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steveinadelaide's review
5.0
What a great read! A real page-turner of political intrigue, conspiracy, drawing on current global tensions with a story that is easy to believe. Superbly paced with short chapters that left me wanting to keep on reading. Drew Chapman has come up with a fascinatingly original plot and an ending that is just right. A remarkable achievement for a debut novel. Hard to imagine how something this good could be repeated, but let's hope that this is the first in a long writing career!
ariereads's review
3.0
This is a thriller about stocks and shares. Not my usual cup of tea, if I'm honest - but one I'm glad I tried.
Though The Patter of Fear is a debut novel, it doesn’t read as one: Chapman handles his characters and storyline with ease. Once a few awkward character introductions are out of the way the story takes off, and it’s no-holds-barred the entire time. Reilly is a compelling antihero, and most of the cast of characters that surround him are equally engaging. The plot itself is nail-bitingly tense, with a semi-fictional present setting allowing for interesting questions to be considered. How far would a government go to stop its own people rebelling? What happens when the line between “good” and “evil” is blurred? How could our reliance on technology be used to start – and win – a bloodless war?
I will admit to knowing absolutely nothing about stocks and shares and Wall Street, almost nothing about computers and hacking, and very little again about China or even America. None of this hindered my enjoyment in the slightest. More importantly, nothing rang false for me in terms of the written manipulations and interactions of all these elements. I really enjoyed reading this - far more than I expected to, in fact.
Full review here
*Received direct from the publisher through NZ Booklovers.
Though The Patter of Fear is a debut novel, it doesn’t read as one: Chapman handles his characters and storyline with ease. Once a few awkward character introductions are out of the way the story takes off, and it’s no-holds-barred the entire time. Reilly is a compelling antihero, and most of the cast of characters that surround him are equally engaging. The plot itself is nail-bitingly tense, with a semi-fictional present setting allowing for interesting questions to be considered. How far would a government go to stop its own people rebelling? What happens when the line between “good” and “evil” is blurred? How could our reliance on technology be used to start – and win – a bloodless war?
I will admit to knowing absolutely nothing about stocks and shares and Wall Street, almost nothing about computers and hacking, and very little again about China or even America. None of this hindered my enjoyment in the slightest. More importantly, nothing rang false for me in terms of the written manipulations and interactions of all these elements. I really enjoyed reading this - far more than I expected to, in fact.
Full review here
*Received direct from the publisher through NZ Booklovers.
marrije's review
3.0
Meh. Interesting plot things on hacking and the interconnectedness of international stock markets and the power of rumor, but ultimately pretty meh. Would probably have been really good if William Gibson had written it.
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