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Product Description
Product Description
A strange piece of graffiti daubed on the window of a north London restaurant is the catalyst that propels Alfie Flowers into an intriguing mystery involving the mysterious Nomads' Club, the rituals of a lost tribe, a series of spectacularly gruesome murders and a secret history of espionage and mind-altering patterns - glyphs - connected with the disappearance of his father some twenty years before. As Alfie is to discover, the source of the glyphs is hidden amidst the chaos of post-war Iraq. There, deep inside an ancient network of caves, lie powerful secrets sought by people with sinister and dangerous motives. People who are determined to prevent Alfie and the Nomads' Club from interfering with their plans. Whatever it takes.
About the Author
Paul McAuley has worked as a researcher in biology at various universities, including Oxford and UCLA, and for six years was a lecturer in plant science at St Andrews University. His first novel won the prestigious Philip K. Dick Memorial Award, and his fifth the Arthur C. Clarke and the John W. Campbell Awards. He lives in North London. Visit the author's website at www.omegacom.demon.co.uk
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Mind's Eye Review
I noticed this book in the library. I had been a big fan of the excellent White Devils, but - criminally - I lost the book, the title and the name of the author amidst a pile of 300 or so paperbacks stored at my parents house during a move into my apartment a few years back. Eventually I came across White Devils during a hunt for Stephen King's Dark Tower, and thus emboldened I endeavored to pick up some more of McCauley's work.
Having no other experience of the author I expected the same taut, action-packed, neo-political novel White Devils had been. In fact Mind's Eye is quite a departure in a number of ways. Gone is the broad scope of a future Africa, replaced with a meandering 30-something wandering through London, attempting to track down a graffiti artist whose artwork has parallels to a childhood accident that renders him susceptible to epileptic fits. Gone is the tight dialogue of White Devils, replaced with light, chatty conversation, even amidst violent action scenes. This works: to a point. While McCauley nods a head at humour you never really feel convinced these characters are real.
The difference is style is also remarkable. If I read both books without knowing the author I would not have thought they were the same person.
On the front of the book is a quote from Michael Marshall Smith, and I'm not surprised this author is here. McCauley's style is similar to Marshall-Smith's, most notably with the characters and his invocation of London, but here he lacks Smith's humour and ability to write from the heart.
The story is engaging at first, but shows its cards too early and the last third drags on. McCauley writes London well, but fails to match this once we leave England and head abroad. Another surprising turn, seeing as White Devils crossed many countries without once failing to convince.
I think I'll pick up more McCauley work in the future, but I admit Mind's Eye is a disappointment.
I noticed this book in the library. I had been a big fan of the excellent White Devils, but - criminally - I lost the book, the title and the name of the author amidst a pile of 300 or so paperbacks stored at my parents house during a move into my apartment a few years back. Eventually I came across White Devils during a hunt for Stephen King's Dark Tower, and thus emboldened I endeavored to pick up some more of McCauley's work.
Having no other experience of the author I expected the same taut, action-packed, neo-political novel White Devils had been. In fact Mind's Eye is quite a departure in a number of ways. Gone is the broad scope of a future Africa, replaced with a meandering 30-something wandering through London, attempting to track down a graffiti artist whose artwork has parallels to a childhood accident that renders him susceptible to epileptic fits. Gone is the tight dialogue of White Devils, replaced with light, chatty conversation, even amidst violent action scenes. This works: to a point. While McCauley nods a head at humour you never really feel convinced these characters are real.
The difference is style is also remarkable. If I read both books without knowing the author I would not have thought they were the same person.
On the front of the book is a quote from Michael Marshall Smith, and I'm not surprised this author is here. McCauley's style is similar to Marshall-Smith's, most notably with the characters and his invocation of London, but here he lacks Smith's humour and ability to write from the heart.
The story is engaging at first, but shows its cards too early and the last third drags on. McCauley writes London well, but fails to match this once we leave England and head abroad. Another surprising turn, seeing as White Devils crossed many countries without once failing to convince.
I think I'll pick up more McCauley work in the future, but I admit Mind's Eye is a disappointment.
Format:Paperback
Well it's almost always a clever idea at the heart of Paul McAuley's books. I'm a sucker for clever ideas, which means that I do like this author.
For me, this was a winner all the way through. It teased us with hints of the mystical technology that affected our hero as a young boy and gradually revealed the back-story as the plot threads its way through London and its environs en route to the dramatic denouement in Iraq.
I was enthralled with the story all the way to the end, but then I'm a Paul McAuley fan and I really liked this book.
Hope you do, too.
Recommended!
For me, this was a winner all the way through. It teased us with hints of the mystical technology that affected our hero as a young boy and gradually revealed the back-story as the plot threads its way through London and its environs en route to the dramatic denouement in Iraq.
I was enthralled with the story all the way to the end, but then I'm a Paul McAuley fan and I really liked this book.
Hope you do, too.
Recommended!
Format:Paperback
A bit of a romp ... Sort or 60's psychotropia mixed with CIA/MI6 intrigue and a bit of Indiana Jones thrown in. Alfie Flowers (I kept seeing Michael Caine ...) sees some graffiti that reminds him of something he found with some weird stuff that he (must have) ingested when he was poking through his mysterious grandfather's desk as a young child ... From there, we head off on a half-way across the world (as far as Iraq/Turkey - Kurdish-tan, anyway)... and encounter a mad Yank psychiatrist, a psychopathic ex-CIA butcher ... sundry henchmen as cannon-fodder and a few mindless knife and fire-weilding zombies, just for good measure. Quite readable, and the pace is frantic - very Raymond Chandler: whenever it flags, there's another dead body falling from the 30th storey!
Perhaps there are pretensions of significance: a 'glyph' whichm, when attached to a political party's flag makes all its see-ers think of ... peace. OK. I'd like to see that.
Perhaps there are pretensions of significance: a 'glyph' whichm, when attached to a political party's flag makes all its see-ers think of ... peace. OK. I'd like to see that.
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