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Reset
A mysterious phone call Jake receives will soon test his faith in not only the justice system, but himself. Accused of murder and rape, Jake is soon confronted with the very question of whether he is innocent or guilty of committing the crimes he has been charged with. But the ultimate question he and his closest friends must face is whether he is truly guilty or innocent.
74 pages, ebook
First published March 16, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 13, 2021
It was such a complete shock to realise that this was a short story/novelette thriller! I mean, I read the synopsis, but with Poage's previous works being horror I just naturally assumed that the story would eventually veer it's way to the horrific. (Well, to be honest, it did - just not in the author's usual way)
Without a doubt this is Poage's best work and the longer length has certainly done him justice and given him a chance to spread his wings. If you love the author's horror short stories then you're going to be pleasantly surprised and thrilled with this tale!
Without a doubt this is Poage's best work and the longer length has certainly done him justice and given him a chance to spread his wings. If you love the author's horror short stories then you're going to be pleasantly surprised and thrilled with this tale!
April 1, 2014
Bradley very kindly sent this to me to read. He writes a lot of 'horror' fiction and I am not a great fan of that genre, no matter how well-written, but I do like a good crime novel so was delighted to have been given a copy of this.
This is more of a crime novella and the story has none of the twists and turns and red herrings of a hefty crime novel but it is an engaging and fast read and it has a neat twist at the end.
How would you feel if you were accused of a crime or two (as in this case) that you didn't commit, seem to have no apparent means to prove your innocence and face the penalty that your mind will be 'reset' if you are found guilty and your memory completely wiped? While I was reading I was wondering how this reset would be achieved. I was thinking about Harry Palmer in the Ipcress File and the method used to wipe the memory clean. That's something I would have liked Bradley to develop in the story, unless I was reading so fast I missed it.
All in all a fun read and it won't take you very long!
This is more of a crime novella and the story has none of the twists and turns and red herrings of a hefty crime novel but it is an engaging and fast read and it has a neat twist at the end.
How would you feel if you were accused of a crime or two (as in this case) that you didn't commit, seem to have no apparent means to prove your innocence and face the penalty that your mind will be 'reset' if you are found guilty and your memory completely wiped? While I was reading I was wondering how this reset would be achieved. I was thinking about Harry Palmer in the Ipcress File and the method used to wipe the memory clean. That's something I would have liked Bradley to develop in the story, unless I was reading so fast I missed it.
All in all a fun read and it won't take you very long!
December 14, 2014
Wow! This is Super-Suspenseful driven Thriller had me on the edge of my seat! I didn't want to stop reading it, but at one point I had to charge my tablet about halfway through. it was killing me to find out what was gonna happen to Jake, who was setup for things he didn't do and faced an unusual and cruel punishment if convicted.
The punishment, is an interesting idea to think about. it seemed a good idea to ruthless killers and the like. Then as you read it you get the whole idea about the Reset penalty (memory wiped). The innocent who get convicted face that horrible punishment. And as one convict said, what does it do to a family to see their loved one but they don't know them. They see their loved one as dead, but the body is walking around.
This story was so intense! I loved every minute of it! This is an excellent crime story written by the brilliant Bradley! I'd recommend this to anyone!
The punishment, is an interesting idea to think about. it seemed a good idea to ruthless killers and the like. Then as you read it you get the whole idea about the Reset penalty (memory wiped). The innocent who get convicted face that horrible punishment. And as one convict said, what does it do to a family to see their loved one but they don't know them. They see their loved one as dead, but the body is walking around.
This story was so intense! I loved every minute of it! This is an excellent crime story written by the brilliant Bradley! I'd recommend this to anyone!
February 20, 2014
I would have to say this is my favorite work so far by Bradley Poage. It was a nice length to read and got right into the action. The detail in the book is spot on, as well. Whether the author is describing how a character feels or an intense climax, it's all very vivid. I found myself really rooting for the main character, Jake. My eyes were glued to the computer screen as I read the ending! All in all, this was a fantastic book that I'd read again when I was in the mood for some action!
November 25, 2017
NOTE: The author graciously gave me a copy of this book and asked me to write a review.
There's a great line in the classic Clint Eastwood Western Unforgiven in which Clint tells a fellow gunslinger that when you kill a man, you "take away all he's got and all he's ever gonna have." That line passed through my mind as I read Bradley Poage's novella, Reset, which involves the concept of a new form of capital punishment that may or may not take away all a person has. It's an intriguing premise for a story, but, like the method of capital punishment in the story, Poage's execution still needs a lot of work.
The title of the story, Reset, refers to a new form of punishment that's just been approved for certain offenders. Instead of being executed, the prisoner undergoes a form of treatment in which his or her mind is wiped clean, like resetting a computer's hard drive, and replaced with an alternate set of memories. Physically, the prisoner lives, but the memories are gone.
Beyond Poage's rather innovative concept, however, Reset is a familiar crime tale of an innocent man wrongly accused. In this case, the accused man, Jake, is one of the state senators responsible for passing the “reset” legislation. One morning, Jake responds to a help call from a friend, John, and when he arrives at John’s house, he finds John dying on the basement floor. To make matters worse, someone conks Jake on the head before he can summon help, and when he wakes up, Jake finds himself under arrest, accused by John’s wife of murdering John and trying to rape her. As if that weren’t bad enough, the forensic evidence seems to support her story.
After reading about the reset process in the first few pages of the story, I expected it to figure prominently in the plot, especially considering the author’s background as a writer of flash horror short stories on Amazon. Indeed, the horror and science fiction possibilities of the process are considerable. However, for the most part, the reset process and the very concept of the punishment never become more than a plot device to explain in Jake’s mind why someone, perhaps opponents of the legislation, might want to frame him. What’s left is a standard suspense tale, and not a very good one at that. The story is only 80 pages long, but much of it seems highly padded and repetitive. During their interrogation, the police show Jake what has to be only the most preliminary of forensic reports (mere hours after the crime), yet Jake (an experienced criminal defense attorney), his own attorney, his wife, and others feel his case is hopeless and consume considerable valuable page space repeatedly bemoaning the fact that the case is hopeless. The book contains other examples of padding as well, including needlessly detailed descriptions of the route Jake’s attorney takes to drive home, leading readers to anticipate something will happen on the route, only to have him arrive home without incident. Jake’s attorney does eventually do some sleuthing around, but the resolution of the story proves somewhat low key and disappointing.
Further, Reset is in bad need of some better copy editing. The book is filled with spelling, grammatical, word usage, and stylistic errors (“iron clad” instead of “ironclad” several times in a few pages to describe the case against Jake). The most annoying and confusing mistake the author makes is to use the pronouns “he” and “his” multiple times in the same sentence to describe different people, so that readers have to puzzle out just who each particular “he” that’s referred to in the sentence actually is.
I’ve read and enjoyed several of Bradley Poage’s flash fiction stories, and the problems with Reset may be a part of the growing process as an author tries to adapt to a new format. But the story seems to be a squandered opportunity that turns a potentially fascinating premise for a science fiction or horror story into nothing more than a McGuffin for a mediocre, repetitive thriller. Poage’s skill at descriptive writing is evident occasionally, but the story contains far too many distracting errors. Reset is a story that would probably fare better following a reset and rewrite of its own.
There's a great line in the classic Clint Eastwood Western Unforgiven in which Clint tells a fellow gunslinger that when you kill a man, you "take away all he's got and all he's ever gonna have." That line passed through my mind as I read Bradley Poage's novella, Reset, which involves the concept of a new form of capital punishment that may or may not take away all a person has. It's an intriguing premise for a story, but, like the method of capital punishment in the story, Poage's execution still needs a lot of work.
The title of the story, Reset, refers to a new form of punishment that's just been approved for certain offenders. Instead of being executed, the prisoner undergoes a form of treatment in which his or her mind is wiped clean, like resetting a computer's hard drive, and replaced with an alternate set of memories. Physically, the prisoner lives, but the memories are gone.
Beyond Poage's rather innovative concept, however, Reset is a familiar crime tale of an innocent man wrongly accused. In this case, the accused man, Jake, is one of the state senators responsible for passing the “reset” legislation. One morning, Jake responds to a help call from a friend, John, and when he arrives at John’s house, he finds John dying on the basement floor. To make matters worse, someone conks Jake on the head before he can summon help, and when he wakes up, Jake finds himself under arrest, accused by John’s wife of murdering John and trying to rape her. As if that weren’t bad enough, the forensic evidence seems to support her story.
After reading about the reset process in the first few pages of the story, I expected it to figure prominently in the plot, especially considering the author’s background as a writer of flash horror short stories on Amazon. Indeed, the horror and science fiction possibilities of the process are considerable. However, for the most part, the reset process and the very concept of the punishment never become more than a plot device to explain in Jake’s mind why someone, perhaps opponents of the legislation, might want to frame him. What’s left is a standard suspense tale, and not a very good one at that. The story is only 80 pages long, but much of it seems highly padded and repetitive. During their interrogation, the police show Jake what has to be only the most preliminary of forensic reports (mere hours after the crime), yet Jake (an experienced criminal defense attorney), his own attorney, his wife, and others feel his case is hopeless and consume considerable valuable page space repeatedly bemoaning the fact that the case is hopeless. The book contains other examples of padding as well, including needlessly detailed descriptions of the route Jake’s attorney takes to drive home, leading readers to anticipate something will happen on the route, only to have him arrive home without incident. Jake’s attorney does eventually do some sleuthing around, but the resolution of the story proves somewhat low key and disappointing.
Further, Reset is in bad need of some better copy editing. The book is filled with spelling, grammatical, word usage, and stylistic errors (“iron clad” instead of “ironclad” several times in a few pages to describe the case against Jake). The most annoying and confusing mistake the author makes is to use the pronouns “he” and “his” multiple times in the same sentence to describe different people, so that readers have to puzzle out just who each particular “he” that’s referred to in the sentence actually is.
I’ve read and enjoyed several of Bradley Poage’s flash fiction stories, and the problems with Reset may be a part of the growing process as an author tries to adapt to a new format. But the story seems to be a squandered opportunity that turns a potentially fascinating premise for a science fiction or horror story into nothing more than a McGuffin for a mediocre, repetitive thriller. Poage’s skill at descriptive writing is evident occasionally, but the story contains far too many distracting errors. Reset is a story that would probably fare better following a reset and rewrite of its own.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews