4 out of 4 stars
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Final Notice by Van Fleisher is a thriller involving guns, politics, and new age gadgetry.
Would you want to know when you are going to die? Does the thought of senior citizens having access to guns at a discount bother you? Do you enjoy a good political debate? How do you feel about immigrants especially those who are illegal? If any of these subjects interest you, chances are you will enjoy this book.
Vince and his wife Trudi are getting older, and life seems to keep reminding Vince of that fact every day. Advertisements from the NRA explain they are offering guns to senior citizens for a discount. Vince can’t help but wonder if the bully would have knocked him down the other day if he would have known Vince was carrying a gun. In fact, the NRA advertisements lead Vince to believe that is why he needs to own a gun. The NRA representatives state, that if seniors would carry openly and flash their gun around, that crime rates will decrease. Vince decides it’s time to get a new computer so that he can do his own research on the subject.
Vijay Patel has invented a new sports watch that is able to measure and analyze blood, pulse, oxygen level, and other medical measurements. Even though it was designed to diagnose and predict health problems, it was intended to be easy to use and understand. The watch also has a feature that would give the user their “final notice”. It would allow them to make their final arrangements, get affairs in order, and do what is needed before their most certain death. For testing, 100 of the watches are given to doctors, to hand out to patients that meet certain criteria.
Final Notice follows these two story lines addressing the numerous issues that are bound to ensue. Will people use the final notice they are given through the device as intended? How does Vince feel about all of these events and what will he decide to do himself? This book gets you turning the pages as you try to figure out what is going to happen next. Many controversial issues will keep you on the edge of your seat, as you decide to figure out for yourself just how you feel about certain matters.
I really liked Final Notice because it made me stop and think about how I felt regarding different topics addressed in this book. This is a fiction book, but it felt like it could have been a true story. So many issues, especially about gun control and illegal immigrants, are existent in our own current news.
I enjoyed how the author introduced each subplot, keeping them as their own separate theme, but connecting it to the whole story as well. The flow of the story kept me entertained, and I felt like I was right there with the characters. There were so many characters than what I mentioned above, but the author did a good job at introducing them at the right time. This way the reader doesn't become overwhelmed with too many things at once. There was enough suspense to keep me guessing and enough flow to help from getting bored. I couldn’t stop turning the pages!
I am not big on politics, but I still found the political issues in this story interesting. The topics were very relevant to what is going on currently with gun issues and illegal immigrants. I felt like this book could have been a real-life story following true events from the last couple of years. I could easily see this book becoming a reading requirement for students in literature or English class in high school. The topics lend themselves to good conversation starters that would definitely lead to good class discussions.
I found only a couple of negative items worth mentioning. One is that there was a little bit of strong language used, but not enough to be bothersome. It really seemed unnecessary and could have been avoided. The other negative was that some of the topics might be morally challenging, for instance, those who find suicide to be too sensitive a subject.
I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. Final Notice was well written and very likely professionally edited. I believe that anyone that enjoys reading thrillers involving controversial issues that will get you thinking will love this book. This book would be appropriate for anyone 15 years and older. It is a fun read alone but would be even more fun to read together in a book club.
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Final Notice
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