Strictly Analog

De: Richard Levesque

Narrado por: Steven Jay Cohen

Fans of William Gibson, Jonathan Letham, and Richard K. Morgan will enjoy Strictly Analog by Richard Levesque.

What's a private detective to do in a future where nothing is private? That's Ted Lomax's problem. In the new California, a corporation runs the government, electric cars have drive tones, and a new technology keeps everyone constantly connected to the Internet. Almost everyone.

Disabled in California's war for independence, Ted is locked out of the new tech. Living on the fringes of society for years, he's found a way to turn his disability into cash: finding clients who need their info kept off the grid.

But when his daughter is accused of murdering her boyfriend - an agent in California's Secret Police - Ted has to dig himself out of the hole he's been in. To save his daughter, he ventures into a shadow world of underground hackers, high-end programmers, and renegade gear-heads, all of whom seem to have a stake in California's future.

It soon becomes clear it's about more than one dead agent. Solving the case might save his daughter. And it might get him killed. And it just might open the door to secrets surrounding the attack that almost killed him eighteen years before.

One thing's certain, though. Ted Lomax will never be the same.

©2012 Richard Levesque (P)2014 Richard Levesque

Reseñas de la Crítica

"...Fast-paced futuristic thriller..." ( Publishers Weekly)

Strictly Analog

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed this book.A good sci fi read.The storyline was interesting and the ending not as expected.The narrator,Jay Cohen ,did a fine job with the characters voice.

Interesting Story, Slow Narration

I enjoyed the story well enough but ended up setting the playback speed to 1.5x just to make listening to it bearable, otherwise it felt like it dragged on way too slowly.

Overall Great

Really just wow. I've had a difficult time finding books to hold my interest lately. This completely held my attention. I listened to it all in one day. I just couldn't walk away.

futuristic sci fi meets detective noir

This is a very solid and imaginative read. It's a love child of Raymond Chandler's noir hard-boiled detective story and the Philip K Dick or William Gibson cyberpunk/speculative science fiction genre. It has the best of both worlds, and yet doesn't feel contrived. It's post-apocalyptic in a way that fits the genre, playing on the scarcity of some resources in a world where people take their mind off the problems with prevalent and affordable technology that allows them to enjoy the virtual world. The author creates great concepts like the "eyes" (much like Google Glasses), which allow constant interaction with online information; electric cars can be programmed to make whatever drive tone you want them to, from cats purring to reggae; and "mixing" clubs that allow partiers to experience a drug-like synesthesia (tasting colors, feeling sounds). Enter Ted Lomax, a war veteran whose injuries exclude him from using technology, and so he does his private detective job the old-fashioned way: strictly analog, through research at the library, tailing suspects, and using his knowledge of human behavior. His daughter gets framed for murder and he has to figure out who the killer is to save her from exile from the city.

The mystery itself is good - complex, twisting, and revealed at a good pace. There's conflicts with bad cops, untrustworthy dames, and cocky tech-genius outlaws. There's lots of thrills and tension and danger, car chases, and some great seedy worldbuilding. The book is wonderfully atmospheric, gritty and still full of clever humor and insight into the human condition.

I got this audiobook free fromt he author in exchange for an honest review, and I loved it from start to finish. The narrator is good, but speaks a bit laconically for the story, so I sped it up to 1.25x speed. If you like noir, PIs, and speculative Science Fiction, check this out!

Interesting possible future

This book has interesting look at possible future technology and how it's used. Entertaining with a plausible storyline.

Nice noir feel for a techno-mystery

This book is part Orwell's 1984, part Scalzi's Lock In (although this book came out before Lock In parts of it remind me of Lock In. I'm sure Lock In and this are not the only ones to have these elements to them anyway) and part... Crichton's Disclosure. Disclosure was the one with the virtual reality file storage system, wasn't it? Maybe a little ready Player One too, in terms of the dystopia where everyone is online all the time. Just without the 80's references.

Set in a world where everyone is connected to the internet semi permanently using something akin to Google Glass. Our hero, Lomax, is a war veteran private eye (aren't all private eyes war veterans?) who doesn't use the eyeware interface and prefer to do things old school. This puts him in a perfect place to investigate certain crimes and events because he looks at things differently and doesn't rely on just the electronic information.

The world it is set in - a post-succession war California, with police that verge on Orwell's thought police - is a great idea and I would be interested to read other stories set here. Levesque works through a lot of the implications and possibilities of this world, while leaving enough space to allow for more stories.

Non of the character or their actions struck me as unbelievable and the story worked pretty much organically other than one or two minor things. And those minor coincidences of story were not so much that I couldn't be just accept them and move on.

Would recommend if you are like detective stories and the possibility of where 'big data' etc is going.

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Steven Jay Cohen is enjoyable as the narrator. probably a 3.5/5 but bumped to a 4/5 cost I cant do half stars.

The voice he gives for Lomax and the general narration (which is 1st person) suits the story very well. Give is an old time noir detective story feel and provides a world weariness to the character. I don't know if this is intentional or if this is the narrators 'resting' voice. i'll give the benefit of the doubt and say it is intentional. There are a few times the tired/weariness could have gone away as the character, in that moment, should have been showing a little more excitement than was given but generally it was enough.

A variety of small changes to accent and voice also differentiate characters enough to be clear on when who is talking changes.

A few small issues existed in the narration. I felt the gate of it was a little slower than most readers. This is fine as the audible app provides speed control. Occasionally there would be slightly longer pauses mid sentence that were a little off too. Most likely when the narrator was turning the page. Nothing major.

An enjoyable work of narration, I would be happy to listen to other stuff by Seven Jay Cohen.

Disappointed

Thought this book was going to be about a person who out-thinks technology to win the day and get the girl. The author changed his mind half way through the book which reminded of the old line, “If you can’t beat them, join them”. I felt the author sold out. Boo!

I still have not finished this book...

What did you love best about Strictly Analog?

I'm half tempted to return it.Starts strong, but then hits a really slow, slow part.The book starts out strong, I enjoyed it for the first ~75% (I know, because that's what audible says I've finished so far.) The book takes a twist that I feel turns away from the promise that was made from the very beginning. As expressed, I don't yet know how it ends, so its possible the promise will be kept, but the fact that the author breaks this promise (IMO its a promise) is only one factor as to why I've lost interest.*SPOILERS FOLLOW*At the same moment the author breaks his promise (around 75%), the character is given god-like powers. Maybe the author has a good twist up ahead, maybe the god-like powers are more of a curse then they seem. In any case, when a detective has the ability to see everything, everywhere, one doesn't have to do a lot of critical thinking to put the pieces together... The whole story is laid out for him, for you, and while this would be great for you or I in real life if we're trying to solve some mystery, it doesn't make for a very good detective novel in my opinion. - Again, I haven't finish it.Also, not only are these god-like powers now part of the character, but when he uses them its boring. - The story goes from a strong, compelling story, and then it just goes flat.I'm going to try and finish this book, because I hate having an incomplete book... I may end up returning it either way.

What could Richard Levesque have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Hey, it may be a neat idea that this guy who lives in this world where everyone is cyber except him ends up getting cyber-ed up himself in some sequel, but in the first book? On top of it he gets god-like cybernetic powers? Again, in the first book.*SPOILERS*Look, maybe its a good book, I don't know - BECAUSE I HAVEN'T FINISHED IT: because I can't bring myself to keep listening to it. - But, when you call a book strictly analog, I expect the hero of the story to solve the problems, in this case a detective to solve his case, without using digital methods. - Then to be given admin access to everything on the whole Internet, the ability to read everyone's emails, and suddenly have all the evidence laid out for him to just pick up and do whatever he wants with it... Sure, sure, maybe things still get more complicated for him, sure, sure, maybe his life is in danger, the girl he's trying to rescue still needs rescued, maybe he negotiates or maybe he goes in guns blazing, but he doesn't solve the case himself, he doesn't use his own brain to put the pieces together, he gets them handed to him, in digital.... in a book called Strictly Analog.

What does Steven Jay Cohen bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I seem to recall I like(d) his reading style.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

*Spoilers*

Old geezer who hates technology learns to use the Internet.

Surprisingly good story.

It's not easy to make a digital world believable as time passes and what's possible (an impossible) seems to oscillate. Pretty good job done IMHO

Cyberpunk noir story

Due to missing eye during the last war, Ted Lomax is a strictly analog PI in a digital world. Both eyes are needed in order to use the current technology, leaving Ted out of it. He is nevertheless exploiting this handicap for his work. Not everything is recorded, not everything is seen by the digital eye, and some things can only be investigated and kept secret if one is strictly analog, like Ted. He gets the case of his life when his daughter is accused of murder, and he will have to use his secret contacts and perhaps be changed forever.

I love Richard Levesque’s cyberpunk approach to science-fiction. His characters might not be very complex, but their flaws make them relatable. Also, the stories he weaves are interesting, intriguing, and well written, and this one is no exception. What seemed a simple mishap hid a complex plot full of lies and conspiracies. In this story, nothing is what it seems, and there were several twists that I did not see coming, making for an exciting listen.

Richard Levesque’s writing style includes is very descriptive giving the reader the feeling of watching a movie, making it approachable and enjoyable.

Steven Jay Cohen was spot on in this audiobook. His expressive narration style brought the characters to life in a natural way, without making dialogs sound forced. The narration helped to make the story flow and become memorable.

I think this is one of my favorite Richard Levesque’s books. A must-listen if you are into cyberpunk.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.