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The Oxygen Wasters
“I’ve killed four people in the past year, and I need your help to kill the fifth one.” These are not the words Eden Franks expects to hear when he meets his best friend John for a casual drink. When a covert organization threatens to execute his family, Eden has no other choice than to enlist in their program to exterminate evil people from the world. The idea of killing is despicable enough, but the thought of blood? Eden hates blood. It repulses him. He’s deathly afraid of it.
Traumatized from helping John, and tasked with identifying the five people he will execute over the next 12 months, Eden comes across the horrific account of a Saudi Arabian couple who have brutally beaten, raped, and tortured a Sri Lankan housemaid named Ari. Ari narrowly escapes certain death with the remnants of 32 needles and nails painfully buried beneath her skin. Eden earmarks the Saudi couple as the ideal target. Armed with a vial of cone snail venom, a travel guide, and a queasy stomach, Eden reluctantly embarks on his inaugural solo kill.
THE OXYGEN WASTERS is a fast-paced thriller that follows Eden around the world as he confronts his hemophobia and agonizes over his predicament while juggling his three intertwined lives; successful business executive, devoted family man, and squeamish assassin. Laser focused on completing the kills, and ending the nightmares that are becoming his constant companion, Eden is unaware of the horrors lurking just beyond the horizon.
Traumatized from helping John, and tasked with identifying the five people he will execute over the next 12 months, Eden comes across the horrific account of a Saudi Arabian couple who have brutally beaten, raped, and tortured a Sri Lankan housemaid named Ari. Ari narrowly escapes certain death with the remnants of 32 needles and nails painfully buried beneath her skin. Eden earmarks the Saudi couple as the ideal target. Armed with a vial of cone snail venom, a travel guide, and a queasy stomach, Eden reluctantly embarks on his inaugural solo kill.
THE OXYGEN WASTERS is a fast-paced thriller that follows Eden around the world as he confronts his hemophobia and agonizes over his predicament while juggling his three intertwined lives; successful business executive, devoted family man, and squeamish assassin. Laser focused on completing the kills, and ending the nightmares that are becoming his constant companion, Eden is unaware of the horrors lurking just beyond the horizon.
311 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 30, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 29, 2013
This dramatic thriller caught my attention because of its intriguing angle, a select group of average, everyday citizens get ensnared into a deadly covert multi-government-run operation called “The Project” that forces them to become assassins of those deemed “oxygen wasters,” people declared unworthy to continue living because of their evil deeds and lack of respect for humanity.
The protagonist of the story is Eden Franks who meets his close family friend John over drinks one night. Little does he know that meeting will make him question his ethics and values, prove his loyalty, and commit murder in the name of justice to save the lives of those he loves.
Do you remember the days of the dreaded chain letters? You receive a copy of a letter from a good friend who passed it on to you in the hopes of having future good luck or, as I can remember, to avoid falling under the letter’s curse.
Once you have the letter, you have to decide what to do with it. Do you just ball it up, throw it away, and forget about it, thinking you won’t have any bad luck for ignoring the demand to send it on to a designated number of friends? Or do you invest the effort into passing it on to your friends in the hopes that the letter will continue its journey and all those involved will benefit in some way? “The Project” operates in a similar manner, except the stakes are much, much higher with deadly consequences for those who fail to fulfill their obligations within a specified time frame.
John has passed the metaphorical chain letter to Eden. Eden must become an assassin and eliminate five people whose heinous crimes have gone unpunished. Eden is an everyday, average citizen, successful businessman, husband, and father. He could be your colleague, your neighbor, or even worse…your friend. John has just put the fate of his family and himself in Eden’s hands. If Eden fails to eliminate five targets within one year, then someone in John’s family will be executed. This looming threat serves to ensure the continuation of the program and its secrecy.
I was a bit surprised at the process used to target someone. Eden isn’t just given a list of names; he actually has to select a person that he deems unfit to live any longer. However, he must have his choice approved by “The Project’s” secret board before he can proceed with the assassination.
Eden also has to choose the method of for the kill as well.
It’s quite interesting to see his thought process as he makes these decisions.
The storyline surprised me as well. I had thought more of the story would revolve around Eden’s journey to complete the mission and the inner turmoil and anguish he experiences. Instead, however, much of the book centers on the “oxygen wasters” and their victims. Eden selects candidates from third world countries (Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Bangkok) and travels across the world to find his approved targets. Greyson immerses readers into these foreign cultures and provides a glimpse into the suffering of those who live in poverty and the difficult choices they make to survive.
Greyson has created villains who are easy to despise and pass judgment upon, and sympathetic victims who endure horrendous abuse.
At times, I was uncomfortable reading about these violent acts. These scenes aren’t described in explicit detail but have enough description to make it easy to imagine.
The antagonists were one-dimensional evil, stock characters with no redeeming qualities. In fact, some of these characters and their actions were, at times, too far-fetched for me to accept.
I think the story’s plot would have been stronger if Eden’s played a more dominant role in the story. Too many POVs caused disruptions to the flow of the story and caught me off guard. The book could have used one more round of editing, but the errors really didn’t hinder my reading experience.
I like that Greyson left the conclusion of the book open for a sequel, and I appreciate the thought provoking ideas about morality and ethics that are raised in this story.
This debut novel shows a promising start to a possible series.
I received a copy of this book from the author to provide an honest review.
The protagonist of the story is Eden Franks who meets his close family friend John over drinks one night. Little does he know that meeting will make him question his ethics and values, prove his loyalty, and commit murder in the name of justice to save the lives of those he loves.
Do you remember the days of the dreaded chain letters? You receive a copy of a letter from a good friend who passed it on to you in the hopes of having future good luck or, as I can remember, to avoid falling under the letter’s curse.
Once you have the letter, you have to decide what to do with it. Do you just ball it up, throw it away, and forget about it, thinking you won’t have any bad luck for ignoring the demand to send it on to a designated number of friends? Or do you invest the effort into passing it on to your friends in the hopes that the letter will continue its journey and all those involved will benefit in some way? “The Project” operates in a similar manner, except the stakes are much, much higher with deadly consequences for those who fail to fulfill their obligations within a specified time frame.
John has passed the metaphorical chain letter to Eden. Eden must become an assassin and eliminate five people whose heinous crimes have gone unpunished. Eden is an everyday, average citizen, successful businessman, husband, and father. He could be your colleague, your neighbor, or even worse…your friend. John has just put the fate of his family and himself in Eden’s hands. If Eden fails to eliminate five targets within one year, then someone in John’s family will be executed. This looming threat serves to ensure the continuation of the program and its secrecy.
I was a bit surprised at the process used to target someone. Eden isn’t just given a list of names; he actually has to select a person that he deems unfit to live any longer. However, he must have his choice approved by “The Project’s” secret board before he can proceed with the assassination.
Eden also has to choose the method of for the kill as well.
It’s quite interesting to see his thought process as he makes these decisions.
The storyline surprised me as well. I had thought more of the story would revolve around Eden’s journey to complete the mission and the inner turmoil and anguish he experiences. Instead, however, much of the book centers on the “oxygen wasters” and their victims. Eden selects candidates from third world countries (Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Bangkok) and travels across the world to find his approved targets. Greyson immerses readers into these foreign cultures and provides a glimpse into the suffering of those who live in poverty and the difficult choices they make to survive.
Greyson has created villains who are easy to despise and pass judgment upon, and sympathetic victims who endure horrendous abuse.
At times, I was uncomfortable reading about these violent acts. These scenes aren’t described in explicit detail but have enough description to make it easy to imagine.
The antagonists were one-dimensional evil, stock characters with no redeeming qualities. In fact, some of these characters and their actions were, at times, too far-fetched for me to accept.
I think the story’s plot would have been stronger if Eden’s played a more dominant role in the story. Too many POVs caused disruptions to the flow of the story and caught me off guard. The book could have used one more round of editing, but the errors really didn’t hinder my reading experience.
I like that Greyson left the conclusion of the book open for a sequel, and I appreciate the thought provoking ideas about morality and ethics that are raised in this story.
This debut novel shows a promising start to a possible series.
I received a copy of this book from the author to provide an honest review.
May 7, 2013
This debut suspense thriller novel by L A Greyson, is an exciting, fast moving novel set nowhere and everywhere. It doesn’t feel like a debut novel, it feels like the produce of a seasoned author and I thoroughly enjoyed this page turning story that I literally couldn’t put down. Eden Franks has a casual drink with a childhood friend and that drags him on an elimination quest, from the hills of San Francisco, to the heat of Dubai, to the turmoil of Sri Lanka, Thailand and beyond. The author develops the characters with such precision, you can experience their situations and picture them vividly. I particularly loved the character Ari, she has strength, determination and fighting spirit that saves her in the end and brings her back to love. The audience will enjoy the detail; the tropical forests that you can almost smell, the desert dust you can taste and the snowflakes you can visualise. Its an attack on the senses. Fact is thinly disguised as fiction, especially for those who have lived the expat lifestyle. As an expat reading this fiction, the writer made my experiences of the characters feel real and I had genuine empathy for them.The real theme here is the human experience. Men looking for a better life are disappointed and fathers defend their families. There is love, friendship, murder, and cruelty – this story has it all. If you like Robert Ludlum or Dan Brown, this is a must read. If not, give it a go. When you begin a debut novel, you never know if it will be full of stuttering, have an unclear plot, and/or anunderdeveloped storyline. The Oxygen Wasters has none of that, It is well worth the kindle price on Amazon. Can I be the first to say this would make a fantastic screenplay!Congrats L A Greyson on a fantastic book and I look forward to the next novel.
May 15, 2013
I loved the premise of this group where a covert board of individuals endorse and approve vigilante activity, they appear to work with governments. I enjoyed and was intrigued with the cases where revenge was sought but I was distracted by grammatical errors and typos in this ebook, which is why I deducted a star.
It was a cathartic read and I do recommend it.
It was a cathartic read and I do recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews