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Devil Knocks
It is 2031, and beyond the lawless inner city lie the badlands where chemical and biological cesspools have driven nature to delirium and disorder. Massive superhighways crisscross the ruined countryside, promising a one-way ticket to anybody's worst nightmare.
Denver is a police state—and a revolution waiting to happen. Jake Strait's job runs more to knocking off killers, not toppling cities. But things get hot enough in his particular corner of hell that hurtling across a toxic wasteland against an impregnable fortress looks good.
Denver is a police state—and a revolution waiting to happen. Jake Strait's job runs more to knocking off killers, not toppling cities. But things get hot enough in his particular corner of hell that hurtling across a toxic wasteland against an impregnable fortress looks good.
- GenresScience Fiction
224 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1993
11 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 12, 2017
Monty Python overthrows a totalitarian regime as written by Douglas Adams. Well, not really. This was book two of The Jake Strait series. Way better than the first. Jake is a Bogeyman. A hired killer or bounty hunter in the year 2031.
We start off with Jake killing a pimp. Not a big deal, but this pimp was in the pimp union. In other words, untouchable. So Jake has to get out of the city. Enter some rich folks from the Hill. The richest part of town. They want him to overthrow Denver. A Party stronghold. So begins our wild road trip across country. He has a babysitter named Bruce, who he does not like. He picks up a skimmer pilot named George who is a drug addict as well as totally insane. They pick up a female who's boyfriend was killed at a gas station the team was at. The four meet up with a cast of crazy characters that are funny as hell. Once in Denver Jake enlists a revrock band to help in the revolution. We also get a prophet who may or may not be on the side of the Party.
This was one of the best Gold Eagle books I have ever read. Most of their books, at least from the 80's had little to no humor in them. This one broke the mold. They action was electrifying. The characters were fun and very likable. But the best thing about this for me was the dialogue between Jake and the many people he deals with. It made me laugh out loud a few times. Very rare from a action book. I loved this book cover to cover. A great start. The middle keeps rolling along. The end was great. Very, very recommend if you like action sci-fi that is not overly pretentious.
We start off with Jake killing a pimp. Not a big deal, but this pimp was in the pimp union. In other words, untouchable. So Jake has to get out of the city. Enter some rich folks from the Hill. The richest part of town. They want him to overthrow Denver. A Party stronghold. So begins our wild road trip across country. He has a babysitter named Bruce, who he does not like. He picks up a skimmer pilot named George who is a drug addict as well as totally insane. They pick up a female who's boyfriend was killed at a gas station the team was at. The four meet up with a cast of crazy characters that are funny as hell. Once in Denver Jake enlists a revrock band to help in the revolution. We also get a prophet who may or may not be on the side of the Party.
This was one of the best Gold Eagle books I have ever read. Most of their books, at least from the 80's had little to no humor in them. This one broke the mold. They action was electrifying. The characters were fun and very likable. But the best thing about this for me was the dialogue between Jake and the many people he deals with. It made me laugh out loud a few times. Very rare from a action book. I loved this book cover to cover. A great start. The middle keeps rolling along. The end was great. Very, very recommend if you like action sci-fi that is not overly pretentious.
September 17, 2022
What is this series? Why does it exist? Why does the main character do any of the things he does? Who is Frank Rich? Why do I keep reading these? These are mysteries I have no answers to.
The first novel in the series, Avenging Angel, wasn't a good book, but at least Jake had clear motives, realistic conversations with other characters, essentially normal and reasonably predictable (or at least understandable) behavior. Backstory is peppered into an cohesive plot. It makes sense.
Devil Knocks is Avenging Angel on acid and maybe PCP. The first few chapters absolutely screech by, plot-wise. Jake is the narrator, so you'd expect to see his thoughts and intentions pretty easily. Maybe not the overall story - we love an unreliable narrator - but at least him. Nope! He acts randomly and wildly with no apparent purpose or end to most of his choices. He doesn't think about anything, he just tells you what he and the other characters did. Maybe this is intentional? Maybe Frank is trying to evoke specific feelings instead of story? It just makes me feel like I'm watching the driving scenes from the Fear & Loathing movie on a boring loop. Why do I care about any of these characters? Why do they care about each other? Why does anyone stick around Jake? He sucks, he's just a horrible person. Which is totally fine, I guess, that could be fun in another story, but it doesn't make sense why any of these other characters care about him. The road trip scenes last way too long, but once they're over this book doesn't get any less unhinged - which might actually be to its benefit, because if it got any more boring I'm sure I would have put it down. The ending doesn't really make any sense, partly because again everything hinges on people giving a shit about Jake, which is entirely unrealistic to me.
And, just, there are so many weird things in this book and the series as a whole, and I don't know how to even talk about most them, but here's a specific one about the epilogue: If your forty something main character is literally referring to another person as a child, he should not be fucking that person.
(This review was partially previously posted on my Twitter account.)
The first novel in the series, Avenging Angel, wasn't a good book, but at least Jake had clear motives, realistic conversations with other characters, essentially normal and reasonably predictable (or at least understandable) behavior. Backstory is peppered into an cohesive plot. It makes sense.
Devil Knocks is Avenging Angel on acid and maybe PCP. The first few chapters absolutely screech by, plot-wise. Jake is the narrator, so you'd expect to see his thoughts and intentions pretty easily. Maybe not the overall story - we love an unreliable narrator - but at least him. Nope! He acts randomly and wildly with no apparent purpose or end to most of his choices. He doesn't think about anything, he just tells you what he and the other characters did. Maybe this is intentional? Maybe Frank is trying to evoke specific feelings instead of story? It just makes me feel like I'm watching the driving scenes from the Fear & Loathing movie on a boring loop. Why do I care about any of these characters? Why do they care about each other? Why does anyone stick around Jake? He sucks, he's just a horrible person. Which is totally fine, I guess, that could be fun in another story, but it doesn't make sense why any of these other characters care about him. The road trip scenes last way too long, but once they're over this book doesn't get any less unhinged - which might actually be to its benefit, because if it got any more boring I'm sure I would have put it down. The ending doesn't really make any sense, partly because again everything hinges on people giving a shit about Jake, which is entirely unrealistic to me.
And, just, there are so many weird things in this book and the series as a whole, and I don't know how to even talk about most them, but here's a specific one about the epilogue: If your forty something main character is literally referring to another person as a child, he should not be fucking that person.
(This review was partially previously posted on my Twitter account.)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews