Water Death - Paul Johnston Book Review

Enter a review
of your own!

Other books by
author Paul Johnston

"Water Death"
Message Board

Click here for free online dating advice!

Review Summary

St. Martin's, Mar 2001, 24.95, 400 pp.
ISBN: 0312273118

    In 2025, compared with the anarchy that surrounds it, Edinburgh remains a calm island of no crime. Though rationing is a way of life and entertainment only comes in the form of a festival for tourists, the clever City Council occupies the restless residents with a weekly lottery. How can individuals not play when a five-minute shower a day is a potential prize.

    However, a missing person interrupts the lottery nirvana when Kennedy, a winner, simply vanishes. Rumors spread quickly, and the concerned Edinburgh leadership hires private investigator Quint Dalrymple to quickly learn the truth. Before he can solve that case, murdered bodies begin to appear in the Leith, leaving the City Council in a panic, a city in fear, and a pressured Quint trying to stop a body count from growing any further.

    Award winning Paul Johnston's world is radically different from that of today. Global warming has reached extreme levels turning the climate into the Big Heat. Everything seems rationed and centrally controlled. Still Quint remains an interesting character with his obsession for the blues standing out in this drab world. Mr. Johnston brings in his full cast from the previous two books, but instead of the welcome return of old friends, this sends a clever story line spinning into chaos greater than his surrounding countryside. Doomsday fanatics will relish WATER OF DEATH and its predecessors for its descriptive look at an apparently dying society trying to survive. However, readers of other science fiction sub-genres will struggle with the plot's anarchy.

Harriet Klausner

Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar

Detailed literary breakdown of Water Death

Our unique search engine breaks down books and movies into dozens of literary elements, all of which are searchable.
New movie search (click here) New book search (click here)

Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Spying & Investigations Yes
What is main char. doing? - finding a killer (criminal) - unraveling a conspiracy - finding a spy/saboteur
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - government investigator
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: - mastermind
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an average amount
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
Terrain - Water
Earth setting: - near future (later in 21st century)
Takes place on Earth? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
scientific jargon? (SF only) - a fair amount of scientific explanation
How much dialogue? - significantly more descript than dialog

Most similar books to Water Death
The Scoundrel Worlds by Chris Bunch
The Silk Code by Paul Levinson
Tangled Up in Blue by Joan D. Vinge
A Gathering Evil by Michael A. Stackpole
The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov

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

Try our new Star Wars & Star Trek puzzle pictures! Click here

Advertise with us
Feedback
Star Wars Revenge of the Sith plot spoilers
Hobbits
The politics game
The lawyer game

3 Movie search options!
1) Simple lookup
(title or author)

or
2) Detailed movie search
(click here) or

3) One-click plot searches! Simply click on a plot below!

Animal Story

Clones

Coming of age

Cultural problems, alien culture

Explore/1st contact/ enviro story

Family relations

GIANT monster(s)

Horror story?

Inner Struggle

Lifeform altered?

Mental/magical powers focus

Parody

Political power play

Religious overtones?

Repressive society story

Robots, Computers, VR

Romance

Spying & Investigations

Tech./$$$/Info hunt

Time Travel story?

Training/Apprent.

War or Invasion

Games:
Trivia Masters!

Rescue your favorite
scifi characters from
slavery!

Talk to your favorite
scifi characters!

Eating New Yorkers
Computer Game

Pomeranians

Most recent TV & Movie discussions:

Charmed: What's wrong with Rose McGowan's chin? 7/5/2008 11:53:33 AM

Charmed: Is Piper really a Halliwell? 7/5/2008 11:48:59 AM

Doctor Who: Who was the best Doctor? 7/5/2008 4:23:13 AM

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 7/5/2008 2:40:59 AM

Doctor Who: Who was the best companion? 6/30/2008 7:37:52 AM

A Boy and His Dog: A Boy and His Dog 6/30/2008 12:55:48 AM

Lost in Space (TV): What kind of a name is Guy for a guy? 6/26/2008 10:21:30 AM

Lost in Space (TV): Wasn't it obvious that Major West was never going to get any? 6/26/2008 10:17:45 AM

Alien Series: Was Vasquez a lesbian? 6/26/2008 6:57:27 AM

Battlestar Galactica: Do Vipers fly past the speed of light? 6/26/2008 1:27:52 AM

Newest slaves:
Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) 6:56:22 PM
Shinzon 6:54:50 PM
Lieutenant Commander Data 6:52:28 PM
Counselor Deanna Troi 6:51:21 PM
Space Hippie Squeeze 6:48:44 PM
Number 1 6:47:23 PM
Romulan Miniskirt Commander 6:46:20 PM
Tpol 6:45:50 PM
7 of 9 (Jeri Ryan) 6:44:04 PM
Enigma the Butt Pirate 6:40:02 PM
All slaves
(click here)

Celebrity interviews:
President George W. Bush 6:32:00 PM
Jan-Michael Vincent 2:16:51 PM
Captain Kathryn Janeway 3:47:46 PM
Jack ONeill (Richard Dean Anderson) 1:39:22 PM
Jennifer Aniston (Friends) 5:01:07 PM
All celebrities
(click here)