According to Wikipedia, approximately 5-7% of the population of the world suffer from claustrophobia, which is the fear of enclosed spaces or having no escape.
Scott Sigler plays on this fear with the opening of his latest book, Alive. He doesn’t just leave it there, though. The protagonist of the story moves from one perilous situation to the next, at a speed that leaves the reader breathless. One of the things that impressed me the most about this book was the sheer velocity of the pace (I read the book over the course of a night – a very late, on the edge of my seat night). When I finished, I had to catch my breath, it happened that fast. I imagined Mr. Sigler typing away furiously at his computer, smoke rising from the keys as the story made its way into reality.
Speaking of breathtaking, let’s talk story. I won’t spoil anything here in the review, but if you are looking for a plot that keeps you guessing and then blasts your expectations out of the water, this is the book for you. The pressure mounts, the questions keep piling up, while you get just enough hints or answers to keep you reading until the last page. Don’t expect a clean ending though – this is the first of what promises to be an electrifying trilogy (the next entry publishes in February 2016).
This is a brutal, beautiful, rip-roaring adventure. Go read it and, if you’re alive at the end, come back and let me know what you thought.
mattyreads 