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Pulse
"An electrifying medical thriller"
- GenresHorror
Paperback
First published December 1, 1989
30 people want to read
About the author
William R. Dantz
11 books3 followersaka Rodman Philbrick, Chris Jordan, W.R. Philbrick
William Rodman Philbrick is an outstanding author who has won the prestigious American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults and Quick Pick Awards. Freak the Mighty has been made into a Hollywood film.
William Rodman Philbrick is an outstanding author who has won the prestigious American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults and Quick Pick Awards. Freak the Mighty has been made into a Hollywood film.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 11, 2023
PHILBRICK RODMAN I take it is primarily known for his children's books, but under the Dantz moniker, he wrote a number of high-tech thrillers such as Pulse. Most technothrillers do not age well, but all the ones I have read of his have been super and still feel fresh.
Our main protagonist here, one Dr. Susan Cullen, operates a special mobile lab where she and her research partner 'Ozzie' take to sites of interest, being able to detect numerous environmental toxins, viruses and such, primarily in industry. She gets the call to investigate some strange happenings in a small, rural town in Maine that now houses a research facility (private sector) that has big contracts with DARPA and the Pentagon. It seems the company, Sprauken, is developing a new weapon utilizing microwave tech, which can basically fry someone's brains. Once they started testing the thing (on monkeys at first), all kinds of strange things started to happen, like dead people walking around, strange electrical mishaps, and several unexplained miscarriages.
So, Susan and Ozzie get to work, trying to find the cause of all the strangeness, but they are in the dark regarding the new weapon-- PULSE. To spice this up, Dantz tosses in a totally psycho deputy who works in the town and liaises with the number two man on the PULSE project, a nasty little schemer named Tony. The guy behind the PULSE envisions it as a way to end conventional warfare as the device at low settings can incapacitate numerous people from a distance. Tony and the Pentagon see it as a new super weapon that gets outside of the restrictions on chemical and biological warfare; operated from space, for example, it could 'nuke' entire cities, killing everyone but leaving no traces.
What makes for a good thriller are fun characters (both good and bad), good pacing where the tension just builds, and it helps to have something believable regarding the plot. Pulse has all three in spades and yes, Dantz managed to write a techno thriller that after 30 years still seems timely. Shady 'black book' Pentagon weapon testing never goes out of style! Overall, nice, quick and fun read-- recommended if you like this kind of stuff. 4 stars!
Our main protagonist here, one Dr. Susan Cullen, operates a special mobile lab where she and her research partner 'Ozzie' take to sites of interest, being able to detect numerous environmental toxins, viruses and such, primarily in industry. She gets the call to investigate some strange happenings in a small, rural town in Maine that now houses a research facility (private sector) that has big contracts with DARPA and the Pentagon. It seems the company, Sprauken, is developing a new weapon utilizing microwave tech, which can basically fry someone's brains. Once they started testing the thing (on monkeys at first), all kinds of strange things started to happen, like dead people walking around, strange electrical mishaps, and several unexplained miscarriages.
So, Susan and Ozzie get to work, trying to find the cause of all the strangeness, but they are in the dark regarding the new weapon-- PULSE. To spice this up, Dantz tosses in a totally psycho deputy who works in the town and liaises with the number two man on the PULSE project, a nasty little schemer named Tony. The guy behind the PULSE envisions it as a way to end conventional warfare as the device at low settings can incapacitate numerous people from a distance. Tony and the Pentagon see it as a new super weapon that gets outside of the restrictions on chemical and biological warfare; operated from space, for example, it could 'nuke' entire cities, killing everyone but leaving no traces.
What makes for a good thriller are fun characters (both good and bad), good pacing where the tension just builds, and it helps to have something believable regarding the plot. Pulse has all three in spades and yes, Dantz managed to write a techno thriller that after 30 years still seems timely. Shady 'black book' Pentagon weapon testing never goes out of style! Overall, nice, quick and fun read-- recommended if you like this kind of stuff. 4 stars!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews