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A review by alexandrabree
From Hell by Greig Beck
2.0
So I skipped book #7 in the series because I just couldn't get into it, BUT I devoured books #1-6.
I have also read a few other Beck books, and he can create great plot, atmosphere, strong characters, good character arcs, decent romance, excellent sci-fi... Just not in this book...
It's like Beck changed editors?!?!?
I cared less about what was going on in the book and more about finishing just to tally up how bad this book was...
Starting with the cover, honestly, publisher..it terrible, cheap C-movie cover that doesn't match the previous Really good art covers at all
As for the text... Sorry dog, but Tor was that much fantasy too far right away. I put the book down for a bit because of a psychic dog. Make Tor an amazing police dog, make him extra smart, make him extra fast, extra strong, let Josh piggy back in his eyes, but no psychic link, no special powers, direwolf reference was eyerollingly cringey. A dog speaking English outside of a kids' movie is unappealing.
Totally fine that Josh is on the path to rivaling his dad in the super fast, super strong, heal like lightning departments, fine, he's had the DNA from day 1 where Alex only got it in his thirties. For sure give Josh some 6th sense powers, make him very Firestarter or Carrie (King), but there should be a cost for exerting such "forces" headaches, nosebleeds, seizures, losing his super-physical forces. He was vulnerable, unaware, and unconscious, while "sharing space" with Tor was reasonable. It means it's risky to use his powers.
But the psychic strength stuff, the developing extra senses is gimmicky and sloppy writing. The over developement of both Josh and Alex is Mary Sue'ing Alex into a superhero instead of just a super human (whose flaws as a human who could be hurt and killed and infected made him a well-rounded tension building character). Another reviewer wrote that it's now a "parody of the original Alex Hunter," and that is spot on!!
Also the other/the dark being is getting OLD, if I get to edit, we have the dark half stick around books 3-6, where reunited with Amy and Josh, and with all the high science, full support, money, not a problem "the other" integrates and we can just mention him in passing or maybe not at all.
The monster(s) were not as semi-stretched-fact-based as some of Becks other work, but was very Color Out of Space, The Thing (barn scene), Oatmeal Studios Zygott inspired. There are at least a couple of other inspirations I could name, but I'm drawing a blank. I didn't love it, make it a mold, make it a yeast, make is a fungus (cortyceps diseas/last of us/the girl eith many gifts style) and all the surrounding details... YESH, no skin bags, no hostages as such, no "big main boss" the playdough monsters really were medicore but fine. Everything else was a mess(I'll get to that in a second here).
Honestly, it felt like a rough draft, lots thrown in, but nothing organized sorted out.
SO I AM EDITTING THIS! WHAT DO I DO??
Toss out Maria's character, she's annoying and stupid, and she is allowed to do so many stupid things. AND that Kearns is not stuck in the situation, but being brought along is also dumb. You can easily skip Marias whole bit and have the Italian Governerment and Gladiators bring in Hammerson who brings in Kearns. Because an entire town and then an entire special forces group vanish. Have Matt fall in love or lust with a sweet, nice italian girl, who maybe turns out to be part of the HUMAN cult who believes in sacrificing people to Gaia via volcanoes still plot twists but believable. So he is drawn in parallel to the soldiers, BUT the soldiers are not bringing him along as a liability and responsibility when they KNOW he's going to take up resources and put them all at risk. Beck previously did such a good job of writing from that space, of hard men make hard choices, that sacrifice is expected of these people and the military machine is all brain and no heart. Hammerson was going to let Frank's, Ried, Hunter be nuked (Green Hell) if they couldn't get themselves out of the contamination area.
As mentioned, the weird cultists in my version are human, so they get no protection from the bacteria, they cannot wander into volcanoes or withstand crazy heat levels. It's the cult of Dagon, practiced in secret, and they regularly they sacrifice themselves to magma/volcanoes/immolation/and / or the bacteria. Then, to appease Gaia, they sacrifice others during a natural disaster as the natural disaster is, in fact, cause by too few scarifices. Maybe we toss in something really terrible like the best people to sacrifice are babies, baby humans and animals, or pregnant mothers (human and animal). The cultists and the bacteria are totally separate. Throw the weird she devil, goddess blah blah in the trash because it's nonsense.
We have the bacteria that cause amalgamation fine. It can be an extremophile, but we do not have the soldiers going INTO a volcano or any survivors IN a volcano at 200-400 degrees. The problem is that the bacteria is getting out, toss in that it's the biggest biological weapon imaginable if someone can capture it. Chimera babble goes in the trash bin. It's like Beck had this idea and just fished around that found something demi mythic that kinda sorta really doesn't fit to jam in there. Square peg in a round hole.
Here's the key, we also have no Amy, no Josh, no Tor, and maybe even no Alex Hunter in this Alex Hunter book. Alex Hunter is busy being a family man (because, as mentioned, the dark half is gone) he is raising the beyond human Josh who being a typical kid whose not typical smashes tables when frustrated and rips doors of hinges when angry, a kid who wants to run a footrace with friends but can run faster than a car (THINK Incredibles Dash or Smallville Superman). So Alex goes in for tests with the scientists in Hammersons lab but will not go on a mission.
Enter mech-man Sam Ried as team leader. We don't have Alex Hunter being impulsive, making poor choices, and not behaving like Captain A. HUNTER. We have Casey Frank's and Sam Ried butting heads because Sam was "off mission" for so long, we have the story of our new HAWKS and maybe some throwbacks to some of the lost HAWKS, the Japanese solider lost in Beneth the Dark Ice is the uncle of the current small samurai lady.
Maybe a twist that the HAWKs are trying to retire Frank's, she's not a mech human, or Hunter, she's been hurt, she's aging out, they want her in training new troops, just trying to pull her out of active duty and that's making her be extra crazy to prove she still has it (but is actually proving she should be retired), make there be a rival young man or woman with her kind of attitude competing for her spot!
Toss the android in to replace Hunter, but have it go Ripley Alien. Being willing to sacrifice humans in order to get the bacteria to HQ, ir be willing to sacrifice any number of Italian people,places, and things to stop the bug.
Have the soldiers hate the android, particularly Frank's, after all the android is a supersolider that may even rival Hunter. Throw in some Skynet or Matrix evil machine vibes.
MAYBE after losing Frank's or after Frank's is infected by the bacteria (not some random that I didn't even track was in the book until he was infected) Alex Hunter swoops in at the last minute to help after Hammerson who was just keeping him in the loop on this difficult but routine mission (because HAWKs are ready for anything) realizes his team is at risk. Alex is callously more invested in saving Sam and Casey and maybe Grey over anyone else because they are his friends. That is breaking protocols, and then because of those human choices, there is conflict with the android who is programming only.
And/ or
Make our single surviving Gladiator a madman after watching an entire little Italian town vanish, presumed dead and losing all his battalion of soldiers. He's determined to nuke that corner of Italy and destroy the bacteria's"home. "... but that nuke will possibly set off a bunch of volcanic eruptions and spread the bacteria all over. The man is too unhinged to care... lots of ways to keep with the style of Becks other books but also change things up
Again, like a publisher said, "we need another Alex Hunter NOW," and this was just slapped together and sent out.
There were so many good options, and they chose THAT MESS!! Driving me crazy. Anyways.. do not recommend this one (sadly, it's a waste of reading time).
I have also read a few other Beck books, and he can create great plot, atmosphere, strong characters, good character arcs, decent romance, excellent sci-fi... Just not in this book...
It's like Beck changed editors?!?!?
I cared less about what was going on in the book and more about finishing just to tally up how bad this book was...
Starting with the cover, honestly, publisher..it terrible, cheap C-movie cover that doesn't match the previous Really good art covers at all
As for the text... Sorry dog, but Tor was that much fantasy too far right away. I put the book down for a bit because of a psychic dog. Make Tor an amazing police dog, make him extra smart, make him extra fast, extra strong, let Josh piggy back in his eyes, but no psychic link, no special powers, direwolf reference was eyerollingly cringey. A dog speaking English outside of a kids' movie is unappealing.
Totally fine that Josh is on the path to rivaling his dad in the super fast, super strong, heal like lightning departments, fine, he's had the DNA from day 1 where Alex only got it in his thirties. For sure give Josh some 6th sense powers, make him very Firestarter or Carrie (King), but there should be a cost for exerting such "forces" headaches, nosebleeds, seizures, losing his super-physical forces. He was vulnerable, unaware, and unconscious, while "sharing space" with Tor was reasonable. It means it's risky to use his powers.
But the psychic strength stuff, the developing extra senses is gimmicky and sloppy writing. The over developement of both Josh and Alex is Mary Sue'ing Alex into a superhero instead of just a super human (whose flaws as a human who could be hurt and killed and infected made him a well-rounded tension building character). Another reviewer wrote that it's now a "parody of the original Alex Hunter," and that is spot on!!
Also the other/the dark being is getting OLD, if I get to edit, we have the dark half stick around books 3-6, where reunited with Amy and Josh, and with all the high science, full support, money, not a problem "the other" integrates and we can just mention him in passing or maybe not at all.
The monster(s) were not as semi-stretched-fact-based as some of Becks other work, but was very Color Out of Space, The Thing (barn scene), Oatmeal Studios Zygott inspired. There are at least a couple of other inspirations I could name, but I'm drawing a blank. I didn't love it, make it a mold, make it a yeast, make is a fungus (cortyceps diseas/last of us/the girl eith many gifts style) and all the surrounding details... YESH, no skin bags, no hostages as such, no "big main boss" the playdough monsters really were medicore but fine. Everything else was a mess(I'll get to that in a second here).
Honestly, it felt like a rough draft, lots thrown in, but nothing organized sorted out.
SO I AM EDITTING THIS! WHAT DO I DO??
Toss out Maria's character, she's annoying and stupid, and she is allowed to do so many stupid things. AND that Kearns is not stuck in the situation, but being brought along is also dumb. You can easily skip Marias whole bit and have the Italian Governerment and Gladiators bring in Hammerson who brings in Kearns. Because an entire town and then an entire special forces group vanish. Have Matt fall in love or lust with a sweet, nice italian girl, who maybe turns out to be part of the HUMAN cult who believes in sacrificing people to Gaia via volcanoes still plot twists but believable. So he is drawn in parallel to the soldiers, BUT the soldiers are not bringing him along as a liability and responsibility when they KNOW he's going to take up resources and put them all at risk. Beck previously did such a good job of writing from that space, of hard men make hard choices, that sacrifice is expected of these people and the military machine is all brain and no heart. Hammerson was going to let Frank's, Ried, Hunter be nuked (Green Hell) if they couldn't get themselves out of the contamination area.
As mentioned, the weird cultists in my version are human, so they get no protection from the bacteria, they cannot wander into volcanoes or withstand crazy heat levels. It's the cult of Dagon, practiced in secret, and they regularly they sacrifice themselves to magma/volcanoes/immolation/and / or the bacteria. Then, to appease Gaia, they sacrifice others during a natural disaster as the natural disaster is, in fact, cause by too few scarifices. Maybe we toss in something really terrible like the best people to sacrifice are babies, baby humans and animals, or pregnant mothers (human and animal). The cultists and the bacteria are totally separate. Throw the weird she devil, goddess blah blah in the trash because it's nonsense.
We have the bacteria that cause amalgamation fine. It can be an extremophile, but we do not have the soldiers going INTO a volcano or any survivors IN a volcano at 200-400 degrees. The problem is that the bacteria is getting out, toss in that it's the biggest biological weapon imaginable if someone can capture it. Chimera babble goes in the trash bin. It's like Beck had this idea and just fished around that found something demi mythic that kinda sorta really doesn't fit to jam in there. Square peg in a round hole.
Here's the key, we also have no Amy, no Josh, no Tor, and maybe even no Alex Hunter in this Alex Hunter book. Alex Hunter is busy being a family man (because, as mentioned, the dark half is gone) he is raising the beyond human Josh who being a typical kid whose not typical smashes tables when frustrated and rips doors of hinges when angry, a kid who wants to run a footrace with friends but can run faster than a car (THINK Incredibles Dash or Smallville Superman). So Alex goes in for tests with the scientists in Hammersons lab but will not go on a mission.
Enter mech-man Sam Ried as team leader. We don't have Alex Hunter being impulsive, making poor choices, and not behaving like Captain A. HUNTER. We have Casey Frank's and Sam Ried butting heads because Sam was "off mission" for so long, we have the story of our new HAWKS and maybe some throwbacks to some of the lost HAWKS, the Japanese solider lost in Beneth the Dark Ice is the uncle of the current small samurai lady.
Maybe a twist that the HAWKs are trying to retire Frank's, she's not a mech human, or Hunter, she's been hurt, she's aging out, they want her in training new troops, just trying to pull her out of active duty and that's making her be extra crazy to prove she still has it (but is actually proving she should be retired), make there be a rival young man or woman with her kind of attitude competing for her spot!
Toss the android in to replace Hunter, but have it go Ripley Alien. Being willing to sacrifice humans in order to get the bacteria to HQ, ir be willing to sacrifice any number of Italian people,places, and things to stop the bug.
Have the soldiers hate the android, particularly Frank's, after all the android is a supersolider that may even rival Hunter. Throw in some Skynet or Matrix evil machine vibes.
MAYBE after losing Frank's or after Frank's is infected by the bacteria (not some random that I didn't even track was in the book until he was infected) Alex Hunter swoops in at the last minute to help after Hammerson who was just keeping him in the loop on this difficult but routine mission (because HAWKs are ready for anything) realizes his team is at risk. Alex is callously more invested in saving Sam and Casey and maybe Grey over anyone else because they are his friends. That is breaking protocols, and then because of those human choices, there is conflict with the android who is programming only.
And/ or
Make our single surviving Gladiator a madman after watching an entire little Italian town vanish, presumed dead and losing all his battalion of soldiers. He's determined to nuke that corner of Italy and destroy the bacteria's"home. "... but that nuke will possibly set off a bunch of volcanic eruptions and spread the bacteria all over. The man is too unhinged to care... lots of ways to keep with the style of Becks other books but also change things up
Again, like a publisher said, "we need another Alex Hunter NOW," and this was just slapped together and sent out.
There were so many good options, and they chose THAT MESS!! Driving me crazy. Anyways.. do not recommend this one (sadly, it's a waste of reading time).