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10/21/2009 1:49:01 PM
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Sam Wilson
Posts 727
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It pains me to say this, but Daniel Keyes's "first novel in 30 years" is a pretty poor piece of work. A "psychological thriller" (the marketing hook) about an FBI agent's race to stop an impending terrorist attack on American soil, it almost physciaclly forced me to give up on it after 40 pages. Slap-dash, thrown together writing from a publisher that apparently thinks a copy-editor is an unneccesry luxury.
THE ASYLUM PROPHECIES is its name. Should have been suspicious when I saw that, instead of being released in hardcover as a major publishing event, a new Daniel Keyes novel was released as a paperback original from Horror Imprint Leisure. There's not even an endorsement from a reviewer on the cover, and even Leisure can can get usually Stephen King or Dean Koontz to say something nice about their stable of writers . The cover quote says "Convincing, suspenseful and touching"---no, wait, that's a New York Times reference to FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON. Leisure probably gave Keyes an advance for the right to put BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON on the cover, novel an afterthought. Unless Keyes needed the money to rescue his family from the Russian Mafia, there'no reason for this book's existence.
It's more like an outline for a novel than a fully-fleshed novel itself. I feel bad, because, this IS from the author of FLOWERS, a great novel.
So I'm going to read THE BRIDGE ON SAN LUIS REY now, for the first time. I hear its pretty good. Maybe I'll forget I ever saw PROPHECIES.
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If the rule that you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?
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10/21/2009 2:27:22 PM
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Luke Forney
Posts 128
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When I first heard about the new Keyes novel, I was incrediblly excited. Then I picked it up at the bookstore and thought, huh, this doesn't look that good...
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Check out Luke Reviews!
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10/21/2009 2:55:48 PM
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John E. Rogers, Jr.
Posts 1589
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The Bridge on San Luis Rey, eh?
Now that will definitely cheer you up!
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edited by John E. Rogers, Jr. on 10/21/2009
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10/21/2009 5:56:46 PM
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pc
Posts 1664
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Not to be confused with Daniel Keys Moran.
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If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us. -Herman Hesse
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10/23/2009 6:37:06 PM
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Sam Wilson
Posts 727
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RE San Luis Rey...only looking to be cheered up by the quality of the writing...
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If the rule that you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?
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10/23/2009 6:49:10 PM
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Sam Wilson
Posts 727
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...I flipped on through the Keyes book and saw that apparently he thinks actors in movies have understudies... I was irritated when an Asimov's story stated that GONE WITH THE WIND was directed by David O. Selznick, but the error was surrounded by enough good material I convinced myself to pretend I didn't see it...but the Keyes book was the most complete waste of 8 bucks and some change in a long time...
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If the rule that you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?
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