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beastreader's review against another edition
1.0
Robbie Case is a multi-billionaire CEO, owner of the company Core Communications. He pretty much grew this company up from the ground. He went from thirty employees working for Core Communications to the company now employing around five thousand employees.
Core Communications specializes in information technology in the high-tech computer world. Their biggest seller is the Core Blue Boxes. These boxes help reduce the wait time to transfer date from one mainframe computer to another. The boxes are a must have for any business. The thing is that Core Communications is all a gimmick. The core blue boxes don’t really work. Everything Robbie has built is a lie. Now he will try and save a company that doesn’t really exist.
I thought Shimmer sounded really good. While I appreciate Mr. Barnes putting all his efforts into this debut novel; unfortunately I felt the story and the characters feel flat for me. Robbie seemed one dimensional without a lot of range. To be honest I even put this book down several times. Every time I picked it up again, I could only read a few pages at a time. Though, I could tell as I was reading this book that it had potential but it moved too slowly to me.
Core Communications specializes in information technology in the high-tech computer world. Their biggest seller is the Core Blue Boxes. These boxes help reduce the wait time to transfer date from one mainframe computer to another. The boxes are a must have for any business. The thing is that Core Communications is all a gimmick. The core blue boxes don’t really work. Everything Robbie has built is a lie. Now he will try and save a company that doesn’t really exist.
I thought Shimmer sounded really good. While I appreciate Mr. Barnes putting all his efforts into this debut novel; unfortunately I felt the story and the characters feel flat for me. Robbie seemed one dimensional without a lot of range. To be honest I even put this book down several times. Every time I picked it up again, I could only read a few pages at a time. Though, I could tell as I was reading this book that it had potential but it moved too slowly to me.
drey72's review against another edition
3.0
Shimmer tells the story of Robbie Case, and his company, Core Communications. Built on a flawed technology, he nonetheless has managed to build Core into a multi-billion-dollar company in just three years. But the amount of hands-on manipulation that's required to keep Core going is starting to wear Robbie out. And if that isn't enough to stress about, Robbie also worries about what'll happen to his friends--the ones who were there in the beginning, the ones who're doing their darnedest to keep building Core, so that when grace gets here, they're all filthy rich.
Except that they won't. Because Core's success is a fraud. One that Robbie perpetuates because he doesn't know what else to do. And because he's actually a good guy, he's built a whole framework behind the scenes to keep things afloat. As long as money's rolling in, and his own Internal Audit team doesn't figure it out, Core can keep going.
Shimmer is a kinda-sorta technology read. Being a geek--yes, I was a mainframe programmer in a kinda-sorta previous life--I chuckled at the references, and commisserated with Core's programmers. (geeks unite!) However, you do not require anointing into geekdom to enjoy the story, and I did. There was enough of a plot going (Is he going to make it? Is he not?), and the characters were interesting, if sometimes a little stereotypical, and I liked the ending.
Except that they won't. Because Core's success is a fraud. One that Robbie perpetuates because he doesn't know what else to do. And because he's actually a good guy, he's built a whole framework behind the scenes to keep things afloat. As long as money's rolling in, and his own Internal Audit team doesn't figure it out, Core can keep going.
Shimmer is a kinda-sorta technology read. Being a geek--yes, I was a mainframe programmer in a kinda-sorta previous life--I chuckled at the references, and commisserated with Core's programmers. (geeks unite!) However, you do not require anointing into geekdom to enjoy the story, and I did. There was enough of a plot going (Is he going to make it? Is he not?), and the characters were interesting, if sometimes a little stereotypical, and I liked the ending.
sticksnstout's review against another edition
4.0
Great technology thriller; fast-paced with interesting characters.
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