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The Endgame Trilogy #1
Chemical Burn
The last thing Los Angeles needed was a high-tech, ex-assassin from another planet to set up shop as a Private Detective. They got one anyway. Justin Case is a smart-ass killing machine looking for a little redemption. He lives for smiles and has a real penchant for wetwork, leaving bodies - or parts of them, anyway - in his wake.
424 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2012
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82 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
March 17, 2015
I doubt the author has read any of the DC comic super hero Martian Manhunter, because there are many similarities to the comic and this book, and I doubt Mr. Allen would have written this if he'd known about the comic hero.
Some spoilers:
Both are aliens with super powers blending in to society acting a bit like a private investigator.... Justin aka Jalin (book), J'onn J'onzz (comic). Book has a chameleon-like feline who can turn invisible; comic has J'onn shape shifting and turning invisible. Book has Justin so smart he always knows/figures out/anticipates his opponents next move; comic has J'onn reading minds.
Overall, an enjoyable read. Good action, well paced. The biggest problem this novel has is the hero is too perfect. He has no challenges, and thus, there is no tension. He has more than enough money, has several safe houses stashed around the world, is smarter, stronger, faster, good looking, well trained, super experienced, two steps ahead of all the villains, the perfect teacher on many subjects, is generous with time and money, laughs in the face of danger (because there is no danger for him), has far-advanced technology aiding him even more, and sort of boring because of all of this.
The author has a great eye for details, although sometimes it felt like too many details, as if he was pointing out to me, the reader, at how much he observes in the real world. I'm teasing, mostly. There are a lot of details, and not all of them advance the plot, they're there for details' sake.
Obviously I liked the novel (4/5 stars), and I'm interested to see if any real challenges/threats come along for this character in the next two books of the series.
Some spoilers:
Both are aliens with super powers blending in to society acting a bit like a private investigator.... Justin aka Jalin (book), J'onn J'onzz (comic). Book has a chameleon-like feline who can turn invisible; comic has J'onn shape shifting and turning invisible. Book has Justin so smart he always knows/figures out/anticipates his opponents next move; comic has J'onn reading minds.
Overall, an enjoyable read. Good action, well paced. The biggest problem this novel has is the hero is too perfect. He has no challenges, and thus, there is no tension. He has more than enough money, has several safe houses stashed around the world, is smarter, stronger, faster, good looking, well trained, super experienced, two steps ahead of all the villains, the perfect teacher on many subjects, is generous with time and money, laughs in the face of danger (because there is no danger for him), has far-advanced technology aiding him even more, and sort of boring because of all of this.
The author has a great eye for details, although sometimes it felt like too many details, as if he was pointing out to me, the reader, at how much he observes in the real world. I'm teasing, mostly. There are a lot of details, and not all of them advance the plot, they're there for details' sake.
Obviously I liked the novel (4/5 stars), and I'm interested to see if any real challenges/threats come along for this character in the next two books of the series.
March 21, 2018
If you’re looking for a fast paced action shooter reminiscent of an alien James Bond on speed, then this may well be right up your street. If you’re looking for a clever, thoughtful masterpiece then keep on moving because this ain’t it. I can see it appealing to the teenage male of the human species; as I am not however a teenage male, I don’t think I’m the prime audience.
It essentially throws together an alien superhero, a ton of mob bosses and one hell of a lot of shoot em ups and knife slashing. There is some character development, but only really to make our lead hero alien dude perfect or to set him up with not one but two gorgeous women. The Russian ex mobster is perhaps the most fully fleshed out character of the lot and I found myself looking forward to scenes where he came to play.
Either way think Marvel Superheroes plus James Bond with some crack cocaine sprinkled on top for the funsies and you have this novel. It’s not a bad book by any stretch, but the main character is the male equivalent of a Mary Sue, the dialogue is frequently heavy handed and things that should have been hinted at are all too often shovelled at you with a spade...
It essentially throws together an alien superhero, a ton of mob bosses and one hell of a lot of shoot em ups and knife slashing. There is some character development, but only really to make our lead hero alien dude perfect or to set him up with not one but two gorgeous women. The Russian ex mobster is perhaps the most fully fleshed out character of the lot and I found myself looking forward to scenes where he came to play.
Either way think Marvel Superheroes plus James Bond with some crack cocaine sprinkled on top for the funsies and you have this novel. It’s not a bad book by any stretch, but the main character is the male equivalent of a Mary Sue, the dialogue is frequently heavy handed and things that should have been hinted at are all too often shovelled at you with a spade...
July 15, 2017
Sometimes, the scariest thing to do is to jump into open space. To throw yourself, with all your might, into an uncertain future. Lately, I've had my ability to read curtailed more than I could've ever thought possible, and each book I sit down to read has become a multi-month project. So when I say I have to leap blindly and hope, it's not the hyperbole it might otherwise be.
With Quincy J Allen's Chemical Burn, that leap of faith landed me directly into a fantastic haystack of a book. Right from the start, the writing leaps out as a snappy, upbeat take on what is usually a down and dour genre. The main character, even in just the first few chapters, becomes someone we can instantly relate to. Smart, funny, with a laid-back attitude and a voraciously protective nature, Justin Case is the type of protagonist so many people try to write, and so few get correct.
So many times, novels along this vein can get lost in the need for bad guys to go splat that the action passages feel tacked-on. However, Chemical Burn slowly cranks up the heat, each action piece worked seamlessly into the plot, always and forever advancing the story.
When everything crescendos, and the plot comes to its head, I was turning pages at a feverish pace, desperate to know what came next. So very few books that I pick up have that ability. I cannot recommend this work enough. To any who enjoy good intrigue, fantastically written characters, and wonderfully paced action, I cannot recommend this book to you enough. Take it with you everywhere, Justin Case.
With Quincy J Allen's Chemical Burn, that leap of faith landed me directly into a fantastic haystack of a book. Right from the start, the writing leaps out as a snappy, upbeat take on what is usually a down and dour genre. The main character, even in just the first few chapters, becomes someone we can instantly relate to. Smart, funny, with a laid-back attitude and a voraciously protective nature, Justin Case is the type of protagonist so many people try to write, and so few get correct.
So many times, novels along this vein can get lost in the need for bad guys to go splat that the action passages feel tacked-on. However, Chemical Burn slowly cranks up the heat, each action piece worked seamlessly into the plot, always and forever advancing the story.
When everything crescendos, and the plot comes to its head, I was turning pages at a feverish pace, desperate to know what came next. So very few books that I pick up have that ability. I cannot recommend this work enough. To any who enjoy good intrigue, fantastically written characters, and wonderfully paced action, I cannot recommend this book to you enough. Take it with you everywhere, Justin Case.
September 3, 2023
This is supposed to be the first of three books, but I think Quincy has abandoned the continuation of it. It's not a bad book, but there is a little too much "hand-wavium" to help the story along.
The main character is an alien from another world. He is a genetically made assassin, who escaped from his homeworld, and came to Earth around 30 years ago. He now works as a private detective/vigilante.
He has a device that can turn any door into a gateway to other places, so with the right code, he can travel from his home to Costa Rica, or anywhere he has placed a device, simply by stepping through the doorway.
The plot is a convoluted one, involving Italian mobsters, Russian mafia, a new cocaine/meth drug, and a new dry cleaning chemical that works more efficiently, along with a friend who fakes his own death to save himself, (which is the reason the main character gets involved), a secretary who is into martial arts and drives like a race-car driver, and the owner of a cafe whose father was a Navy SEAL, and taught her to be an expert sniper. Oh, and a CIA agent and an Interpol agent as well.
The main character is an alien from another world. He is a genetically made assassin, who escaped from his homeworld, and came to Earth around 30 years ago. He now works as a private detective/vigilante.
He has a device that can turn any door into a gateway to other places, so with the right code, he can travel from his home to Costa Rica, or anywhere he has placed a device, simply by stepping through the doorway.
The plot is a convoluted one, involving Italian mobsters, Russian mafia, a new cocaine/meth drug, and a new dry cleaning chemical that works more efficiently, along with a friend who fakes his own death to save himself, (which is the reason the main character gets involved), a secretary who is into martial arts and drives like a race-car driver, and the owner of a cafe whose father was a Navy SEAL, and taught her to be an expert sniper. Oh, and a CIA agent and an Interpol agent as well.
November 22, 2017
Dresden Files meets Martian Manhunter.
I really enjoyed this book. The audio was done well, and even had a similar voice to James Marshters from Dresden Files. Imagine if Harry Dresden had a bit more attitude, was a bit more violet, and said a few more curses than normal, now, imagine if he was an alien instead of a wizard. There you have it, that's exactly how this feels. I don't think the "Dresden" type humor isn't as strong as say, The Dresden Files, but it still has a bit of that style of humor that has you laughing throughout the book. When I saw this was a trilogy I got excited, until I realized it was a novel of "3 parts". The beginning was odd, then the ending tied it up, but it also made it seem like there wouldn't be any more of this series. I'd love to see this expanded into 20 novels like the Dresden Files, with different "cases" for Justin Case (Love the name, by the way) to solve.
Yes, that's right, he's also a PI, just like Dresden.
If you love the Dresden Files, and you like aliens, you definitely should check out this book!
I really enjoyed this book. The audio was done well, and even had a similar voice to James Marshters from Dresden Files. Imagine if Harry Dresden had a bit more attitude, was a bit more violet, and said a few more curses than normal, now, imagine if he was an alien instead of a wizard. There you have it, that's exactly how this feels. I don't think the "Dresden" type humor isn't as strong as say, The Dresden Files, but it still has a bit of that style of humor that has you laughing throughout the book. When I saw this was a trilogy I got excited, until I realized it was a novel of "3 parts". The beginning was odd, then the ending tied it up, but it also made it seem like there wouldn't be any more of this series. I'd love to see this expanded into 20 novels like the Dresden Files, with different "cases" for Justin Case (Love the name, by the way) to solve.
Yes, that's right, he's also a PI, just like Dresden.
If you love the Dresden Files, and you like aliens, you definitely should check out this book!
May 27, 2023
Okay this book never got any sequels and that is sad but it’s also a lot of story to get to this book? I’d rather have started at the beginning with a dead girl and a sleuth trying to find her killer in Las Vegas or any number of stories that got the cadre of characters together to be in this book. It’s more a movie that smashed a whole series a books into one adaptation. But the writing was clean and Justin is all that an more and that needed more of a slow lead up cause everything was just too perfect.
September 28, 2018
A fun entertaining action pact race with a great twist for the main character
September 1, 2015
I picked this book up at WorldCon 2015 and read it in a single day. Case is hilarious and fun, and the supporting cast really supports. The complexities of the plot kept me engaged and the minor romance angle felt natural and not contrived. All the action and violence worked and I never got confused by it.
All that said, I wish Rachel was a stronger character. As Justin's love interest, she seemed a little lackluster compared to everyone else. Not that she's flat or two-dimensional, but the rest of the characters felt more "real" than she did. Additionally, the one semi-explicit, soft-core sex scene happened after a handful of fade-to-black sex scenes, and the arrangement of them in the timeline struck an off chord for me.
The book sticks a toe or ten over the line into campy here and there, but I didn't mind because it made me laugh out loud more than once. I did feel like Justin had a little too easy of a time with the challenges he faced sometimes, yet I still found the story satisfying.
I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys action thrillers or smartass protagonists. It's definitely not appropriate for readers under age 16 and probably best suited for those 18+.
All that said, I wish Rachel was a stronger character. As Justin's love interest, she seemed a little lackluster compared to everyone else. Not that she's flat or two-dimensional, but the rest of the characters felt more "real" than she did. Additionally, the one semi-explicit, soft-core sex scene happened after a handful of fade-to-black sex scenes, and the arrangement of them in the timeline struck an off chord for me.
The book sticks a toe or ten over the line into campy here and there, but I didn't mind because it made me laugh out loud more than once. I did feel like Justin had a little too easy of a time with the challenges he faced sometimes, yet I still found the story satisfying.
I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys action thrillers or smartass protagonists. It's definitely not appropriate for readers under age 16 and probably best suited for those 18+.
August 26, 2016
I'm not saying that the protagonist is a Mary Sue, but the protagonist *is* a Mary Sue. Justin Case (good name, makes me chuckle) tries to pretend to be a normal human, but is actually an almost-unkillable alien assassin. he survived getting shot multiple times, even thrown out of an airplane. he can crack any computer system, hank into secure databases, absorb massive amounts of data quickly from the internet. oh, and all of the female characters want to have sex with him.
if that isn't a Mary Sue, then I don't know what is.
Oh, and for some reason all of the characters are either laughing, grinning or smiling grandly. seriously, it's like the author forgot there are other ways that people express emotion.
now having said all that, I actually mostly liked the book. I liked the action, I thought a couple of the characters were very well drawn, the alien technology Case had and used were pretty inventive - a spool of write that basically turns a chain link fence into a zipper, how cool is that? - and the alien cougar was awesome! I loved that cat.
All in all, I'd say this is a pretty decent book.
if that isn't a Mary Sue, then I don't know what is.
Oh, and for some reason all of the characters are either laughing, grinning or smiling grandly. seriously, it's like the author forgot there are other ways that people express emotion.
now having said all that, I actually mostly liked the book. I liked the action, I thought a couple of the characters were very well drawn, the alien technology Case had and used were pretty inventive - a spool of write that basically turns a chain link fence into a zipper, how cool is that? - and the alien cougar was awesome! I loved that cat.
All in all, I'd say this is a pretty decent book.
December 4, 2016
I was lucky enough to meet Mr. Allen at my local comic con last April and was able to hear the pitch for this book from his own mouth. He is a very fun guy and is passionate about writing which I loved to see first hand. The book is exactly what the description says but I have to say one thing. He said that it has a huge body count and is crazy with all of the killing. I guess I'm a bit desensitized because although there were some great scenes and a lot of people died I felt like it was still pretty tame and came in quick sequences that were still part of the story. In other words it wasn't senseless and random like I had pictured in my head. I also like the way Allen uses the "cross genre" to make the story a bit more interesting. I read a lot of fantasy and sci-fi so the detective style mixed with the reasonable amount of sci-fi really made this book interesting.
April 19, 2012
Noir with a scifi twist. An affable but aberrant hero, a handful of fantastic friends, evil masterminds and lunkheaded goons. Top that off with the best damn animal sidekick ever (sorry, Woola), several sidesplitting fits of laughter, and a thrilling climax, and you can see why I can't wait for the next book!
September 5, 2016
Picked this book up at DragonCon and had a blast reading it all the way through. Mobsters, action adventure, great characters, and a protagonist who is not completely what he seems, all combine for an entertaining read. There was a slight teaser at the end for another book in the series, and I hope that the author gets around to writing it soon.
February 22, 2014
Basically a modern day shoot-em-up where the protagonist has abilities because he was created as a killer on a different world. (I hate it when aliens are humans without explanation on why). His friends like killing too, once they get started.
December 8, 2015
A Fun Romp
A fun romp and a quick read. What happens when a near indestructible alien is exiled to Earth? He saves the world, while trying to decide how close he can get to his human friends.
A fun romp and a quick read. What happens when a near indestructible alien is exiled to Earth? He saves the world, while trying to decide how close he can get to his human friends.
October 1, 2012
A mysterious action adventure. Echoes of Edgar Rice Burroughs' writings and moments of serialized radio dramas. Chemical Burn has a definite pulp twist. A must read for fans of this genre.
November 7, 2016
Creative noir detective.
Hard to get behind an unflawed character...
Hard to get behind an unflawed character...
December 2, 2016
Lot of male wish-fulfillment in this plot, sort of got in the way of my enjoying it.
December 20, 2016
Wait. A Sci-Fi thriller with a wise-talking alien as the hero?! Sure! Why not. Great fun!
November 2, 2015
Full of action, no dull moment. Enjoyed reading this.
March 6, 2017
the all powerful protagonist who is an almost invincible alien who wants to play private detective on earth to redeem himself and who is also the guy that gets all the girls fawning for him... Mary sue...
still it was a fast paced and entertaining read, weird
still it was a fast paced and entertaining read, weird
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews