlese Meyer
- Posts: 11
- Joined: 18 Jun 2021, 07:30
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 11
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-marlese-meyer.html
- Latest Review: Doyle's Law by Sam Roberts
Review of Doyle's Law
[Following is a volunteer review of "Doyle's Law" by Sam Roberts.]
James Ryburn is an opinionated, intractable, and belligerent drunk who has had a long career punctuated by crushing disappointments and spectacular failures.
In the final days before his retirement, he gambles on an unclassified Mercurian ore and a vague idea that has not yet fully formed in his inebriated brain.
The Neith Station, an installation in a fixed orbit above Venus, was once a scion of science and progress. A glorious construction at the forefront of technology, now reduced to a decaying hulk of irrelevant metal being stripped and sold for spare parts.
Chief O’Connor, Benton, and McSweeny are under contract to complete the decommissioning.
Benton is a giant with a wry sense of humor, employed for his muscle, not his mind, while McSweeny is a giggling punk who enjoys baiting Ryburn past insanity.
The men are working fast, ripping out hardware and wiring at an alarming rate. The station safety systems are failing, with bulkhead decompression alerts and proximity detection warning sounds occurring often.
Chief O’Conner is trying valiantly to keep to the decommissioning schedule and arbitrate the peace between the increasingly aggressive Dr. Ryburn, Benton, and McSweeny. The crew on the station all seem to be losing their minds, and he keeps misplacing his knitted cap and wrist communicator.
Matters spiral out of control very quickly when Dr. Ryburn loses control of a hopper carrying the final load of ore to the station.
The storyline of Doyle’s Law expands very slowly. The more complex concepts only start developing about one-third of the way into the novel. The author's stratagem is to tease the reader into falling over a cliff and down a rabbit hole. The story is not linear, challenging the reader to keep up.
As the novel unfolds its story within the story, it addresses real-life challenges and potential catastrophes for a human race hell-bent on surviving in space.
Human intelligence and critical thinking skills have a long way to go before we can start breaking further scientific barriers.
All the characters in Doyle's Law start as thoroughly unlikeable individuals, but Sam Roberts gives us something to respect, if not love, in each person. Circumstances and time can change a villain to a hero, a cynic to a philosopher, or an ordinary Joe into a murderer.
Sam Roberts has created a thought-provoking stark, gritty novel.
I enjoyed this novel and would recommend it to all readers.
The book is well-edited, with no spelling errors.
I rate this book three out of four stars.
******
Doyle's Law
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
James Ryburn is an opinionated, intractable, and belligerent drunk who has had a long career punctuated by crushing disappointments and spectacular failures.
In the final days before his retirement, he gambles on an unclassified Mercurian ore and a vague idea that has not yet fully formed in his inebriated brain.
The Neith Station, an installation in a fixed orbit above Venus, was once a scion of science and progress. A glorious construction at the forefront of technology, now reduced to a decaying hulk of irrelevant metal being stripped and sold for spare parts.
Chief O’Connor, Benton, and McSweeny are under contract to complete the decommissioning.
Benton is a giant with a wry sense of humor, employed for his muscle, not his mind, while McSweeny is a giggling punk who enjoys baiting Ryburn past insanity.
The men are working fast, ripping out hardware and wiring at an alarming rate. The station safety systems are failing, with bulkhead decompression alerts and proximity detection warning sounds occurring often.
Chief O’Conner is trying valiantly to keep to the decommissioning schedule and arbitrate the peace between the increasingly aggressive Dr. Ryburn, Benton, and McSweeny. The crew on the station all seem to be losing their minds, and he keeps misplacing his knitted cap and wrist communicator.
Matters spiral out of control very quickly when Dr. Ryburn loses control of a hopper carrying the final load of ore to the station.
The storyline of Doyle’s Law expands very slowly. The more complex concepts only start developing about one-third of the way into the novel. The author's stratagem is to tease the reader into falling over a cliff and down a rabbit hole. The story is not linear, challenging the reader to keep up.
As the novel unfolds its story within the story, it addresses real-life challenges and potential catastrophes for a human race hell-bent on surviving in space.
Human intelligence and critical thinking skills have a long way to go before we can start breaking further scientific barriers.
All the characters in Doyle's Law start as thoroughly unlikeable individuals, but Sam Roberts gives us something to respect, if not love, in each person. Circumstances and time can change a villain to a hero, a cynic to a philosopher, or an ordinary Joe into a murderer.
Sam Roberts has created a thought-provoking stark, gritty novel.
I enjoyed this novel and would recommend it to all readers.
The book is well-edited, with no spelling errors.
I rate this book three out of four stars.
******
Doyle's Law
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Doyle's Law by Sam Roberts
