eBook Review: Origin by JA Konrath

Being a recent ebook convert (don't know if this is the right word, I still want to get Behemoth in hardback), I have only recently stumbled across blogger, and thriller author J.A. Konrath - check him out at his blog, A Newbies Guide to Publishing.

Putting his money where...

Now Joe's not backward when coming forward, he has a lot to say about ebooks, publishing/self publishing - check out his posts.

Joe is a fan of lower prices( and better distribution of royalties) for ebooks, and he's willing to back up his bluster with action, hence I was able to get Origin, one of his early books, for free via his website.

Satan awakens
Origin is a modern technothriller with a dash of theological horror thrown in.  While digging the Panama canal, the Americans unearth a sleeping demon.  The find is transported back to the US and a top secret facility is built to house and study it.

And so it remains until the present day when the beast awakens and all hell (come on perfectly valid pun in the context) breaks loose.  The central characters are the latest staff in a long line of specialists who have studied the beast (nicknamed Bub -short for Beealzebub) and they are a bunch of misfits.

The characters are selected to work at the facility due to their expertise in addition to the government having something over them - an excellent device that allows Bub to exploit the characters weaknesses and play them off against one another.


What I loved
I loved the character of the Demon, Bub ), I think that Konrath got this just about perfect, especially the voice and the psychological games played.

What I didn't
It was possibly a bit light on the ancient history, it felt ever so slightly rushed ( well it is a thriller) I would have liked more ancient history and less of the science of genetics.

In Conclusion
It feels like a touch of Indiana Jones, mixed with a generous dose of Mathew Reilly and a pinch of Michael Crichton.  It is possibly the best never published, at least not traditionally, book I have read. Better in fact than I lot that have been .

Indeed if I was to compare the thriller aspects of Origin to Reilly's Ice Station I'd say Konrath comes out ahead.

Read it, it's a roller coaster ride.

Buy it through Amazon ($ 4.99 US) Kindle format
Buy it Through Smashwords ($2.99 US) Every format known to man or woman