Book Review: The Many

by Nathan Field

Part conspiracy thriller part dire warning about online dating, this book, the first in a trilogy, struggles to find it's footing.  The co-heroes of the story are incredibly young at 18 and 19 and their insight and ability to deal with the very unusual situation they are in is...hard to believe.  I have had an 18 and 19 year old and they are bright kids, not coddled, independent.  I don't think either could have managed this storyline in real life.

The premise is the women in their lives, older relatives in both instances, are trying out online dating. Both women return the following morning totally changed.  In both instances, the teens in their lives think they have been sexually assaulted.  The stories parallel along twin plot point paths with minor variations until they intersect.

The teens launch an investigation are are eventually aided by a cop, a PI and a bartender.  The trifecta of the amateur gumshoe tale.  The Bad Guy is discovered and minor plot twists ensue.  There isn't a true ending because there's the next book coming.  Even in the dangerous bits, there was not any inner concern while I was reading because-main characters in a trilogy.

The human experiments and mind altering background story read like an episode of Fringe and I could only picture Walter from that point on.

It's about a 4 hour read and the writing does improve slightly over the course of the book, giving hope that the next book will be even more cohesive and rely less on standard plot devices that don't give a true reflection of the talent or ideas of the writer.

Examples: the female protagonist is a teenage girl who does not see herself as pretty.  It takes the male protagonist to assure her she really is.  She never has a positive image of herself until it's given to her.  *yawn* and guess what?  She really IS hot in the right clothes with her hair and makeup done!

He kills off characters left and right, including those that could have further advanced the plot.  This is usually done when there's a need to ratchet up the danger level 'these guys don't mess around' style but in a trilogy, again, the reader doesn't fear for the main characters.  So killing off everyone around them reads more like a movie plot than a book.  Oh, it's Mr and Mrs Smith at the end, the world a shambles around them.  Next move, coffee.

It's not a horrible book, but there's room for improving in the next two.  Maybe the writer will move away from the tried and true in every situation and look for a creative alternative.  Maybe he has the end in mind and is just filling space until that moment arrives.  Either way, it feels more like the reader is along on the tour trolley than on a face paced ride and neither is where I want to be because both follow a set path.

I am personally looking for more originality and this trilogy has not delivered yet.