3 out of 4 stars
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Intrinsic Encounters by K.M. Oddeck is a 221 page novel (at least that’s the copy available for review; paperback on the market is available at 329 pages) that promises a little bit of romance, mystery and a lot of engineering. This, compounded by some drugs, money laundering, stalking, some college excitement and a lot of humor, proves to be quite a recipe for a light but interesting read.
The story is told in the first person by David Elbert, college student / soon to be graduate, who has been tinkering and re-inventing electrical gadgets for as long as he can remember. After quite an interesting coterie of misdemeanors against his parents’ electrical gadgets, winds up via a peculiar string of events as a student halfway across the globe in Jena, Germany, studying a business engineering degree. His final step to graduate is to complete his long awaited thesis. On the road to his own money driven success, David discovers he has feelings for his beautiful best friend Elise and as sparks begin to fly, one thing leads to another and he becomes intertwined with a new (but old, tattered pile of concrete in desperate need of tender loving care) house, a new girlfriend and a strange realtor that insists on being ever present. Strangely enough, apart from all this, David realizes the company he chose to complete his thesis with has more going on than meets the eye and he may have bitten off more than he can chew. What does all this have to do with drugs, money laundering and stalking you might ask? You’ll just have to read on to find out.
Reading through the reviews I’ve found on Amazon and elsewhere, combined with the summary provided to provide insight for reviewing purposes, everything suggested mystery, drugs, and loads of suspense. However when reading, that was the farthest thing from what actually happened. There were some little mysteries, yes, but the majority of the novel was based on David’s thesis and his journey as an upcoming business engineer. The little extras only came in bits and pieces post page 90 of the not that long, 221 page novel. Added to, the romantic parts of it were quick and quite unrealistic as David and Elise went from just dating to buying a house together in a few short months! Not what I would have expected at all. I wondered the entire time how realistic it was for two recent college graduates to afford a starter home with no disposable income, which they not only bought, but also renovated and hired a professional interior designer to make inhabitable. Added to that, the book is laced with a whole lot of characters, some of which do prove to be somewhat important in David’s career and parts of the plot, whilst others just seemed to be nonessential fluff to get from one part of the book to the other.
That being said, when I let go of my expectations of this being a thrilling mystery that’d have me at my seat’s edge, and just sat back and appreciated the novel for what it was worth, I enjoyed it a lot more. I stopped waiting for something huge to happen and started ingesting David’s ploys as they came. The author did a wonderful job of interlacing humor throughout the novel in a “make fun of yourself, oh my gosh the world is on fire,” kind of way. It was light and I loved David’s endless thought trails. Apart from that, David’s journey as a business engineer was quite interesting to read as he stumbled, found himself jobless and broke, and got back up again. It’s not unlike much other college graduate experiences out here (though his may have propelled forward a little quicker). The engineering terms at times were a bit much to be honest, but considering the author also completed a business engineering degree in Jena, Germany, I guess it can be understood. It did however help provide better insight and perspective at times into the challenges David faced.
Overall, once the adverts for the book are edited so as not to mislead readers and it’s understood that this is actually quite a light novel, I think it will be better received, maybe even to a larger audience that can include young adults post high school as it had no alarming graphic or violent content that would thwart the younger audience. Even the romance scenes seemed PG. The book nonetheless seemed well-written, and had no noticeable grammatical errors, which leads me to believe that it has been thoroughly vetted. I wish again that it had a little more perplexity to the plot, but taking it as it is, is still one that can be enjoyed by masses. I’ll happily rate Intrinsic Encounters 3 out of 4 stars, and recommend it to those adults and young adults that’d enjoy a light mixture of humor, strange conundrums and a little romance.
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Intrinsic Encounters
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