Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Child, Lincoln: Utopia

There is the theme park to end theme parks in the Nevada desert whose various attractions provide
amusement for thousands every day.   Recent technical glitches have led to one of the technical
designers being asked to return to the park not to correct the problem but to remove the robotics
he installed.   He arrives with his daughter on the same day that a criminal group intend stealing the
cash take which is collected by armoured truck, this being in the region of 100,000,000 dollars
though this remains unknown until late in the book.   The park is run by the designer's former girl
friend which provides some tension though it is not really required.   To cover the theft, a series of
minor sabotage acts have been planned, some of these taking place pre-book, hence the appearance
of the expert.    The technical details are presumably feasible and, by and large, do not hamper what
is a fairly leisurely build-up but the pace gradually increases as the incidents escalate.   The final
intention of the villains is hidden until near the end to provide a climactic scene in which, despite
the earlier damage and the apparently foolproof planning of the crime, the good guys win.   Apart
from the descriptions of the various attractions which make the theme park live up to the name,
Utopia, the character interplay is realistic and these two features add to the unity which is given by
the action taking place during the course of a single day apart from an unnecessary epilogue.  The
book is a good read and sits well with the author's better known collaborations with Douglas Preston.


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