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mikesmutz's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
tlnash's review against another edition
2.0
I don't know what to say about this book because literally nothing happened. The concept of finding someone who looks exactly like you and taking over their life is so interesting- I enjoyed Orphan Black and I thought that it would be a lot like that. However, I was wrong.
The big plot twist at the end is that SURPRISE two boys, around the same age, fathered by the same man, look the same! OMG! HOW? Biology bitch.
The big plot twist at the end is that SURPRISE two boys, around the same age, fathered by the same man, look the same! OMG! HOW? Biology bitch.
whatvictoriaread's review against another edition
2.0
Returning from a stint in the army with PTSD and information on a shocking government conspiracy, Danny is struggling to cope when he spots a man who looks just like him. Exactly like him, in fact...
This had a really great set up and a good pace that had me flying through it in a couple of a days.
It’s got some interesting twists and it’s a dark look at business, politics and the way that the two worlds intertwine.
Unfortunately, the writing style was too distanced for me and I struggled to connect or care about what was happening to Danny.
This was an okay read for me but it didn’t light my world on fire.
This had a really great set up and a good pace that had me flying through it in a couple of a days.
It’s got some interesting twists and it’s a dark look at business, politics and the way that the two worlds intertwine.
Unfortunately, the writing style was too distanced for me and I struggled to connect or care about what was happening to Danny.
This was an okay read for me but it didn’t light my world on fire.
ellabella85's review against another edition
4.0
This is not the sort of book I would read. I must admit that I found this book really difficult to get into. The main character just wasn’t likeable. He annoyed me. But then after the first 50 pages or so all that changed and I was hooked. It made me wonder what I would do given I found my doppelgänger. I don’t think I would have gone to the extremes that Danny (MC) went too though!! The twists and turns throughout kept me guessing, I never knew which way the story would go. Alan Glynn is definitely and author I am going to look for in the future.
ohsoreads's review against another edition
2.0
“To look at me you wouldn’t think anything was wrong. To look at me you’d think I was normal. Which I am. But isn’t that the point? People have interior lives — I do, you do, everyone walking around me here on the street does — but the sad truth is we’re all riddled with fear and anxiety.”
We have all heard of doppelgängers but what does one do when coming face to face with the other? Danny Lynch and Teddy Trager lead very different lives, one’s a veteran suffering from PTSD and in debt as his last cheque was rejected/denied and the other is privileged with a beauty on one arm and riches in his other. Unfortunately Teddy Trager was struck in a hit and run and it rushes across Danny’s mind that perhaps, “all those that were his can now be mine too?”. Who could have wanted to bring harm to Teddy and now fate lies an open door in Danny’s hands, what is his next move?
Here’s the start of my review for Paradime, it’s simply messed up. That’s my first thought. Sadly there are quite a few areas that I was frustrated with; how can Kate and Danny still pretend to love one another when they have clearly drifted away – too far away? How can Nina be just FINE bearing the child of a stranger lookalike? The story is just all about doppelgängers at some point - the climax, the ending. Thats it?
We have all heard of doppelgängers but what does one do when coming face to face with the other? Danny Lynch and Teddy Trager lead very different lives, one’s a veteran suffering from PTSD and in debt as his last cheque was rejected/denied and the other is privileged with a beauty on one arm and riches in his other. Unfortunately Teddy Trager was struck in a hit and run and it rushes across Danny’s mind that perhaps, “all those that were his can now be mine too?”. Who could have wanted to bring harm to Teddy and now fate lies an open door in Danny’s hands, what is his next move?
Here’s the start of my review for Paradime, it’s simply messed up. That’s my first thought. Sadly there are quite a few areas that I was frustrated with; how can Kate and Danny still pretend to love one another when they have clearly drifted away – too far away? How can Nina be just FINE bearing the child of a stranger lookalike? The story is just all about doppelgängers at some point - the climax, the ending. Thats it?
yowlyy's review against another edition
4.0
Alan Glynn can write about nightmares as no one does. It is not his best book, as I preferred his trilogy (Winterland, Bloodland, and Graveland) but this is still an outstanding novel.
adhikariamit's review
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
WOW ! What a story ? I just completed this book almost in one sitting . Can't live it without completing once you start.
felicity's review
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
tonstantweader's review
3.0
Danny Lynch is a former soldier and a line cook. He’s worked at a fine restaurant in New York before taking a job managing food service for a civilian contractor in Afghanistan, a job he took because it would pay well enough to help set him and his girlfriend, Kate, on a better financial footing. He’s back from Afghanistan and looking for work as Alan Glynn’s Paradime opens.
Paradime is a conspiracy thriller, though at first you wonder if the conspiracy is all in Danny’s head. He witnessed the murder of two TCN (third country national) workers by some of the company guards. Gideon, the company, has covered it up completely, as though it has not happened. They send him back home, threaten him with withholding his pay and even with prosecution, but then one of their executives intervenes, trying a carrot instead of a stick, finding him a good job at a upscale restaurant. Things are looking up financially but on a a downturn emotionally. Danny can’t help feeling guilty about taking the job. He’s also fighting with Kate who wants him to fight Gideon and expose them.
Then one day he looks up at work and sees himself. His doppelgänger, someone so strikingly like him that he becomes obsessed with learning more and more about him, even getting his hair cut and buying a good suit in order to look even more like him. He lurks around Paradime, his doppelgänger’s company. Imagine, he looks like a famous tech billionaire.
Of course, the two meet and that when the suspense kicks into high gear. That is also when we discover there is at least one conspirator. It keeps getting more complex and there are undercurrents and hidden agendas that keep revealing themselves as the story races forward.
I am conflicted about Paradime. I was engrossed. I was puzzled at how pieces of the story would fit together, why was so much attention spent on Gideon and the incident in Afghanistan then dropped as the whole doppelgänger story moved to center stage, but the loose ends are picked up and tied together as we move deeper into the story. But, in the end, I also thought it was much ado, and wondered why there was so much plotting, so much effort, so much cost (as Danny put it) for so little purpose.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2016/09/01/paradime-by-alan-glynn/
Paradime is a conspiracy thriller, though at first you wonder if the conspiracy is all in Danny’s head. He witnessed the murder of two TCN (third country national) workers by some of the company guards. Gideon, the company, has covered it up completely, as though it has not happened. They send him back home, threaten him with withholding his pay and even with prosecution, but then one of their executives intervenes, trying a carrot instead of a stick, finding him a good job at a upscale restaurant. Things are looking up financially but on a a downturn emotionally. Danny can’t help feeling guilty about taking the job. He’s also fighting with Kate who wants him to fight Gideon and expose them.
Then one day he looks up at work and sees himself. His doppelgänger, someone so strikingly like him that he becomes obsessed with learning more and more about him, even getting his hair cut and buying a good suit in order to look even more like him. He lurks around Paradime, his doppelgänger’s company. Imagine, he looks like a famous tech billionaire.
Of course, the two meet and that when the suspense kicks into high gear. That is also when we discover there is at least one conspirator. It keeps getting more complex and there are undercurrents and hidden agendas that keep revealing themselves as the story races forward.
I am conflicted about Paradime. I was engrossed. I was puzzled at how pieces of the story would fit together, why was so much attention spent on Gideon and the incident in Afghanistan then dropped as the whole doppelgänger story moved to center stage, but the loose ends are picked up and tied together as we move deeper into the story. But, in the end, I also thought it was much ado, and wondered why there was so much plotting, so much effort, so much cost (as Danny put it) for so little purpose.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2016/09/01/paradime-by-alan-glynn/
mandyla's review
4.0
I actually was not terribly convinced on this book based on the blurb alone. But I'm really glad I gave this a go!
This is a really well realised sorry with twists that I honestly didn't predict. I knew there was something strange coming up, and I knew the basic parties involved in said twists, but I was honestly very surprised, right up to the end.
I listened to the audio version of this book, and it was well performed. The dialogue was believable, characters were well written, and there wasn't a point that I was bored at all.
I think I'm giving this a 4.5 ... it didn't contain anything that made me jump up and down, which is the only reason I didn't make this a 5. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who likes a bit of a twist, a bit of suspense, and likes to think conspirationally.
This is a really well realised sorry with twists that I honestly didn't predict. I knew there was something strange coming up, and I knew the basic parties involved in said twists, but I was honestly very surprised, right up to the end.
I listened to the audio version of this book, and it was well performed. The dialogue was believable, characters were well written, and there wasn't a point that I was bored at all.
I think I'm giving this a 4.5 ... it didn't contain anything that made me jump up and down, which is the only reason I didn't make this a 5. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who likes a bit of a twist, a bit of suspense, and likes to think conspirationally.
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