Saturday, April 2, 2011

Toys by James Patterson and Neil McMahon

James Patterson is one of today's most prolific crimes writers, and he has some of the best known crime series including the Alex Cross novels, and the novels featuring Detective Michael Bennett.

Toys is an interesting read, although it is quite a departure from the normal Patterson fare with a very strong science fiction bent.  Told in short, punchy chapters (the trademark of the Patterson novel) Toys takes you into the future, a world where Elites have taken control of the planet.  Elites are bioengineered people created in a lab rather than being born, who spend two years "gestating" so they can be enhanced with implants that make them faster, stronger, and more intelligent than the humans who created them.  Their world is marked with wealth and prilege, and the wide variety of high tech toys that fill their world - exotci animals that are genetically tamed, android dolls that act and talk like humans, and simulators so real it is a shock to the system to leave them behind.

Hays Baker is one of the Elite, a member of the organisation that keeps an eye on the humans and puts them in their place when they step out of line.  He and his wife Lizbeth are amongst the favoured few who help keep the stinking tide of Skunks at bay, he has killed humans in the past and sees nothing wrong with killing more if it keeps the Elites safe.  But one day the bubble of his perfect world bursts and Hays finds out that nothing is as it seems - his life, his wife, his past, himself.  He is on the run, with nowhere to run to, and nowhere to hide. 

This was an enjoyable read, but it may not appeal to all Patterson fans because it is set in the future with all sorts of gizmos and gadgets - rather than set in the world that we all know.  It was still an enjoyable read packed with the trademark action, adventure, twists and turns that make Patterson novels so great.

If you like this book then try:
  • The postcard killers by James Patterson and Liza Marklund
  • The surgeon by Tess Gerritsen
  • Maximum ride: the angel experiment by James Patterson

Reviewed by Brilla

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