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No Harm Can Come to a Good Man
How far would you go to save your family from an invisible threat? A terrifyingly original thriller from the author of The Machine. ClearVista is used by everyone and can predict anything. It's a daily lifesaver, predicting weather to traffic to who you should befriend. Laurence Walker wants to be the next President of the United States. ClearVista will predict his chances. It will predict whether he's the right man for the job. It will predict that his son can only survive for 102 seconds underwater. It will predict that Laurence's life is about to collapse in the most unimaginable way.
384 pages, Paperback
First published May 15, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
October 19, 2014
Maybe the greatest thriller I've read in the last couple of years. And the science-fiction flavor gives it a social edge that the thriller genre usually lacks. I've become addicted to Smyhte fiction in the last two years and his next novel (I hope the third volume of the Anomaly Quartet) can come soon enough.
December 2, 2015
No. A thousand times no. To be honest, I don't even know how or why I stuck with this book for nearly a month in order to finish it. It sounded like such a great idea when I read the back cover in the bookstore. But no. Painfully slow and boring. At the end it picked up a bit and then...BAM...crap ending. I don't think I've ever given one star before, but this one really earned it.
March 16, 2014
I love books by James Smythe, the man is a genius. No Harm Can Come to a Good Man is another example of just how brilliantly he writes. The story is simple. ClearVista is an app that searches out probability; it draws on all the available data out there on the internet, and can answer any question accurately. It is used to check on the safety of flights, the best route for your satnav and to help you decide what car to buy; everyone uses it daily.
Laurence Walker uses it. Laurence is a successful and highly popular Senator. He has served his country in the forces, has a happy and stable family life, and is tipped to be the next Democrat nomination for the Presidency. Everyone knows him, and everyone loves him. As the first step on the campaign trail all he has to do is answer 1000 questions for ClearVista and get the promotional video that will show the predicted outcome of his campaign. He is a rising star in US politics, what could possibly go wrong?
Laurence Walker's life can go wrong..... Tragedy hits him personally, and ClearVista proves to be too good at predicting the potential outcomes of it's own predictions.
Is there a conspiracy to bring down Senator Walker? Are all predictions simply self-fulfilling? Or is Laurence Walker actually not such a good man at all?
This manages to be both a chilling look at a world totally reliant on a piece of software where it's predictions become fact no matter how unlikely they seem, and also a brilliant look at a family in crisis as their world falls apart around them.
You are what the world believes you to be.
Laurence Walker uses it. Laurence is a successful and highly popular Senator. He has served his country in the forces, has a happy and stable family life, and is tipped to be the next Democrat nomination for the Presidency. Everyone knows him, and everyone loves him. As the first step on the campaign trail all he has to do is answer 1000 questions for ClearVista and get the promotional video that will show the predicted outcome of his campaign. He is a rising star in US politics, what could possibly go wrong?
Laurence Walker's life can go wrong..... Tragedy hits him personally, and ClearVista proves to be too good at predicting the potential outcomes of it's own predictions.
Is there a conspiracy to bring down Senator Walker? Are all predictions simply self-fulfilling? Or is Laurence Walker actually not such a good man at all?
This manages to be both a chilling look at a world totally reliant on a piece of software where it's predictions become fact no matter how unlikely they seem, and also a brilliant look at a family in crisis as their world falls apart around them.
You are what the world believes you to be.
May 22, 2014
No Harm Can Come to a Good Man is another bleak vision of the near future from Mr Smythe, this time told through one man’s family. It’s a slow burn, the tension growing with one small event that snowballs out of control. The writing draws you in and I honestly started to feel anxious about these people. That’s a sign of good writing, when the characters become real enough to affect your emotions. So, maybe don’t read it when you’re feeling down, but do read it.
It just goes to show how much I love James Smythe’s style that I read this. Let’s face it, a political thriller isn’t really my thing. But like many of his books, it’s intimate and claustrophobic. The campaign for presidential candidate is a vehicle for what happens to Laurence and justifies the media interest. Laurence might not have started out as a character I would have empathised with but I felt for him by the end. There’s no justice or sympathy.
The story highlights the media circus surrounding presidential candidates and the incredible invasion of privacy they must face. Where do you draw the line between knowing the candidate is a good enough man to run the country and intruding on personal life?
There is a small science fiction aspect to this of course. The science of predictions; which is already a big thing in the US. How reliable are they and when does a prediction shape the future? The Walker family suffer a loss they are unlikely to recover from, but they can carry on their lives; can a computer really differentiate between those kinds of subtleties?
Review copy provided by publisher.
It just goes to show how much I love James Smythe’s style that I read this. Let’s face it, a political thriller isn’t really my thing. But like many of his books, it’s intimate and claustrophobic. The campaign for presidential candidate is a vehicle for what happens to Laurence and justifies the media interest. Laurence might not have started out as a character I would have empathised with but I felt for him by the end. There’s no justice or sympathy.
The story highlights the media circus surrounding presidential candidates and the incredible invasion of privacy they must face. Where do you draw the line between knowing the candidate is a good enough man to run the country and intruding on personal life?
There is a small science fiction aspect to this of course. The science of predictions; which is already a big thing in the US. How reliable are they and when does a prediction shape the future? The Walker family suffer a loss they are unlikely to recover from, but they can carry on their lives; can a computer really differentiate between those kinds of subtleties?
Review copy provided by publisher.
December 14, 2017
My human host's first introduction to James Smythe's work wasn't the best.
He really wanted to like this - like, a lot.
Especially as he loves a good near-future scenario that he can better relate to, rather than a distant future one.
This reminded him of some aspects of The Circle by Dave Eggers in terms of near-future apps and tech companies.
Along with a writing style that possessed no elegant flair in any manner, and characters that were not given enough depth for us - the readers - to care much about. Perhaps it was simply a matter of them being too conventional and uninteresting to begin with.
My host's favorite character in this little story, from what I gathered, was that of Amit. But when your book's supporting character is the only person's perspective that one prefers to read from, rather than the main protagonists, that's maybe a matter worth addressing.
Another gripe, is the high number of typos to be found in this story. So much so that it distracts my host to the point of annoyance. Annoyance that issues such as these managed to slip through the editing process of a major publication.
Independent authors have managed to achieve a near to perfect job of producing a typo-free work of literature, and so coming across this in such a fashion here, is unforgiving.
Oh, not to mention the details of an evasive conclusion, which leaves readers with an unsatisfactory last bite of an already disappointing journey.
The premise, however, was still intriguing, with aspects of interest. Pity it was not delivered by applying a more riveting narrative.
He really wanted to like this - like, a lot.
Especially as he loves a good near-future scenario that he can better relate to, rather than a distant future one.
This reminded him of some aspects of The Circle by Dave Eggers in terms of near-future apps and tech companies.
Along with a writing style that possessed no elegant flair in any manner, and characters that were not given enough depth for us - the readers - to care much about. Perhaps it was simply a matter of them being too conventional and uninteresting to begin with.
My host's favorite character in this little story, from what I gathered, was that of Amit. But when your book's supporting character is the only person's perspective that one prefers to read from, rather than the main protagonists, that's maybe a matter worth addressing.
Another gripe, is the high number of typos to be found in this story. So much so that it distracts my host to the point of annoyance. Annoyance that issues such as these managed to slip through the editing process of a major publication.
Independent authors have managed to achieve a near to perfect job of producing a typo-free work of literature, and so coming across this in such a fashion here, is unforgiving.
Oh, not to mention the details of an evasive conclusion, which leaves readers with an unsatisfactory last bite of an already disappointing journey.
The premise, however, was still intriguing, with aspects of interest. Pity it was not delivered by applying a more riveting narrative.
September 20, 2014
Confession - I got sent this by mistake. Won a Goodreads Giveaway for another book but they never sent it and when I chased it up, they sent it plus this one about a week later. Not sure if that was to compensate me for the late delivery or was a genuine mistake but thought they'd prefer me to read and review the book rather than send it back. Taken a while but I've finally read it so here is a brief review.
It was one of those books that really gets you going - very exciting and hard to put down - but I found the ending very unsatisfactory and felt it left everything too open and unexplained. So what could have been a 5 star book as it had some very engaging characters and made me feel like I knew the main character's family, was let down by the ending and by becoming less and less believable as the book wore on.
It was one of those books that really gets you going - very exciting and hard to put down - but I found the ending very unsatisfactory and felt it left everything too open and unexplained. So what could have been a 5 star book as it had some very engaging characters and made me feel like I knew the main character's family, was let down by the ending and by becoming less and less believable as the book wore on.
October 31, 2023
Somehow, even though it’s a few hundred pages long almost absolutely nothing happened at all. Until you get to the last few chapters and then boom action.
I think this is definitely some people’s cup of tea but this is just really not for me. I’m just clearly not a slow burn kind of gal because I had to skip so much babble just to see what happened. My attention span obviously needs continuous action lol
I think this is definitely some people’s cup of tea but this is just really not for me. I’m just clearly not a slow burn kind of gal because I had to skip so much babble just to see what happened. My attention span obviously needs continuous action lol
June 21, 2020
"Laurence smiles, and then he steps back and he launches forward in turn, up and into the air; and then down, following his son underneath the waves that they themselves have made."
March 24, 2023
An easy read telling the story of the decline and descent of a man and his family in a world of politics, predictions and media. The decline of the central character is well told and believable and his family are very well portrayed. The only flaw comes in the overarching story of the technology company that predicts events which never really feels fully fleshed out.
January 10, 2015
As those of us who have nothing better to do than stalk me know, I really like James Smythe's books. When this first cropped up on my radar, for some reason I thought it was YA, which it isn't, so I wasn't really on the look-out for it. Happily, I have a rather fabulous local library who have a knack for carrying all the books I want to read including this one.
No Harm Can Come To A Good Man is what, back in the day, we called a techo-thriller. It's set in the near future, in a world one piece of technology further along than ours. ClearVista is an algorithm which extrapolates all known data to accurately predict the future. Want to know if you're going to get a job? ClearVista can steer you right. Keen to determine if the time is right to be impregnated? ClearVista is totally with it. Want to know how many seconds your son can survive underwater? ClearVista knows.
ClearVista is the most powerful tool in the aspiring US Presidential candidate's armoury. But for Lawrence Walker, widely assumed to be a shoe-in for the role, the video of his future shows him sitting before his terrified family, holding a gun which will be fired.
For Lawrence and his PR guy, Amit, there's clearly an error. Something's gone wrong with the algorithm, but how? And why? And while Amit tries to find the answers, Lawrence is under pressure and failing to respond well.
It's a fun premise this future prediction, and the story works extremely well with it. However, although there were certain aspects I loved, the actual book was quite disappointing.
It takes an awfully long time to get going. There's a large amount of necessary set-up which doesn't quite throw the reader - who is given the description of the video as a prologue - enough bones to feel a sense of mounting tension. That prologue feels like a lazy editorial decision after the main book was done, especially when on page 200-ish, a character dramatically finds out the bang on the film has been isolated and they've confirmed it's ... a gunshot. Even without the prologue, it's a real 'Ya thunk?' moment.
The king of the the techo-thriller is the late Michael Crichton, a writer I loved as a teen. Smythe and I are about the same age and were inhaling Stephen King's oeuvre at the same time so it wouldn't surprise me if he was also reading Crichton when I was (although I'll bet his Mum didn't take Rising Sun away from him for being age inappropriate). No Harm's flat writing style feels like a deliberate imitation. Unfortunately, the characterisation suffers, the same as it did in Crichton's work. Lawrence Walker is just some guy who has some things happen to him; his wife, Deanna, is just some guy who has some things happen to her; Amit is the everyman sidekick. It's difficult to care what happens to them and even at the moments of high emotional drama, I remained at a remove. The *really* dramatic moments felt over-the-top and I had some trouble taking it as seriously as it took itself.
This is a rather inbetween-y book which doesn't quite do enough of anything. It's not really a thriller although it has aspects of one (that's an observation, not a complaint), and the ideas - which I loved - are almost too sophisticated for the rest of the book. If I handed it to my Mammy (big fan of the 'rollicking good yarn'), I don't think she'd get those parts and would instead find an okay book which would make a jolly good film. I (who understood The Matrix first time round), found a rather 2d thriller enormously improved by the resolution of its sub-plot, which would make a jolly good film.
Without the idea this would probably be 2.5 stars simply for the time it took to get going, so I'm going to give it 3, although I'm not going to look askance at anybody marking it lower.
No Harm Can Come To A Good Man is what, back in the day, we called a techo-thriller. It's set in the near future, in a world one piece of technology further along than ours. ClearVista is an algorithm which extrapolates all known data to accurately predict the future. Want to know if you're going to get a job? ClearVista can steer you right. Keen to determine if the time is right to be impregnated? ClearVista is totally with it. Want to know how many seconds your son can survive underwater? ClearVista knows.
ClearVista is the most powerful tool in the aspiring US Presidential candidate's armoury. But for Lawrence Walker, widely assumed to be a shoe-in for the role, the video of his future shows him sitting before his terrified family, holding a gun which will be fired.
For Lawrence and his PR guy, Amit, there's clearly an error. Something's gone wrong with the algorithm, but how? And why? And while Amit tries to find the answers, Lawrence is under pressure and failing to respond well.
It's a fun premise this future prediction, and the story works extremely well with it. However, although there were certain aspects I loved, the actual book was quite disappointing.
It takes an awfully long time to get going. There's a large amount of necessary set-up which doesn't quite throw the reader - who is given the description of the video as a prologue - enough bones to feel a sense of mounting tension. That prologue feels like a lazy editorial decision after the main book was done, especially when on page 200-ish, a character dramatically finds out the bang on the film has been isolated and they've confirmed it's ... a gunshot. Even without the prologue, it's a real 'Ya thunk?' moment.
The king of the the techo-thriller is the late Michael Crichton, a writer I loved as a teen. Smythe and I are about the same age and were inhaling Stephen King's oeuvre at the same time so it wouldn't surprise me if he was also reading Crichton when I was (although I'll bet his Mum didn't take Rising Sun away from him for being age inappropriate). No Harm's flat writing style feels like a deliberate imitation. Unfortunately, the characterisation suffers, the same as it did in Crichton's work. Lawrence Walker is just some guy who has some things happen to him; his wife, Deanna, is just some guy who has some things happen to her; Amit is the everyman sidekick. It's difficult to care what happens to them and even at the moments of high emotional drama, I remained at a remove. The *really* dramatic moments felt over-the-top and I had some trouble taking it as seriously as it took itself.
This is a rather inbetween-y book which doesn't quite do enough of anything. It's not really a thriller although it has aspects of one (that's an observation, not a complaint), and the ideas - which I loved - are almost too sophisticated for the rest of the book. If I handed it to my Mammy (big fan of the 'rollicking good yarn'), I don't think she'd get those parts and would instead find an okay book which would make a jolly good film. I (who understood The Matrix first time round), found a rather 2d thriller enormously improved by the resolution of its sub-plot, which would make a jolly good film.
Without the idea this would probably be 2.5 stars simply for the time it took to get going, so I'm going to give it 3, although I'm not going to look askance at anybody marking it lower.
October 12, 2016
No Harm Can Come to a Good Man by James Smythe
HarperCollins, Avail Jun 9, 2015
This novel works on so many levels: suspenseful without losing touch with the internal lives of the primary characters, conceptually significant, and very well written. I wasn’t familiar with this author before being provided with an ARC from the publisher but you can bet he’s on my permanent radar now.
No Harm presents a future that seems not so far away. The internet has been harnessed to provide predictions about common life events ranging from what type of rental car someone will prefer to whether they’ll get a promotion. Since every one of us encounters these algorithms while browsing…always a bit creepy when a news site hands me an ad for a shirt I browsed on some other site because it’s so out of touch with where my mind is while reading news articles...the novel’s concept feels real enough.
This is the backdrop of our everyday lives. And for a time, it seems to only be the backdrop of this novel. A man, a good man, decides to run for president only a year after his son drowned in the lake at the family’s second home. His wife and two daughters go along with his plans, supporting him as only a political family can—by tamping down their personalities with more PR-friendly activities. When Laurence’s campaign advisor Amit encourages him to apply for prediction results through ClearVista’s algorithm, his already somewhat difficult race turns tragic.
There’s the fact that ClearVista returns a 0% chance of success…and then there’s the video. Nightmarish for any father, the video shows the country’s worst terror, that of a war veteran who has finally cracked. While Laurence struggles to prove the video’s prediction wrong, Amit takes a twofold path that shores up his own career while trying to shove his candidate back on track. Laurence’s wife works quietly yet with a strength that cannot be questioned to help her husband and save her two remaining children.
The arc follows Laurence down his increasingly fractured decline along with the wife’s staunch support. Only in the final moments is Deanna forced to turn against him. Amit, meanwhile, is the only one to truly take all their fates into his hands and actively work against the prediction and the social machinery that believes in ClearVista with such evangelical fever.
Emotionally gripping and a true novel for our times.
5 stars!
If you like emotionally gripping narratives that speak to present concerns, check out Reparation: A Novel of Love, Devotion and Danger or The Family Made of Dust: A Novel of Loss and Rebirth in the Australian Outback.
HarperCollins, Avail Jun 9, 2015
This novel works on so many levels: suspenseful without losing touch with the internal lives of the primary characters, conceptually significant, and very well written. I wasn’t familiar with this author before being provided with an ARC from the publisher but you can bet he’s on my permanent radar now.
No Harm presents a future that seems not so far away. The internet has been harnessed to provide predictions about common life events ranging from what type of rental car someone will prefer to whether they’ll get a promotion. Since every one of us encounters these algorithms while browsing…always a bit creepy when a news site hands me an ad for a shirt I browsed on some other site because it’s so out of touch with where my mind is while reading news articles...the novel’s concept feels real enough.
This is the backdrop of our everyday lives. And for a time, it seems to only be the backdrop of this novel. A man, a good man, decides to run for president only a year after his son drowned in the lake at the family’s second home. His wife and two daughters go along with his plans, supporting him as only a political family can—by tamping down their personalities with more PR-friendly activities. When Laurence’s campaign advisor Amit encourages him to apply for prediction results through ClearVista’s algorithm, his already somewhat difficult race turns tragic.
There’s the fact that ClearVista returns a 0% chance of success…and then there’s the video. Nightmarish for any father, the video shows the country’s worst terror, that of a war veteran who has finally cracked. While Laurence struggles to prove the video’s prediction wrong, Amit takes a twofold path that shores up his own career while trying to shove his candidate back on track. Laurence’s wife works quietly yet with a strength that cannot be questioned to help her husband and save her two remaining children.
The arc follows Laurence down his increasingly fractured decline along with the wife’s staunch support. Only in the final moments is Deanna forced to turn against him. Amit, meanwhile, is the only one to truly take all their fates into his hands and actively work against the prediction and the social machinery that believes in ClearVista with such evangelical fever.
Emotionally gripping and a true novel for our times.
5 stars!
If you like emotionally gripping narratives that speak to present concerns, check out Reparation: A Novel of Love, Devotion and Danger or The Family Made of Dust: A Novel of Loss and Rebirth in the Australian Outback.
September 3, 2025
i bought this book a few years ago when AI is not that widespread as it is now. but i read it this year and thinking back, if i read it the moment i got it i would be mindblown with all the plot and storyline. read it on a plane in one sitting. never had i focus on reading that much
from my reading, it is interesting to know how humans can change their behaviour and actions according to different situations
from my reading, it is interesting to know how humans can change their behaviour and actions according to different situations
February 22, 2016
Intimate techno-thriller.
No Harm is an example of “big idea” SF, where one technology changes the world. In this case, it’s ClearVista, a predictive data-mining algorithm fast becoming an online soothsayer.
Laurence Walker is on track to become the next president of the US, until ClearVista predicts he has no chance, despite all indications to the contrary. Cue terrible tragedy.
No Harm… is the kind of book we’d love to love. Smythe attempts to build a deeply intimate portrayal of bereavement and breakdown by showing us every detail in every scene and every thought in every head. It’s only intermittently successful at best; overall the effect is paradoxically distancing. The story is neither gripping enough nor Walker’s fall from grace sufficiently believable to properly ignite such a writing style. The way Walker’s presented, you’d imagine he’d have a little more fight in him. Indeed, if he had, this might have been a more impressive work.
The SF idea, however, is strong, addressing the proliferation of the use of “big data” in our day-to-day lives. From this we get enough plot for a Hollywood SF thriller of Minority Report’s ilk, but no more. No doubt carefully shorn of distracting subplots (Mrs Walker is a struggling writer, a self-referential annoyance) it would be of minor on-screen interest. As literature, the book fails in some of its aims.
No Harm is an example of “big idea” SF, where one technology changes the world. In this case, it’s ClearVista, a predictive data-mining algorithm fast becoming an online soothsayer.
Laurence Walker is on track to become the next president of the US, until ClearVista predicts he has no chance, despite all indications to the contrary. Cue terrible tragedy.
No Harm… is the kind of book we’d love to love. Smythe attempts to build a deeply intimate portrayal of bereavement and breakdown by showing us every detail in every scene and every thought in every head. It’s only intermittently successful at best; overall the effect is paradoxically distancing. The story is neither gripping enough nor Walker’s fall from grace sufficiently believable to properly ignite such a writing style. The way Walker’s presented, you’d imagine he’d have a little more fight in him. Indeed, if he had, this might have been a more impressive work.
The SF idea, however, is strong, addressing the proliferation of the use of “big data” in our day-to-day lives. From this we get enough plot for a Hollywood SF thriller of Minority Report’s ilk, but no more. No doubt carefully shorn of distracting subplots (Mrs Walker is a struggling writer, a self-referential annoyance) it would be of minor on-screen interest. As literature, the book fails in some of its aims.
July 26, 2015
This is a book with a fascinating premise, asking some really important questions, written by a skilled writer. So why on earth would I have given it such a low rating? Surely some mistake?
Well, no. For me there are a couple of things that really undermine what is, in other ways a good and interesting book.
One problem is an unclear ending. The author can determine what happens in a given situation and exactly what this character did in this situation is fundamental to the plot. It makes a great deal of difference to the meaning of things that happened throughout the book. Presumably if he is not prepared to tell us the author did not know - which would explain a lot about the inconsistent feel of the book throughout.
The second and for me grosser fault is the sacrifice of character for plot. So, did people behave consistently or even realistically? Not if the plot demanded otherwise. One might excuse some of this by talking about the face people present to the world and their real intentions and opinions. But for me that is not what we saw here. We saw inconsistent behaviour to a not credible degree.
James Smythe is still a good author. But this is a hugely disappointing book.
Well, no. For me there are a couple of things that really undermine what is, in other ways a good and interesting book.
One problem is an unclear ending. The author can determine what happens in a given situation and exactly what this character did in this situation is fundamental to the plot. It makes a great deal of difference to the meaning of things that happened throughout the book. Presumably if he is not prepared to tell us the author did not know - which would explain a lot about the inconsistent feel of the book throughout.
The second and for me grosser fault is the sacrifice of character for plot. So, did people behave consistently or even realistically? Not if the plot demanded otherwise. One might excuse some of this by talking about the face people present to the world and their real intentions and opinions. But for me that is not what we saw here. We saw inconsistent behaviour to a not credible degree.
James Smythe is still a good author. But this is a hugely disappointing book.
January 3, 2018
I've said it before and I'll say it again, James Smythe is one of the most exciting young authors out there. I read each of his novels as they come out - science fiction or literary thriller with a touch of something scifi - and I think it's quite possible No Harm Can Come to a Good Man is my favourite so far. It's not only a great story, driven by characters you can believe in and care for, it is also extremely accomplished. I will not forget Laurence Walker, his wife Deanna and their children Lane, Alyx and Sean in a hurry.
August 24, 2017
Having loved The Explorer and The Echo by James Smythe, I was a little disappointed with this novel. Like a cross between Philip K. Dick's Minority Report, Robert Harris's The Fear Index and the TV series Black Mirror, it follows the travails of Laurence Walker and his family as he attempts to become the next Democrat presidential candidate. However, there are clouds on the horizon, and his campaign is waylaid, first by the tragic death of his seven-year-old son Sean, and then by the predictions of ClearVista, a new piece of technology which promises to accurately predict the future using surveys and data on the internet (and we all know how reliable that is, right?).
SPOILER ALERT!
The third person narration jumps its point of view from Laurence to his wife Deanna, an author, to his teenage daughter Lane, to his PR man Amit and to various other characters. When ClearVista not only predicts that Laurence has no chance of winning the nomination or the presidency, but also creates a CGI video of him threatening his family with a gun, Laurence's campaign is over. But is ClearVista right?
This is an interesting take on an old idea, of whether you can see into the future, and if you can, can you change it? And if you can change it, how can you be sure that it was accurate in the first place? Etc. I did enjoy it, but I found the characters a bit under-developed and unsympathetic - probably my favourite character was Amit - and I found it frustrating that the story spent a lot of time with Deanna and her daughters and not much time on the SF element. This would have been fine if I had a clear idea of Deanna and who she was, but she never really came alive for me.
I also found it a bit unrealistic how everyone behaved in the book. Why did Laurence act in the way he did? There seemed no real reason for it, unless it was his experiences in Afghanistan, and, if so, I wanted to know more about that - we don't find out anything about it. Also, I don't think that the whole town and the whole world would have immediately turned against him in the way they did after the video, the 'villagers with pitchforks' scenario was a bit over the top. I wasn't sure why Smythe set it all in America, but I suppose their political system and technological developments lend themselves more to this story than if was set in Britain. And how did ClearVista know to distinguish between all the misinformation on the internet and the truth?
Having said all this, it's very easy to read and does have lots of intriguing ideas in it - I liked Amit's parts, and his discussions with Hershel. I'm not sure if I'm imagining it, but there seemed to be some references to American bands (Homme is Laurence's rival, like Josh Homme out of QOTSA; at one point Amit quotes a reference 'yankee hotel foxtrot' like the Wilco album...). And I thought the very ending was brilliant. I just wish there had been a bit more about ClearVista and its impact on society, because that's what I was really interested in.
SPOILER ALERT!
The third person narration jumps its point of view from Laurence to his wife Deanna, an author, to his teenage daughter Lane, to his PR man Amit and to various other characters. When ClearVista not only predicts that Laurence has no chance of winning the nomination or the presidency, but also creates a CGI video of him threatening his family with a gun, Laurence's campaign is over. But is ClearVista right?
This is an interesting take on an old idea, of whether you can see into the future, and if you can, can you change it? And if you can change it, how can you be sure that it was accurate in the first place? Etc. I did enjoy it, but I found the characters a bit under-developed and unsympathetic - probably my favourite character was Amit - and I found it frustrating that the story spent a lot of time with Deanna and her daughters and not much time on the SF element. This would have been fine if I had a clear idea of Deanna and who she was, but she never really came alive for me.
I also found it a bit unrealistic how everyone behaved in the book. Why did Laurence act in the way he did? There seemed no real reason for it, unless it was his experiences in Afghanistan, and, if so, I wanted to know more about that - we don't find out anything about it. Also, I don't think that the whole town and the whole world would have immediately turned against him in the way they did after the video, the 'villagers with pitchforks' scenario was a bit over the top. I wasn't sure why Smythe set it all in America, but I suppose their political system and technological developments lend themselves more to this story than if was set in Britain. And how did ClearVista know to distinguish between all the misinformation on the internet and the truth?
Having said all this, it's very easy to read and does have lots of intriguing ideas in it - I liked Amit's parts, and his discussions with Hershel. I'm not sure if I'm imagining it, but there seemed to be some references to American bands (Homme is Laurence's rival, like Josh Homme out of QOTSA; at one point Amit quotes a reference 'yankee hotel foxtrot' like the Wilco album...). And I thought the very ending was brilliant. I just wish there had been a bit more about ClearVista and its impact on society, because that's what I was really interested in.
June 6, 2018
I picked this book up on a total whim. I was at the library and this book wasn't standing upright in the shelves with the other books, but was lazily placed on its side. I caught a glimpse of it, shrugged, and tossed it on top of my quickly growing pile. Who would've known that I would end up loving it?
I think the reason that the reviews have been mostly mediocre is that they seemed to have been promised a gripping, sci-fi thriller. But it's really not that at all. Most importantly, No Harm Can Come to a Good Man is a family drama with mild scientific intrigue. Also, despite being about a man who runs for president, there is hardly any mention political issues and feels timeless as a result. Instead, the focus stays on the characters and their daily proceedings in response to the events which occur. The story moves slowly, building up tension and suspicion in the reader over time. The characters truly feel like people and I was most driven by how desperately I wanted this family to have a happy ending.
Some more specific thoughts under the spoiler tag:
Overall, a fantastic read that I would recommend to anyone.
I think the reason that the reviews have been mostly mediocre is that they seemed to have been promised a gripping, sci-fi thriller. But it's really not that at all. Most importantly, No Harm Can Come to a Good Man is a family drama with mild scientific intrigue. Also, despite being about a man who runs for president, there is hardly any mention political issues and feels timeless as a result. Instead, the focus stays on the characters and their daily proceedings in response to the events which occur. The story moves slowly, building up tension and suspicion in the reader over time. The characters truly feel like people and I was most driven by how desperately I wanted this family to have a happy ending.
Some more specific thoughts under the spoiler tag:
Overall, a fantastic read that I would recommend to anyone.
April 23, 2018
This one wasn't really for me I'm afraid. I'm disappointed because I've seen a lot of love for James Smythe's writing and I was expecting an exciting work of speculative fiction. What I got was a fairly run of the mill political thriller - it was OK but it didn't set my world alight. The speculative element was there in the form of ClearVista, an all-pervasive computer program that can predict everything. It wasn't terribly believable though - it seems unlikely that it has always been right and never given any cause for concern right up until people start trying to predict the outcome of the US presidential election. I can suspend my disbelief for the right story, but unfortunately in this case the characters just didn't grab me enough to really care.
April 20, 2020
I loved Smythe's I Still Dream but this was disappointing. I think part of the problem was that the premise has dated. The idea that an algorithm can predict the future might have seemed dramatic at one point but now it's pretty much yeah, and? Even so, I initially enjoyed the story and the characters, but the book is too long and the plot lost its way. The action scene at the end didn't feel like it arose organically from the story and made no sense - two characters were rushing to get to a scene in which they played no part.
The ebook edition was strewn with errors. Indies (rightly) get pulled up for this - but this book was published by an imprint of Harper Collins! Surely with Murdoch's billions they can stretch to a proofreader.
The ebook edition was strewn with errors. Indies (rightly) get pulled up for this - but this book was published by an imprint of Harper Collins! Surely with Murdoch's billions they can stretch to a proofreader.
February 8, 2021
Despite the typos and sometimes awkward sentences, this book kept my attention. Docked it a star because it took about 200 pages to actually get momentum.
I appreciate when a sci-fi story has real meat to it, and this has a very good premise with something like Minority Report vibes. I enjoyed the second half of the book and recommend it for fans of Bradbury. The story picks up after the main character, Laurence, has received his prediction from ClearVista. ClearVista is the ubiquitous algorithm that our society has come to depend on.
I think Mr. Smythe should get a better proofreader for starters as the wavering between UK and American English could have easily been fixed. I will go back to reading the Anomaly Quartet since I think that's a bit stronger.
I appreciate when a sci-fi story has real meat to it, and this has a very good premise with something like Minority Report vibes. I enjoyed the second half of the book and recommend it for fans of Bradbury. The story picks up after the main character, Laurence, has received his prediction from ClearVista. ClearVista is the ubiquitous algorithm that our society has come to depend on.
I think Mr. Smythe should get a better proofreader for starters as the wavering between UK and American English could have easily been fixed. I will go back to reading the Anomaly Quartet since I think that's a bit stronger.
January 21, 2018
The universe where this book is set - reminiscent of Minority Report - brought up interesting themes about predicted future and self-fulfilling prophecy that I wish were better explored. If anyone had access to the software, shouldn't there be an organisation monitoring it so that the events at the end of the book could have been prevented? What was the point of a predicted future if it only applied to when needed? There was also a lack of urgency and surprise in the story, and bar one character, the rest were dull and unlikable. It made for a disappointing read.
January 25, 2019
Presidential candidate drops out of the race due to an AI program handing him a literal death sentence in terms of his election chances. Things quickly move from bad to morose, as the disintegration takes on ugly turns. The most frightening part is the media’s involvement of watching a good man being turned into an evil, dangerous menace. The reader has to calmly take stock of the media’s complicity in propping the news cycle with drivel and minute details of an individual’s personal life. Highly engaging and thought-provoking, this is a must read from an author I’ll be following closely.
September 17, 2017
Took me a while before I got into it, but that was more because I read the synopsis wrong. The book starts representing a happy family with normal family issues but you can see it unravelling the moment the first things go wrong. Three stars because I did not like the end that much. Also because it took me a while before it got me hooked.
October 13, 2023
Meh.
The beginning of the book was very engaging and I felt like I wanted to read it. Then as I got to the halfway point, the story petered out and became the characters just languishing on the video and the results from ClearVista and I just honestly didn't care that much about it.
The beginning of the book was very engaging and I felt like I wanted to read it. Then as I got to the halfway point, the story petered out and became the characters just languishing on the video and the results from ClearVista and I just honestly didn't care that much about it.
April 11, 2018
Great plot. HORRIBLE PROOF READING, apparently. I needed both hands to count all the terrible typos, and that kind of thing irks me to no end.
May 12, 2019
A gripping book about the power predictive AI can hold over us, let down by its ending.
August 25, 2020
Disturbing visions of algorithm control. Exciting and fast paced.
August 15, 2014
I received this book as part of a goodreads giveaway.
The story is about a man, senator Walker, and his wife. Their life falls apart after the death of there son and a video that causes the mental breakdown of both of them. Clearvista is the new leader in data mining and prediction software, a system so complete that it can almost predict the future.
Although the story is a good idea, so much of it made no sense. Already if the news reports on something that is happening live or a real video most people don't believe that it is the true story. Why would everyone believe in a poorly created, made up video showing something that hasn't occurred and completely against the current personality of the person? Why does the wife of senator walker suddenly believe that because her husband has a gun he will kill her and her daughters? Why didn't they both appear in the press together to stop damage? Why didn't the Walker campaign get a court order against ClearVista as soon as the first video came out? No press company would ever go live on a made-up video that could be so slanderous. If everyone in the town is so worried for Dena and her family why do they left her go back to the lake house alone?
I found the first two thirds of this book very boring, not the idea that Senator Walker's fall from grace under the stress of losing his son, but the author narrative was just not interesting. You've got a good idea make me not want to put the book down instead of looking at how many pages I've got left, could really do with going on a creative writing course.
The book did pick up at the end, but although the author tried to show Dena as a victim she came across as evil, your husband of over 17 years is going through a breakdown do you a) run away leaving him on his own, b) blame everything on him and refuse to support him, c)Believe that a poorly created video of him holding a gun means he will kill you, d)tell everyone that you need help and set up him being killed, e) when he has reach rock bottom and comes looking for help turn the kids against him, or f) all of the above. I not sure who was the victim and who was more mental by the end of the book.
The story is about a man, senator Walker, and his wife. Their life falls apart after the death of there son and a video that causes the mental breakdown of both of them. Clearvista is the new leader in data mining and prediction software, a system so complete that it can almost predict the future.
Although the story is a good idea, so much of it made no sense. Already if the news reports on something that is happening live or a real video most people don't believe that it is the true story. Why would everyone believe in a poorly created, made up video showing something that hasn't occurred and completely against the current personality of the person? Why does the wife of senator walker suddenly believe that because her husband has a gun he will kill her and her daughters? Why didn't they both appear in the press together to stop damage? Why didn't the Walker campaign get a court order against ClearVista as soon as the first video came out? No press company would ever go live on a made-up video that could be so slanderous. If everyone in the town is so worried for Dena and her family why do they left her go back to the lake house alone?
I found the first two thirds of this book very boring, not the idea that Senator Walker's fall from grace under the stress of losing his son, but the author narrative was just not interesting. You've got a good idea make me not want to put the book down instead of looking at how many pages I've got left, could really do with going on a creative writing course.
The book did pick up at the end, but although the author tried to show Dena as a victim she came across as evil, your husband of over 17 years is going through a breakdown do you a) run away leaving him on his own, b) blame everything on him and refuse to support him, c)Believe that a poorly created video of him holding a gun means he will kill you, d)tell everyone that you need help and set up him being killed, e) when he has reach rock bottom and comes looking for help turn the kids against him, or f) all of the above. I not sure who was the victim and who was more mental by the end of the book.
December 12, 2014
A powerful, suspenseful surprise of a book--this may be science fiction, but don't expect it to reflect anything other than reality.
This was the stand out quality of No Harm Can Come to a Good Man: it felt real, in a way no science fiction world has to me before. People can say an awful lot about how a science fiction novel depicts a haunting, believable vision of the future, but there is always a fantastical distance--there is none of that in this book. It's close enough to our reality that it is merely an extension, a not-so-distant future that is just within reach. You can see yourself consulting ClearVista in your daily life--and the rest of the new technology introduced doesn't seem far-fetched either, but a natural progression from where we are now.
This reality creates a closeness that few other texts can maintain, and makes the plot itself all the more startling. After reading the title, I couldn't help but think, "Well, I'm sure it can"--but that does not prepare you, and the descent is brutal. Mental health is handled realistically and painfully, never brushed over; even descents are sympathetic, as you have seen otherwise, even as you sway and wobble and wonder if things are really going to turn out fine. This book has an incredible knack for getting worse when you think it can't be any more: I would have to say this is what ultimately makes it better.
Laurence as a protagonist is sympathetic, but so greatly flawed it is brilliant. The family unit, similarly, felt as true as it could. My only criticism would be an emotional distance to characters that weren't Laurence or perhaps Deanna, as I hadn't gotten to feel them as much--and the ambiguous ending, which was honestly ruthless after pulling you through so ruthlessly in search of the truth.
Overall, a great book--thought-provoking and intense, expect not fantasy but a haunting reality.
This was the stand out quality of No Harm Can Come to a Good Man: it felt real, in a way no science fiction world has to me before. People can say an awful lot about how a science fiction novel depicts a haunting, believable vision of the future, but there is always a fantastical distance--there is none of that in this book. It's close enough to our reality that it is merely an extension, a not-so-distant future that is just within reach. You can see yourself consulting ClearVista in your daily life--and the rest of the new technology introduced doesn't seem far-fetched either, but a natural progression from where we are now.
This reality creates a closeness that few other texts can maintain, and makes the plot itself all the more startling. After reading the title, I couldn't help but think, "Well, I'm sure it can"--but that does not prepare you, and the descent is brutal. Mental health is handled realistically and painfully, never brushed over; even descents are sympathetic, as you have seen otherwise, even as you sway and wobble and wonder if things are really going to turn out fine. This book has an incredible knack for getting worse when you think it can't be any more: I would have to say this is what ultimately makes it better.
Laurence as a protagonist is sympathetic, but so greatly flawed it is brilliant. The family unit, similarly, felt as true as it could. My only criticism would be an emotional distance to characters that weren't Laurence or perhaps Deanna, as I hadn't gotten to feel them as much--and the ambiguous ending, which was honestly ruthless after pulling you through so ruthlessly in search of the truth.
Overall, a great book--thought-provoking and intense, expect not fantasy but a haunting reality.
March 30, 2016
So, this book is kind of genius.
Laurence is a senator in the future who has his sights on being president. The world is anchored by technology called ClearVista which can predict anything - including, and most importantly, Laurence's chance of being president. But after Laurence's family spirals out of control due to a personal crisis, the predictions become less than ideal.
This is the second book of Smythe's I've read (the other being ( The Machine ) -- they're both character-driven, almost contemporary stories, that are peppered with a few brilliant sci-fi ideas.
The story centres on Laurence, his family, and his political advisor, Amit. All the characters are well-drawn, especially Laurence's wife, Deana -- we feel every facet of her pain, misgivings, and fears throughout the story. Smythe also does a good job of describing a rebellious teen through her tattoos -- instead of having her give a whiny, didactic monologue, telling us about her woes, Smythe shows us how she feels.
I also appreciated how the sci-fi elements were fleshed out, and were used to reveal character rather than be shiny, superfluous fireworks that offer no extra depth (I like shiny, superfluous fireworks from time to time, it just wouldn't have worked with this story).
Smythe's writing is really precise, and subtextual, especially in the final pages. His complexity doesn't lie with purple prose, it's with the depth of the characters and his word choices.
I've seen quite a bit of complaints about the book's ending, but I don't think it could have ended in any other way. It's true to the themes of the books, ends on an emotional high, and left an indelible mark.
If you're looking for a thriller predicated on action over characters, try another book. If you're eager to read an imaginative, emotional gut-punch of a novel that'll stay with you for a long time, I wholeheartedly recommend this.
Laurence is a senator in the future who has his sights on being president. The world is anchored by technology called ClearVista which can predict anything - including, and most importantly, Laurence's chance of being president. But after Laurence's family spirals out of control due to a personal crisis, the predictions become less than ideal.
This is the second book of Smythe's I've read (the other being ( The Machine ) -- they're both character-driven, almost contemporary stories, that are peppered with a few brilliant sci-fi ideas.
The story centres on Laurence, his family, and his political advisor, Amit. All the characters are well-drawn, especially Laurence's wife, Deana -- we feel every facet of her pain, misgivings, and fears throughout the story. Smythe also does a good job of describing a rebellious teen through her tattoos -- instead of having her give a whiny, didactic monologue, telling us about her woes, Smythe shows us how she feels.
I also appreciated how the sci-fi elements were fleshed out, and were used to reveal character rather than be shiny, superfluous fireworks that offer no extra depth (I like shiny, superfluous fireworks from time to time, it just wouldn't have worked with this story).
Smythe's writing is really precise, and subtextual, especially in the final pages. His complexity doesn't lie with purple prose, it's with the depth of the characters and his word choices.
I've seen quite a bit of complaints about the book's ending, but I don't think it could have ended in any other way. It's true to the themes of the books, ends on an emotional high, and left an indelible mark.
If you're looking for a thriller predicated on action over characters, try another book. If you're eager to read an imaginative, emotional gut-punch of a novel that'll stay with you for a long time, I wholeheartedly recommend this.
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