“Wanted" is the tenth of a series of near future SciFi/Thrillers whose young heroine Ell Donsaii’s nerve mutation makes her a genius and provides astonishing athletic abilities. In “Wanted,” President Stockton continues her efforts to imprison Ell in order to protect the world from some of Ell’s dangerous new technology. While the President rightfully wants this technology to be restricted, she wants it to be controlled by the government. Ell doesn’t want even the government to have the terrible destructive potential of a technology that can cut through absolutely any material in the world! When the FBI and CIA prove to be unable to find and capture Ell, the President instructs them to imprison Ell’s friends. However, the President hasn’t considered just how many technological advantages Ell would have in any effort to spring her friends from prison.
I was born on the island of Cyprus where my dad was employed as a mining engineer. We moved to the Philippines (more mining) when I was three and then to Arizona when I was 9. I went to med school at the University of Arizona and did a residency in Orthopaedics at the University of Kansas. I taught Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill until I retired in 2017.
I've always loved science fiction and it's been great fun getting to write some. I also like music and have a little home recording studio. You can read more, listen to some music and look at some of my art, at http://laury.dahners.com/ if you like.
If you want to contact me, or be put on my email list to be notified when new books come out, just email me at ldahners@gmail.com
This book is a great continuation of Defiance. I got a kick out of seeing traps laid and plus thwarted. President Stockton makes a good villain and all good Snidely Whiplash villains have a hero to fixate upon. Great story Dr. Dahners!
I haven’t come up with a better term so I will call these books “competency porn” (think Sherlock Holmes and James Bond). I LOVE competency porn so I blew through all the Ell Donsaii books in about two weeks. As a result I’m giving books 1-16 the same review. While these books largely hit my sweet spot, I recognized several imperfection but, before listing those, I want to first say I greatly enjoyed these books and so I encourage anyone who enjoys “competency porn” (I really hate that term) to give them a try.
The first problem is actually kind of a small, yet somewhat annoying: I had read the author’s Vaz series (alos recommended competency porn) immediately before this one. In fact the Ell Donsaii blurb did not make the book sound appealing to me and so I only gave them a try because I liked the Vaz series so much. Unfortunately this resulted in realizing the author re-used story lines. While this is disappointing it only slightly diminished my enjoyment and the Ell series, with its 16 books to Vaz’s 4, quickly moves beyond this issue.
The second problem is the author writes by recipe and that recipe is: Have multiple secondary story lines that remain unresolved at the end of the book to make the reader buy the next book. An example would be a main story line about terraforming Mars accompanied by a side story line about a vaccine. The Mars story will be resolved by the end of the book but the author will also have spent pages setting up a will he/won’t he for a character to secretly try the vaccine. While the author almost universally handles multiple story lines well, in the end I found this approach truly unfortunate as this author is good enough to keep readers coming back without this manipulation. In short, this author’s books would have been much better if treated as stand alones rather than installments.
Finally, from my point of view, the books are short. The three samples I took from the series were: 217, 210 and 210 pages. I view anything under 300 pages as short and prefer books 350 pages or longer. I must admit, however, that I got all of these books for $4 off Amazon so I don’t really feel shorted. Had I seen these books on a shelf in a book store I likely wouldn’t even have picked them up based on how thin they are.
Bottom line: While not perfect, these books are pretty easily worth the read for any lovers of competency porn.
Ports that transmit through an unknown dimension, which Dahners calls a fifth dimension, are the backbone of the Ell Donsaii saga. They are near-magical and very dangerous. Dahners raises the question: "Is technology safer and better used by private ownership or in government control?" A female President named Stockton ( Nancy Pelosi's home town), believes only government. Ell Donsaii disagrees. So, the President uses the full power of her position to ORDER the technology given to a government committee, chosen by her, Donsaii refuses and gets placed on a Federal most-wanted list when she escapes from prison. She uses her wits, money, and port technology to elude capture. In the last several books I have noticed more attention given to politics, though not openly. Fun story.
I've very much enjoyed this series thus far, and the author's science (speculative and actual) is fascinating. His writing is crisp, and he's a good plotter. Unfortunately, he's really terrible at doing basic research about areas with which he's obviously completely unfamiliar, which DO NOT fall into the "speculative fiction" or suspension of disbelief portion of the story. He needs a LOT of research in American civics, history, separation of powers, jurisprudence, and the law. Also regarding the difficulty of putting disguise makeup on oneself everywhere, and ESPECIALLY the challenges of removing any such makeup that could survive any kind of physical exertion. He needs some SERIOUS work on writing accents.
Hello everyone. I ma not sure if applies only to me but sometimes when you read a series. You may want to take a break and read something else just to break the way that all the stories seem to blend together. NOT, with this series. Each one presents a new set of challenges and definitely reading enjoyment making you yearn for the next book in the series. I am really excited I found this series and I am definitely looking forward to starting the next book in the series. My apologies to all the other books waiting patiently for me to find them again. D
Good story, I like how it shows how government can be your worst enemy because of one person. The way it was supposed to be, government was to be small and just run things that a private company couldn't do well. What we have is a very large organization that cannot do anything well. From the Post Office to Social Security to any of the T.L.A.s ( three letter acronyms), none of them work very well.
Another good, interesting read. I am always surprised by the level of information shared in the book, especially references to earlier technology/geek days, that felt like the book was speaking directly to me. I always feel like the book ends sooner than I want, but considering it spans so many volumes, I suppose can be more contained to a specific idea. Enjoyable!
Having read every book in the series, I just love how the story continues. Not sure how well this would stand on its own. If you’re just starting here you should go back to number one to get the full story line. Love the author’s characters, they are not the average heroes.
Congratulations to Lawrence Dahners for this amazing series. It’s hard to find such an interesting and exciting author who not only writes intelligently but also provides top rated plots, characters and excitement in the stories. I’m really looking forward to the next book.
It is hard to put this book down once you open it up and start reading. If a book doesn't get my attention in the first chapter, I don't finish it. These books start right off with, on the edge of your seat.
If I had read this prior to 2016 I would have thought the chief executive was over the top. But then..... Well you know. Suddenly the craziness was not so unimaginable. But by the end, too over the top. Even so, Laurence Dahners never disappoints. A delightful read.
Another excellent and highly entertaining addition to the series, and a very fun read overall. Once more, if you enjoyed the previous books, you will undoubtedly enjoy this one.
Great :) I'd like to read more of the series straight away, though sadly, the audiobooks are just coming out now, one by one. I'm looking forward to the next on though :)
The worst one I have read so far. The disguise thing is worn out. I was also going to say the behavior of the US president was unrealistic, but then again...
This serie is an interesting project. It starts with a question "what would happen if ..." and the books try to answer it. It is a light, quick and easily readable set of books. Well written and enjoyable.