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A review by steenabean
The Clarity by Keith Thomas
3.0
Ooooooh boy. So let me preface this by saying I did in fact finish this book, and I did find the ending very beautiful and poetic. In fact, I kind of wish the potential of these powers introduced in the ending had been brought to the forefront as a possibility sooner.
That much being said, this book has some serious issues.
To begin with, the pacing in this book is a disaster. The author seems desperate to keep the action moving, and accomplishes it very clumsily. The main characters have been in one place a little too long? Send in big bad bald man! He will create a sense of danger by literally shooting everything in his path! Honestly, it struck me as extremely lazy and after about 3 scenes with this character, I was completely bored with the horror and gore action sequences. It was repetitive and to be honest didn't add much to the narrative.
I honestly feel there was too much packed in this short book. The diversity of the characters is one of the book's greatest strengths, but because it tries to tackle so many social complexities at once, the characters come up flat. Fortunately, they don't come across as offensively stereotypical, but there's definitely a missed opportunity to explore how the character's memberships of marginalized groups informs who they are.
The overall purpose of the experimentation is left up in the air for the whole book. What was the research actually meant to accomplish? What was the goal? This was never made clear, and I guess since we're technically seeing the story from the hero's viewpoint, maybe we don't need to know that, but we don't get anything substantial to fill this gap. We don't get to really know what Ash's experience with her new powers is, just that she likes these memories for some very strange and unexplored reason. It felt like the author had a great idea for a concept and skipped developing motive for his characters.
Overall, I've definitely read worse books, but if you're trying to decide on which thrillers to read in 2018, this isn't really a MUST read. Fascinating concept, poor execution. I'm not saying you should avoid reading it entirely, but the verdict is pretty much... meh.
That much being said, this book has some serious issues.
To begin with, the pacing in this book is a disaster. The author seems desperate to keep the action moving, and accomplishes it very clumsily. The main characters have been in one place a little too long? Send in big bad bald man! He will create a sense of danger by literally shooting everything in his path! Honestly, it struck me as extremely lazy and after about 3 scenes with this character, I was completely bored with the horror and gore action sequences. It was repetitive and to be honest didn't add much to the narrative.
I honestly feel there was too much packed in this short book. The diversity of the characters is one of the book's greatest strengths, but because it tries to tackle so many social complexities at once, the characters come up flat. Fortunately, they don't come across as offensively stereotypical, but there's definitely a missed opportunity to explore how the character's memberships of marginalized groups informs who they are.
The overall purpose of the experimentation is left up in the air for the whole book. What was the research actually meant to accomplish? What was the goal? This was never made clear, and I guess since we're technically seeing the story from the hero's viewpoint, maybe we don't need to know that, but we don't get anything substantial to fill this gap. We don't get to really know what Ash's experience with her new powers is, just that she likes these memories for some very strange and unexplored reason. It felt like the author had a great idea for a concept and skipped developing motive for his characters.
Overall, I've definitely read worse books, but if you're trying to decide on which thrillers to read in 2018, this isn't really a MUST read. Fascinating concept, poor execution. I'm not saying you should avoid reading it entirely, but the verdict is pretty much... meh.