The Second Angel - Philip Kerr Book Review

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"The Second Angel"
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Review Summaries

"By July 2069, plagues have destroyed most food supplies (forcing much of the world to turn to insects for sustenance), climatic changes have weakened the West and left Japan in control of much of the planet, and convicted felon laborers fill prison colonies on the moon. Most important, a dangerous new virus has killed 500 million people and infected 80 percent of the survivors; virus-free human blood is now the most valuable commodity, and virus-free humans are the new elite. When Dana Dallas, top designer for Teratechnology -- manufacturer of high-security facilities such as blood banks -- loses his job, and his wife and daughter are killed by his employer, he plans the ultimate crime . . . and revenge. He will rob the most secure facility in the solar system, the First National Blood Bank on the moon (which he himself designed), with a team of desperate virus-positive felons eager to get full transfusions and clear their systems of the parvovirus. Teratech security chief Rimmer, the man who killed Dallas's family, follows in hot pursuit. Toward the climax the tale gets a little too bogged down by its high-tech details and loses its grip on some excellent characters -- especially Dallas's personal assistant, a digital thought recording named Dixy; and a sleek, sharp, female security officer of Masai background named Ronica Oloiboni."
David Loftus, Resident Philip Kerr Scholar

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Overall Review

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 20%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30%

Tone of book - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Repressive society story Yes
Repressive because: - strict rationing of freedoms/goods
Tech./$$$/Info hunt Yes
Stealing/recovering/destroying - cure/disease/bioweapon
Who's a slave/repressed? - humans are slaves of other humans

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - engineer
Age: - 20's-30's
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - killer
Eccentric: Yes - eccentric - emotionally unstable - wild
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Setting
Which planet? - Earth's Moon
Earth setting: - near future (later in 21st century)
Spaceship setting: - primative (present, near future) human spaceship
Takes place on Earth? Yes
Takes place in spaceship? Yes
Not Earth, in Solar System? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
scientific jargon? (SF only) - a significant amount of technical jargon
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - descript of touching personal anatomy - description of breasts - doing it with a robot/computer
How much dialogue? - significantly more descript than dialog

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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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