Eldon Farrell

Stillness is the story of a small town in Iowa laid waste by a genetically engineered virus and the efforts of an inexperienced CDC doctor, Lynne Bosworth, and an FBI agent, Caleb Fine, to get to the bottom of the outbreak.

Overall, the book is well-written, evoking clear images and strong emotions. Occasionally, the author over-sensationalizes a bit, or pushes the prose to the point of being strained, or provides some asides (e.g., life in a small town) that seem out of place, but these issues are minor. Character development is likewise good, aided to some degree by the fact that several are stereotypical (e.g., the overweight, brutal sheriff). I personally like it when authors give a short physical description of the main characters; it helps me form a mental image. But this book took it a bit farther by providing somewhat detailed accounts of physique and attire (right down to the color and pattern of the ties the men wore). This was a bit much for me. The dialog was excellent. You could almost hear many of the exchanges between friends and family as they fought for survival. There were also some good twists at the end; for the most part, the author keeps you guessing. And finally, I really liked the connections the author drew between what happened in the book and recent genetic research – it was excellent. It gave the story a realistic feel, increasing the drama substantially for me.

The primary weakness of the book was that it seemed to push for violent action, even when it seemed inconsistent or unnecessary to the plot. For example, faced with a highly infectious and deadly disease, people did not barricade themselves in their homes, or even avoid the sick. They were still visiting, interacting, and in one case, joining together to ransack the town. Even the CDC did not see fit to quarantine the ill. As a result, in Stillness, Iowa, population 3000, 410 died in a couple of months; that’s more than the West Nile Virus ever killed in the entire US in a full year. But there were also side stories, involving affairs, domestic violence that ended in death, and torture. None of these subplots seemed to have anything to do with the story, other than being located in the same town. By the end, the violence felt somewhat gratuitous.

Overall, Stillness has good character development, dialog, and suspense, and I suspect it will satisfy most everyone’s taste for action, while being a bit overboard for others.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest, nonreciprocal review.… (mehr)

Taken is a very well written thriller. I didn't know it was part of a series and all throughout the book till the very end I'd say it was a stand-a-lone. The characters are very well developed and each are unique and different in their own way. Many have secrets they don't want out in the open. The plot is also well developed with some twists and turns along the way as well as some surprises.

The tension builds throughout leaves the reader on the edge of his/her seat turning pages as fast as they can be read.

That being said, I did not like the ending. I totally understand Farrell was leading us into the next book of the series BUT I don't usually sit and read one right after another in a series. I do read books in series but I like them each to have a conclusion not a major cliffhanger at the end or at least all prominent story lines are brought to an end. Taken has so many questions I wasn't happy with the ending. That is the reason for my 4 star rating rather than a 5.… (mehr)