Where does perception end and reality begin?
Can your mind actually cause something to happen in the “real” world?
What happens when we throw out our conception of the limits of space and time?
When science, government, and big business clash, who will ultimately have control of our information, our privacy, and even our very thoughts?
One thing remains clear:
What you don’t know can kill you.
My Review
I liked this book. I have to admit though, it took me a long time to really get into the book, til chapter 60 of 89. That's page 267 out of 374. This book is not the type of book I typically read. I am not sure if I would have finished it if I did not agree to do a review of it, I probably would have. I don't like to quit things that I start. I can not be sure of course, since I felt I had to finish it for the review, but I think I would have continued to read.
They call this type of book
tapestry book. Many threads in the book come together. It was hard in the first
20 or so chapters to keep the characters straight. I had to keep checking back
to previous chapters to see who was in which group. There are two basic sides
in the novel, two groups, though at first there were 4 or 5 groups of
characters, maybe more. I did consider making a chart of the characters, that
may have helped, but I never did it. As the novel went on some of the groups
merged and that, with the familiarity of learning more about the characters,
and the plot of the story, made the reading easier.
Also, there was a lot of
science involved in the novel, quantum physics, not exactly something I ever
studied. I struggled with this and I am not a dumb woman. I studied a lot of
science in high school and college, as well as while I homeschooled my children
for 24 years. But, not this deep. It was over my head. Until in chapter 60
Thomas Locke explained some of the science in terms that I began to understand.
“Elene asked, “What is the rate of infection?”“One hundred percent.”“What is the cure rate?“Zero. If a person ingests the misfolded molecule, that person is gone. This transformation takes place at an alarming rate. To put it bluntly, the beta-pleated sheets eat holes in the brain. This results in a steady degeneration of physical and mental, and finally death. In cows, where this phenomenon was first identified, it is known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, or mad cow disease. When it is transited to humans, it became known as new variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, or nvCJD.” (pg. 272)
This is just a little taste
of the science in this book. But, mad cow disease. That, at least, I have heard
of.
This book, unlike most of the
other books that I have read by this author (not as his alias Thomas Locke but
as Davis Bunn) did not have much of a spiritual basis. Most of the other books
I read do have a spiritual understructure to them.
The
transiting/ascents/out-of-body experiences were strange to me. I am not sure
what I feel about those kinds of things. I don't really believe those things
can happen. Fantasy, I don't mind reading fantasy. Out-of-body experiences, I
don't know what to think really.
It may sound like I have more
reservations about the book than positive things. That is not really so. I
enjoyed the book. It was challenging to read, but maybe a challenging book once
in a while is good for us. It stretched my mind, and my comfort zone as well.
It is good to stretch the mind. It needs “exercise” as much as our body does.
Keeps it sharp.
The character were well
developed and likable, especially the ones on the “right” side. I liked the
slight good vs. evil side of things as well.
“Logically there is no possible way the two could be connected. He dreams and receives experiences you call images. He has no control. He cannot make them happen. He is a passive observer. You, on the other hand, ascend by your own choice and actions.” She smiled once more. “But I am Italian. Logic plays a much smaller role in my society. So my professional mind says, we cannot verify any connection without a great deal more study. But my heart says, we have all been drawn together for purposes beyond our wildest dreams.” (pg 293)I think I like this quote because it shows the human element in the story. The characters, relationships, the connections are what made me keep reading.
And, the rest of the book bears out that quote. The book gets more and more exciting as it goes on
from there. Chases, bombs, grenades, breaking people out, attacks, sleeplessness, airplane trips,injuries, and more.
Now for general information, free previews, and a Q and A with the author...
Link to Trial Run page on Thomas Locke’s website
Hardcover, Paperback and ebook: 384 pagesPublisher: Revell
Publication Date: August 4, 2015
Free pdf sample of Trial Run chapter 1 by Thomas Locke
Video Trailer for Trial Run
https://youtu.be/FS9Vr2Nfc4Q
His work has been published in twenty languages, and critical acclaim includes four Christy Awards for excellence in fiction and his 2014 induction into the Christy Hall of Fame.
Thomas divides his time between Florida and England, where he serves as Writer In Residence at Regent’s Park College at The University of Oxford. Visit Thomas at http://tlocke.com.
Q and A With Thomas Locke, author of Trial Run
Q: What reader did you have in mind when you were writing Trial Run?
Thomas Locke: I suspect there are a lot of readers out there like me, who love mainstream fiction in principle, but are dismayed by how dark it is becoming.
I love to read. I am happiest with a good book in my hands. And most of my purchases are mainstream fiction. Too often, however, I find myself skipping over bits that are just plain not necessary for a good story.
I wrote Trial Run for readers like me. Passionate about story, yearning for the thrill of a great tale, hoping for something that uplifts as well as ignites.
Here’s a video trailer for Trial Run, hot off the press:
https://youtu.be/FS9Vr2Nfc4Q
Q: In Trial Run, you introduce several seemingly unrelated threads at the beginning of the story. By the end of the story, those threads have become woven together in an intricate tapestry. What’s your thought process behind this writing strategy?
Thomas Locke: This concept can best be summed up by the phrase you often hear a Hollywood producer say: “Where is the cut?”
By this, the producer means, what can you leave out of the script so that the audience must figure things out for themselves?
Instead of spoon-feeding the audience every item required to move to the climax, things are left unsaid. This sense of vacuum draws the audience into the action, and hurries them forward to the story’s close.
Q: Several settings in Trial Run (Santa Barbara, CA, the Italian/Swiss border site) depict real places. How do you select these real-life settings for your stories, and do you alter details of these places to suit your stories?
Thomas Locke: The core element of my placing a story is research. And the core element in my research is emotion. For many people, the ‘take’ that I finally use in the story does not jibe with what they like to see as valid for a particular setting, especially when that place is close to their heart and I have used a more negative perspective. But the facts have been carefully studied.
An example from Trial Run is Santa Barbara. For a lot of people who know and love California, this is their absolute favorite place in the SoCal region. And for good reason. It is a lovely town, one my wife and I really enjoy visiting.
For this story, I was granted an insider’s view into the University of California at Santa Barbara, or UCSB. And from the perspective of many students enrolled there, UCSB is filled with hyper-inflated SoCal egos.
The contrast I found between the students with money (and in SoCal, when I say they had money, I really mean they had money) and those who don’t is as sharp as anywhere I have ever been. The student who formed my core source and guide was on a scholarship. He was there to study. He was, to say the least, in a minority.
Everything I described about the school, the bicycle traffic and the events on the beach and the housing, are based on observation. But the perspective was based upon the humorous bafflement with which this student viewed many of his fellow classmates.
I personally love this aspect of building a story. The research at this emotional level grants me the opportunity to see the world through another person’s eyes and heart. Being trusted with this, time and again, is part of the miracle process that happens every time I start a new tale.
Summary: Discover how it all began in this explosive prequel to Trial Run…
There isn’t much that can throw Charlie Hazard off balance. But the mystery woman with the striking eyes and the intense request to follow her—now—just might accomplish it.
Knowing little more than her beautiful name, Charlie leaves his post as a guard at the Satellite Beach community center for what he thinks is just another risk-containment job.
But Gabriella, an experimental psychologist, has far more in store for him than protection duty—if the two of them survive the test.
Leave behind your perceptions of what is possible and race into the unknown corridors of human consciousness in this breakneck prequel to Thomas Locke’s Trial Run.
Thomas Locke: As I was writing the opening scenes of Trial Run, I found myself continually asking questions about what happened before that door opened and before the party started. I began sketching a sort of parallel story, laying out ideas that formed the story-before-the-story.
“Double Edge” is the result.
The publishers liked the short story prequel so much that they have asked me to write a complete novel based upon these concepts. This novel will form either book three or book four in the series.
You’ll find links on my website http://tlocke.com/fault-lines/ for downloading your free copy of “Double Edge” from your favorite online bookseller.
Q: Trial Run is book 1 in the three-volume Fault Lines series. Please give us a preview of what to expect in book 2.
Thomas Locke: This is a timely question, as I completed the first draft of book 2 on June 8. The working title is Flash Point.
In many respects, Flash Point is a true hybrid. By this I mean that the core themes are the same as in Trial Run. But everything is also very different. I had two key questions in mind when I started book two: How far can I take this? How much can I risk?
This whole concept of controlled out-of-body experiences opens up a completely new vista. I had to develop a new story framework for Trial Run, and everywhere I looked I found myself asking the same questions:
- Where does this take mankind?
- If this could actually happen, where do we go?
- Who are we as people?
- How would this remake us?
So let’s dance!
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