Flash

by L.E. Modesitt Jr.

Book Overview

Return to the future of "Archform: Beauty." In the twenty-fourth century, Earth is vastly changed. Ecological and biological catastrophe have raged across the planet, but for the survivors, it is a world of plenty. Even the poorest live in abundance, and the upper class -- the ascendant -- command technological marvels. Ten years ago, Jonat deVrai was a rising star in the Marines. But he shocked his superiors by walking away from the Corps after witnessing...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765311283
• ISBN13: 9780765311283
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 1.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Pretty good for a free book

I got this book on Kindle during a for free promotion. It was better than I expected and I am likely to try some other books by this author.

Did anyone read The Octagonal Raven?

I have yet to find a Modesitt book I didn't like. I read this technothriller in one sitting, and sucked it down like candy. Don't get me wrong, it was smart and superb - great characterization and plot. But, did anyone read The Octagonal Raven? We've got a similar storyline and a similar protagonist. Octagonal Raven features a former military space pilot, now a freelance media consultant, who becomes embroiled in corporate interests and politicians when his sister is assassinated. Flash stars a former Marine, now a freelance advertising consultant, who becomes embroiled in corporate interests and politicians when his sister is assassinated. Flash does feature the new character types of an intelligent computer (but then again, so did "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress") and linked to the AI is an android that becomes independent and a romantic interest - quite cool. The Octagonal Raven does feature a lot more (foiled) assassination attempts than Flash, and more flying cars :-) Both espouse the philosophy of "Big Business Sucks and must be taken DOWN", with lots of internecine squabbling of corporate boards that is really fun to read... So, buy it anyway - I own 'em both!

Thoughtful, well-done SF thriller -- 4.5 stars

This is a thoughtful, well-done 25th century SF thriller, set in the same world as 2002's ARCHFORM BEAUTY -- but this one's better, I thought. An ex-Marine commando, now an advertising consultant(!), gets caught up in a web of political intrigue when he accepts a seemingly-innocuous consulting assignment. In what is (in retrospect) a weak, ad-hoc auctorial plot-pusher, the ruthless Secret Masters of Earth and Mars decide to make a patsy of ex-Col. Dr. Jonat deVrai, then murder him. DeVrai turns out, unsurprisingly, to be both hard to kill and good at turning the tables on his attackers. Besides having a curiously apposite surname.... This is all pretty basic, plot-boiling stuff, but Modesitt makes the book more intriguing by going deeply into his protagonist's life, and makes 25th century ad-consulting sound pretty interesting. Really. Plus there's a heavy dose of quotidien details that I (mostly) liked, setting up some startlingly-effective juxtapositions. On an 'interesting' day, deVrai's 'To Do' list might read: 1) Get the kids fed and off to school. 2) Make sure Charis practices piano for an hour. ... 7) Blow up Mahmed Kemal, a local ganglord. There are the customary Modesitt ruminations re what's a good guy to do if the system won't stop the bad guys? Answer: "Get them before they get you." DeVrai also gets involved with an unusual police AI and its attractive cydroid remote, Paula Athene(!), in a clear setup for a sequel or two. Jonat de Vrai's not quite up to Johan Eschbach, the very resourceful environmental-economist protagonist in Modesitt's excellent "Tangible Ghosts" trilogy, but he's cut from similar cloth. Recommended for Modesitt and political-thriller fans. Happy reading-- Pete Tillman

Powerful world-building, great adventure

Ex-marine Jonat deVrai suffers from flashbacks to his marine days--when he was sent around the world fighting battles to keep North American multinational corporations from facing competition, but mostly he is a successful consultant. He's parlayed his economics expertise into a business analysing the impact of product placement in commercial entertainment--a job made difficult by privacy legislation. When he gets a major contract to see if product placement is being used in political campaigns, it seems like an interesting extension to his business. He knows his employers have a hidden agenda--who doesn't? What he doesn't know is that his report will have a lot more credibility if he ends up dead just after presenting it. deVrai is tougher to kill than most men. He has maintained (semi-legally) his marine enhancements. But he is just one man against the power of multinational organizations with much of the government, significant parts of law enforcement, and the ability to hire gangland thugs. He quickly realizes that he's in a moral quandry. If he does nothing, he'll end up dead, as will what remains of his family. But the only actions he can think of turn him into something of a terrorist. For an ex-marine, the choice isn't easy. An artificial intelligence within law enforcement offers a degree of information and some more tangible assistance. But everything deVrai does seems to make his own death that much of a necessity for the multinationals that rule most of the world. Author L. E. Modesitt, Jr. creates a fascinating near-future world building on political, environmental, and economic trends that are evident now. There is a strong political message in the story, but it's a message that neither current political party (in the US at least) is likely to be completely in synch with. Fans of SF will see Modesitt's debt to classics such as Heinlein's THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS and others in his development of the relationship between humans and computer-based intelligence. I thought FLASH got off to a relatively slow start. Still, half the fun of Modesitt's work is in the world-building and this was very strong. Althoug FLASH lacked some of the emotional impact of some of Modesitt's works, I have no hesitation in recommending it highly.

Very good. Clever.

Flash! Plausible, technically fascinating - and Mr. Modesitt has made his eating scenes interesting and enjoyable. I now have the recipe for fried apples like my Dad made for us kids. Sincere thank-you! Running beneath the plethora of acronyms, complex dialogue and tenuous but promising love interest, the author cuts to the quick with a four hundred year future precise of today's multi-national econo-greed and intrigue. I flinched with the cognition that it is already happening 400 years earlier...in the now. Will mankind never learn? Is humanity destined to be a collective of spectating dupes too stupid to be informed voters? But wait; there is something beneath the surface here. Has the author himself included some "resonant branding" to entice the reader to begin considering the metaphysical concept of our so-called higher self / inner guide with the introduction of Central Four...the instantaneous, humorous, unexpected, almost omniscient, omnipotent commentator we would all wish we had access to? Central Four (Paula) at least, seems to understand the exponential potentialities of ethically linking the archetype Male and Female "mindset-handicaps" into a syncretic team without forfeiting masculinity or femininity.