The Manuscript is dazzling. It's a tightly-plotted thriller, but it's also a terrific literary chronicle of our Electronic Age and the generation that grew up on the Internet. The writing's smart, sexy, and as funny in spots as it's dark in others. Fuchs writes with a real sense of style-even the e-mails are clever-and he's got a healthy dose of attitude about everything from technology to drugs to weapons. But I love this book because it has a soul, too. It's not afraid to ask the big questions about the Meaning of Life. And here's the kicker: it's not even afraid to answer them.
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While the cover of the book may make it appear so, The Manuscript is not your typical 'high-speed, action-packed thriller'. It is indeed 'high-speed', and incredibly 'action-packed', but it is smarter, funnier, more intricate, and surprisingly more inspiring than one might expect of the genre. Relating the race to recover a document that is storied to contain the final answers to The Big Questions about life, the universe, and everything, The Manuscript seamlessly incorporates ruminations on the nature of human existence into a plot filled with good guy versus bad guy, narrow escapes, technological tampering, and plenty of gunplay. One could compare it to the Da Vinci Code in its account of a modern-day perilous quest for a mystical artefact, except that the writing is more skilful, it doesn't incorporate any bad science, and it doesn't insult any world religions (well, at least not directly).
Fuchs creates an impressively large cast of diverse and well-conceived characters, whose divergent story-lines come together at a measured, but absorbing, pace. This novel is not about 'wham, bham, thank-you mam' action, but rather offers little 'tastes' of action as it builds up to its climax slowly, enjoying 'the ungentle ride' along the way, like a literary version of tantric sex.
While the snappy dialogue, profusion of hip, youthful characters, and in-depth descriptions of the ins and outs of the internet may appear to appeal only to a younger crowd, the novel's intelligent handling of everything from the history of philosophy to the rules of how to win a gunfight should appeal to anyone who enjoys what is, simply, a good read. The novel is certainly not for technophobes, but its savvy explanations of the inners workings of the internet do not require one to be a card-carrying computer geek to understand and enjoy the novel's technologically-embedded plot. And one cannot underestimate the enjoyment engendered by shameless philosophical and religious speculation. I read The Manuscript cover to cover, not being able to put it down throughout the long and unpleasant flight for which it was my chosen entertainment. Not only was I well-entertained, but also may have been, at least a little bit, enlightened.
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This excellent story revolves around the online search for a manuscript purported to have been written by the adventurer/traveller/all-round Renaissance man Sir Richard Burton which contains the secrets to life, the universe, and everything.
The two main protagonists are a sysadmin (who has a penchant for handguns) and his grad student friend at a college in Virginia. The immense cast of well-developed characters expands early and rapidly to encompass a security expert, an undercover cop, an underground team of well-trained self-appointed cyber-vigilantes known as the Angry Young Taoists, a BOFH/drug kingpin, and many, many more.
I won't give away any more of the plot.
Anyway, the action builds up early in the story, and then relentlessly ploughs on for a very long time, with many twists and turns and loads of gun battles, Mexican standoffs, and geekspeak*. And is very very cool.
If Tarantino ever got a techie streak and decided to start writing novels, he would come up with something awfully close to this. The style is very cinematic, but unlike a film, the action gives you more than just two hours of entertainment.
I look forward to future work from Mr. Fuchs...Good stuff.
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This book is a struggle to get through...and the typesetting doesn't help. It's choppy, and many of the descriptions are both jumpy and long-winded (I didn't know that was possible LOL!) and, thus, hard to follow. Eg. "Dana spared a glance and a half for the room and zeroed in on an empty seat at the end of the first row." That's a lot to follow in one sentence. And, that's just one sentence in a multitude of such sentences. Detail is sometimes good, but in this case the writer has gone way overboard with details that make ZERO difference to the plot. I find myself skipping over large passages of the book to the get to the action - which is to find the manuscript. So, yeah, the editing is pretty rough too. Oh, here's another one, "FreeBSD chirped the bike to a stop in the alley, by the back entrance to the Crib, thinking his helmet might take itself off from the sheer pounding pressure of the music blasting inside. He swung his bent right knee over the seat, pressed his gloved hands and helmeted forehead to the alley wall, and rolled his eyes back behind the black visor." After this passage it goes on to give some other long boring description of the guy walking and opening a door. Someone, wake me up when it is over!
Tedious, poorly edited, and pretentiously written, the result makes the whole read feel rather like WORK instead of pleasure.
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It is worth noting that one of the 5-star reviewers is acknowledged in the text as the author's aunt. (The name is Sayers; no connection with Dorothy, I assume. Otherwise how are the mighty fallen!)
This is so self-consciously "cool" that it disappears up its own nether orifices.
There are too many story lines to keep track of.
None of the characters is even remotely appealing to command any interest in their fate.
The premise is even more stupid than other conspiracy novels.
I like the good stuff in this genre--otherwise why was I suckered into wasting money on it in the first place?
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This is a GREAT book - high octane thrills, a cast of bizarre characters a la "Pulp Fiction" and excellent use of the McGuffin - the use of the (almost obligatory) frenzied search for a lost and extremely valuable historical artifact as a vehicle for a plot is becoming a bit stale, but MSF keeps this book fresh and engaging to the very end. Superb!!
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The first two thirds (three quarters, maybe) are excellent, but Mr Fuchs ought to have probably written a sequel (or a longer book) to deal with the last section: it feels rushed and compressed.
Nevertheless, highly recommended.
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To explain how good this book is would take for me to reveal certain plot details, and I don't wish to spoil the ride for you. It is thrilling, think Tarantino thrilling! I cannot wait to read the next book from this guy, which I hear is out very soon!
A FANTASTIC DEBUT!
WELL DONE!
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