W. T. Quick
Autor/a de Systems
Sobre l'autor
Crèdit de la imatge: W. T. Quick
Sèrie
Obres de W. T. Quick
Whatever Gets You Through the Night {novelette} 1 exemplars
Bank Robbery {short story} 1 exemplars
Planeta opic : na motivy scénáře stejnojmenného filmu autorů Williama Broylese ml. a Lawrence Konnera & Marka D.… (2001) 1 exemplars
Hollow man : je denkt dat je alleen bent... : een roman van William T. Quick ; gebaseerd op het verhaal van Gary Scott… (2000) 1 exemplars
Finnegan's 1 exemplars
Still the Same Old Story 1 exemplars
Obres associades
Etiquetat
Coneixement comú
- Nom normalitzat
- Quick, William Thomas (Bill)
- Nom oficial
- Quick, William Thomas
- Altres noms
- Allan, Margaret
- Data de naixement
- 1946
- Gènere
- male
- Nacionalitat
- Amerika
- Lloc de naixement
- Indiana, Amerika
- Llocs de residència
- San Francisco, Californië, Amerika
Denver, Colorado, Amerika - Organitzacions
- Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
- Agent
- Caitlin Blasdell (Liza Dawson Associates ∙ New York ∙ NY)
Membres
Ressenyes
Llistes
Best Cyberpunk (2)
Potser també t'agrada
Autors associats
Estadístiques
- Obres
- 24
- També de
- 2
- Membres
- 707
- Popularitat
- #35,840
- Valoració
- 3.3
- Ressenyes
- 3
- ISBN
- 38
- Llengües
- 4
- Preferit
- 1
This is one of those sf stories that, if a few words were substituted judiciously, would be a contemporary or historical story (here a detective story). The only real sf element -- the final battle between two computer/human interfaces -- seems rather tacked on and not that germane to the story. The story details marking this as a future tale -- the base on the moon, the Consort company with its high-tech transport (it could just as easily been some other corporation), the exotic weapons -- are not that important. It was obvious, after a time, that hero Joshua Tower's friend, Lincoln Foster, was a traitor. In these stories, the traitor is always one of the cast of characters. If a character drops out of sight while you get glimpses of an anonymous menace, you know who the menace is.
This story commits the common sin of insisting our hero get romantically involved. The ending is a big vague as to how the arrangement is reached between the warring groups. Quick doesn't give us much in the way of detail as to how datahunting works. Apart from invoking the word a lot in the last chapters of the novel, Quick didn't really carry the theme of "Systems" through the novel to produce an integrated story of the covert and overt systems of civilization. I also thought Colonel Tagg's inducing of total psychosis, to the point of serial murder, in Henry Allan Higgins, DIA agent, was silly.
All this said, I liked the novel. It was a quick, suspenseful story with gritty action and ruthlessness. I thought the emotional resonance of Tower realizing Foster's treachery, a man who is a surrogate father to him, in the very room that holds memory of his real father's brutality. The relationship between the two men was one of the best things about the novel. Foster illogically vacillates between killing Tower and saving him, but it is a realistic behavior as is his lame, but sincere and rather poignant, explanation of his betrayal to Tower. I liked that Tower did not kill him but forgave him recognizing his old, selfish, brutal self (The DIA agents all come off bad to one degree or another.) Foster forever denied a peaceful retirement (the whole reason for betraying Tower) is poignant as was their parting and humanly realistic. Though I complain of even the inclusion of the Tower/Kelly relationship, I must admit it was well handled. Kelly's emotional shock and confusion in her life on the run, was realistic and the emotional details of their relationship wasn't glib. The bit with the child gangsters and computer wizards was a bit disturbing and neededt more space. Quick's narrative was interesting in its intercutting between past and present, but it was also a bit heavy on foreshadowing.… (més)