The Official Blurb
Three weeks ago, the U.S. president was murdered by a four-year-old boy.
Today, seven men stare at each other in a locked conference room. Kidnapped and brought to this underground facility, the strangers are sitting in silence, thunderstruck. Despite minor physical differences, they all appear to be the same man, with the same name ... and the same childhood memories.
Unwitting participants in a secret human cloning experiment, these seven "John Michael Smiths" have been gathered by their creators for one reason -- to capture the mastermind behind the president's assassination.
Their target? The man they were cloned from; the original John Michael Smith, code-named John Alpha.
Soon our heroes -- John, Jack, Michael, Kilroy2.0 and the others -- realize the president's murder was merely a prologue to Alpha's plans. As the mystery deepens and the implications of Alpha's scheme are slowly revealed, the clones decide to stand against John Alpha. The outcome will unearth a conspiracy larger than they could have ever imagined.
Descent is the first novel in J.C. Hutchins' 7th Son thriller trilogy.
My Review
There has been a lot of hype about this story and this author. So much so in fact that I had been wary of this novel in case it was a let down. Well I finally got round to listening to the story, and I have not been dispointed.
The author is reading his own work here and does an outstanding job. He modulates his voice for the various characters just enough to bring them to life, and considering that the main characters are clones, this is a requirement to help the listener tell them apart.
Even though the characters are clones they are all fully developed seperate people that are easy to believe in and care about. I love the way the author has drops hints about each characters background as the story progresses and thus avoids wasting ages on giving us a background for each character.
The story itself appeals to the geek in me, the high-tech topic is played out to the full and the action follows quickly behind.
So where does this audio book fall down? The story just seems to end rather abruptly. As this is part one of three, I can forgive that. In fact I think the author originally wrote this as a single novel which would explain its sudden ending.
The three novels in this series have been recorded and are available so I'm going to move straight on to the next.
In summary. A good engaging listen, excitement, mystery and adventure. Yummy
Reading 3/3
Production 3/3
Story 3/3
Total Score 9/9
Available from Podiobooks
Audio Promo MP3
