Thursday 12 June 2014

The Nothing by Kenneth Horowitz.

America is plunged into chaos when suddenly all wireless connections are broken. All mobile phones, radio, television and wi-fi internet connections are down. America has to adapt to The Nothing.

This book raises the issues of how life has changed as we become more addicted to our mobile devices. People spend so much of their time playing with mobile phones and tablets. Rather than spending time together, brief soundbites are shared on Facebook and Twitter.

How will America cope and will a hero step forward to restore wireless connections? This is the problem with this book. Kenneth's characterizations are very good and the reader spends a lot of time with the background of each character. But then the chapter you are reading finishes and another character is richly introduced. The story moves on in such a way that you think those characters will never be heard of again, yet nobody comes foward to restore wireless connections. The lack of focus within the storyline makes this novel a frustrating read. Once you think a character is finished, up they pop again but you are still no further forward.

Clearly this book has not been proof-read and the numerous typos are very irritating. So the story continues and I got the impression that Kenneth had lots of ideas, almost in the form of short stories, that he tries to weave into a full length novel. But the links between each character and the plot are minor. The Nothing is an okay read but there are plenty of better dystopian thrillers out there. Therefore I can only vote this book 3 stars as it passes the time but is low on entertainment and reader enjoyment. The final ending did make me laugh though!

The Nothing is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook and was written in 2013.

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