Top line: I’ve just finished reading John Twelve Hawks’ two connected books, The Traveler and The Dark River, and I recommend both. Especially the first, but when you’ve read the first you’ll want to read the second.
The Traveler is a tightly-written, suspenseful conspiracy novel that is tethered to the actual conspiracy unfolding against citizens in America today: the continuing extension of our surveillance society. Author John Twelve Hawks grippingly writes about the methodically amoral search-and-destroy mission of authoritarians sitting at the bridge of government and corporation against people living “off the grid” designed to monitor and control us. JTH’s heroes are those on the run from, and those fighting against, this system. I have sympathy for the author’s point of view, and respect for his ability to describe the effects of surveillance on human behavior, but I enjoyed The Traveler as a well-written suspense yarn, too. You can’t help but notice a typical hero-on-a-quest, Darth-Vader-are-you-my-daddy, battle-stations, find-The-One, I-love-you-Neo arc here, but it’s well executed. This isn’t high litracha, but it is a great way to spend a night under a lamp with the darkness creeping ever nearer, ever nearer…
…The Traveler is book one in a series. Book three hasn’t been released yet, and Book two suffers from classic Middle Book syndrome: the heroes travel here, and then they go there, and exposition continues yonder… it sags a bit, and begins to take its metaphysical metaphor too literally. But I wanted to read it anyway, because Book one sucked me in so darned well.
I got these books from the Library. Now that The Vast Machine knows I’ve read them, boy am I in trouble. Get yourself in trouble, too.
Yeah, i found the books fascinating, timely and an easy read. This is movie material! i can’t wait for the final book to come out.
When I was reading The Traveler, I thought to myself, “Man, Tom would just love this stuff.” Glad to know you’ve found it.
Thanks, Jim.
Didn’t i mention The Traveler in a comment a ways back? If not, i meant to. Glad to see you’re promoting it.
Yeah, I mean look, some people may need fiction to grasp the problems associated with the reality of the surveillance society around us. If this piece of fiction with ample reference to that reality can slap some people awake, good. In the meantime, it’s a fun book to read just for entertainment. Get it at your local library so Homeland Security can know you read it for sure.