Fault/lines (Hadron Damnation Book 0) by Mark Lingane
| Fault/lines (Hadron Damnation Book 0) by Mark Lingane | |
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| Category: Fantasy | |
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Reviewer: Ani Johnson
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| Summary: It may begin as a cop buddy story but don't be fooled. Exciting Linganean sci-fi soon comes to the fore as disasters of an apocalyptic nature hit a terrorist-fearing UK and, indeed, world. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 405 | Date: April 2016 |
| Publisher: Insync Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1530619368 | |
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What starts off as a day that should be remembered for a medical appointment soon becomes anything but for DCI Tracey Hanson. When planes start falling from the sky she and DI Reggie Chambers are thrown together in the thick of it. In the midst of the carnage, a teenager is orphaned. Definitely a tragic event but is there more to it than that?
After a short hiatus from adult fiction while he created his award-winning Tesla series, Aussie author Mark Lingane is back... Boy, is he back!
In this the first Hadron Damnation book (nattily marketed as Hadron Damnation 0, the prequel) he demonstrates how sci-fi is often about reflecting the fears of the present and projecting them onto a larger, borderless canvass. In this case, the tragically tourist-darkened 21st century is taken a step further as aircraft randomly fall globally and equally random (or seemingly so) top brass die in peculiar circumstances.
Our heroes are definitely Hanson and Chambers. They have the magnetism, they have the banter but whether they'll get it on or not becomes less and less important (even to them) as world events take over. Indeed the fear factor that was modified slightly for the younger Tesla audience is here and upgraded in all its gory (very gory).
There are some heart-stopping moments and unforgettable set pieces as the scenes shift in time with our tachycardic pulses and gradually the significance of what's going on is revealed. (Talking about revelation, a plea to all book-blurb writers (normally not the authors themselves): please don’t give so much away in the blurb. There'd be some stonking shocks if only etc… As it is there are still some whopping surprises but there are also the opportunities for more.)
Again, as in Tesla, there's a physics base to the sci-fi that's explained by science geek Randeep in an understandable, ungeeky way. (I understood and I only managed Grade 3 CSE physics.) He's also the sort of science geek we can all empathise with: the sort who'd never go full pelt into danger. However, if a scientific carrot is dangled before him, he's off and running.
Mark now has the knack of including his trademark cultural references and own-book-mentions in a very subtle way. In fact, the book plug is so delicately placed, it's one for the fans to notice. He also shows how inclusive he is regarding his global audiences and terminology. For instance, it may take a while for Brits to suss that when the sedan flies across the landscape of London, it's an American car and not a litter carried by four servants.
As with a lot of sci-fi there comes a stage in the novel where we're invited to suspend disbelief and go with the action. For those of us who do it's definitely rewarding with some of the rewards being deferred. E.g. what part has teenager Cally got in all this? Our tenterhooks haven't long before they can be loosened - Blink, the second in the series, is due for release May 2016. Oh and Mark? Yes, it was most definitely a shame about the child!
(Grateful thanks to the author for providing us with a copy for review.)
Further Reading: If you enjoy sci-fi with sci included, then ignore the teen label as we recommend Mark's Tesla series starting with Tesla 1 oddly enough. We also have a review of BL!NK (Hadron Damnation Book 1) by Mark Lingane.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Fault/lines (Hadron Damnation Book 0) by Mark Lingane at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Fault/lines (Hadron Damnation Book 0) by Mark Lingane at Amazon.com.
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