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mellhay's review
4.0
The mystery starts right away when Bernal is just coming home from a business trip stopping by to see his boss. He gets the feeling something's not right. You start to see, as well, something is askew. Chasing his boss as she runs away and steals a car to get away. What is going on? Muriel, Bernals boss, leaves hints and messages to help steer him on the right path to help him with the mystery of Hesketh. Hesketh is an artificial intelligence that is on a sample run through the hillsides before it is actually sent into space.
I have to say I understood what was going on at the beginning of the book. Then there were a lot of strange things mentioned in which I got confused on. There was talk of Hesketh, Hess Corp - who worked on Hesketh before Madeline and Muriel took on the project with Muriels money, and Long Voyage - a cryobank for people wanting to wake up in the future. The confusion was not that I didn't completely understand what I was reading but mostly that I didn't believe what I was reading. I couldn't figure out if I was reading and comprehending it properly. (This being part of the mystery stuff.) I started to tally all the information I was getting separately in my head then piecing it together to see where the book was going. I was just a little ahead of the author, as just as I was doing this he then started to do it in the book. At around 150 pages into the book Bernal started to piece the puzzle together as well. Which when I hit this point I was so proud of myself as I was coming right up at the same lines as the main character. Hurray for me to understand and put it together! Then there was new information added nicely from this point to include in solving the mystery.
The best part of the book that kept me going was wondering who was leaving the messages and who was dead or alive, who was the serial killer, and what was going on with Hesketh (if it really worked). In the end I got the answers I was looking for. The mystery element was what kept me going in the book.
The characters unfold nicely as the book goes. There are a few characters you really don't truly meet and follow through but they feel as they are main characters by the way they are talked about, described, and messages passed on. I liked this angle as I really felt I got to know these characters and they really came through. In the end I really enjoyed most of the characters.
There were just a few minor unfavored points: There were a few spots that when things were brought up or thought, it almost felt like it didn't really flow or blend with what was going on. Almost like the information was needed and had to be told somewhere, but there were only a small few of these. Then there was the main character Bernal. I felt like I really didn't get to know him as well as the other characters. I mean I did get to know him but for some reason I didn't feel the connection as much with him as all the other characters. I liked him but that was all. He did do a great job of solving the mystery at hand and sticking to his guns on his ideas.
This has been a wonderful mystery with the science fiction element added in. Many of the characters have parallel characteristics which could point to them as the possible killer behind all of this. But there is one that fits all the pieces very well. Can you figure it out?
I have to say I understood what was going on at the beginning of the book. Then there were a lot of strange things mentioned in which I got confused on. There was talk of Hesketh, Hess Corp - who worked on Hesketh before Madeline and Muriel took on the project with Muriels money, and Long Voyage - a cryobank for people wanting to wake up in the future. The confusion was not that I didn't completely understand what I was reading but mostly that I didn't believe what I was reading. I couldn't figure out if I was reading and comprehending it properly. (This being part of the mystery stuff.) I started to tally all the information I was getting separately in my head then piecing it together to see where the book was going. I was just a little ahead of the author, as just as I was doing this he then started to do it in the book. At around 150 pages into the book Bernal started to piece the puzzle together as well. Which when I hit this point I was so proud of myself as I was coming right up at the same lines as the main character. Hurray for me to understand and put it together! Then there was new information added nicely from this point to include in solving the mystery.
The best part of the book that kept me going was wondering who was leaving the messages and who was dead or alive, who was the serial killer, and what was going on with Hesketh (if it really worked). In the end I got the answers I was looking for. The mystery element was what kept me going in the book.
The characters unfold nicely as the book goes. There are a few characters you really don't truly meet and follow through but they feel as they are main characters by the way they are talked about, described, and messages passed on. I liked this angle as I really felt I got to know these characters and they really came through. In the end I really enjoyed most of the characters.
There were just a few minor unfavored points: There were a few spots that when things were brought up or thought, it almost felt like it didn't really flow or blend with what was going on. Almost like the information was needed and had to be told somewhere, but there were only a small few of these. Then there was the main character Bernal. I felt like I really didn't get to know him as well as the other characters. I mean I did get to know him but for some reason I didn't feel the connection as much with him as all the other characters. I liked him but that was all. He did do a great job of solving the mystery at hand and sticking to his guns on his ideas.
This has been a wonderful mystery with the science fiction element added in. Many of the characters have parallel characteristics which could point to them as the possible killer behind all of this. But there is one that fits all the pieces very well. Can you figure it out?
david_agranoff's review
1.0
Don't take my opinion on this one very far, as I only made it about 50 pages in. Nothing hooked me. The narrative didn't have an storytelling energy and nothing in the plot caught my interest.
pussreboots's review
3.0
I learned about Brain Thief by Alexander Jablokov in an issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction. I tend to add books mentioned in author introductions to my wishlist.
The book begins with the disappearance of a funder of odd ball scientific projects. This happens after she knocks out her executive assistant and steals a car. So Bernal decides he should find her himself as no one else understands her as well as he does.
As Bernal does all the narration, the book's scope is limited to what he is able to discover. It gives this book a solid mystery feel in a speculative fiction setting.
Jablokov writes with a densely packed turn of phrase, similar to China Miéville. Fans of Miéville's longer works will enjoy Brain Thief.
The book begins with the disappearance of a funder of odd ball scientific projects. This happens after she knocks out her executive assistant and steals a car. So Bernal decides he should find her himself as no one else understands her as well as he does.
As Bernal does all the narration, the book's scope is limited to what he is able to discover. It gives this book a solid mystery feel in a speculative fiction setting.
Jablokov writes with a densely packed turn of phrase, similar to China Miéville. Fans of Miéville's longer works will enjoy Brain Thief.
geohiker's review
1.0
I read the first 100 or so pages, and have no idea what this book is about. And I'm not alone; apparently the story line heavily involves assorted people randomly meeting to say they also have no idea what is happening. A plot would have been helpful.
eowyn's review
3.0
Took me awhile to get into it, but I did finally enjoy this quirky mystery. Some interesting characters, a twist at the end, not really science fiction, tho' it does involve a possibly homicidal AI. All in all, a pretty good read.
emmamarybeth's review
2.0
The storyline was so disjointed that I had trouble keeping up with what was happening. It jumps from one thing to something completely different in a way that does not make sense. This was as confusing as Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. That was confusing because of the language but this was confusing because of the order the information was presented in.
hollowspine's review
3.0
A Sci-fi murder mystery with elements of hard science and soft bodies. A serial killer is on the loose, but are they acting on human emotion or cold mechanical logic? Bernal Hayden-Rumi (half-Japanese geek love) is out to solve the issue, meeting a cast of mainly ladies who mostly aide him on his way.
The book was alright, it had some humorous moments and some interesting thoughts, but wasn't something I'd rave about. I might mention this book to non-serious sci-fi readers or mystery readers, but wouldn't approach anyone who reads a lot of hard sci-fi with this. They would find too many flaws and not gain enough enjoyment from this casual novel. There were a multitude of red herrings throughout the book as well, really giving Bernal the run around.
Other than that as a woman, I found Bernal an okay narrator for the story. He didn't seem too full of himself and did form different kinds of relationships with the many ladies in the book. However, Jablokov didn't shy away from presenting Bernal with many situations where he could sexually objectify them. However, having tortured myself by reading, in its entirety, Cryptonomicon, that Bernal is no Lawrence Water-whatever-his-name-was, which is very very good, that man would be the only person I would seriously hope was hit by a bus.
I didn't really understand the coke fueled sex-scene in the novel either. I'd say that the relationships were the weakest point of the novel. It seemed that Bernal was basically always evaluating the women of the story to see if they would be 'his type.' Rather odd when he's supposedly searching for his dead boss and the serial killer/ mars rover that killed her). He has a beer with one minor character's extremely minor sister and then asked her out, seeming to think a lot about her as an ideal candidate...then *Spoiler* has sex with a serial killer. Go figure.
The book was alright, it had some humorous moments and some interesting thoughts, but wasn't something I'd rave about. I might mention this book to non-serious sci-fi readers or mystery readers, but wouldn't approach anyone who reads a lot of hard sci-fi with this. They would find too many flaws and not gain enough enjoyment from this casual novel. There were a multitude of red herrings throughout the book as well, really giving Bernal the run around.
Other than that as a woman, I found Bernal an okay narrator for the story. He didn't seem too full of himself and did form different kinds of relationships with the many ladies in the book. However, Jablokov didn't shy away from presenting Bernal with many situations where he could sexually objectify them. However, having tortured myself by reading, in its entirety, Cryptonomicon, that Bernal is no Lawrence Water-whatever-his-name-was, which is very very good, that man would be the only person I would seriously hope was hit by a bus.
I didn't really understand the coke fueled sex-scene in the novel either. I'd say that the relationships were the weakest point of the novel. It seemed that Bernal was basically always evaluating the women of the story to see if they would be 'his type.' Rather odd when he's supposedly searching for his dead boss and the serial killer/ mars rover that killed her). He has a beer with one minor character's extremely minor sister and then asked her out, seeming to think a lot about her as an ideal candidate...then *Spoiler* has sex with a serial killer. Go figure.
macroscopicentric's review
4.0
Most mind-blowing is how much legit science is in this book. AI robots that work off of human brains, what?!?! Great unique story line and interesting characters and setting. Very little explanation of the setting is given, and things are just off enough from reality to throw the reader, which is also fun.
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