Killing Time

This book is somewhat interesting in that it gives a historian a chance to turn his perspective forward and envision the future. And some of Carr's prophecies are thought-provoking (though not necessarily original) and cause for a "hmmmmmm...", particularly knowing they were constructed pre-9/11.

However, the characters are one-dimensional and hastily developed, the "technology-may-be-harmful" message is delivered so forcefully that it becomes obnoxious despite its air of truth, and ultimately the plot transitions are so poor that the story can't stand as much more than an infantile adventure.

Knowing Caleb Carr only by his reputation for his previous two novels, I thought this might be an interesting introduction to his work for an old sci-fi buff like myself. I was wrong. The book is enticing enough with promise to keep one paging forward but it really never delivers. Nothing in it is new though it struggles to remain game and enticing with a real plethora of fake foreshadowing and come ons. I am only 3/4 of the way through and, though I intend to gut it on out, I will be extremely surprised if the end is any different from what I have already guessed it will be. If anything, this demeans the genre and I would respectfully ask Caleb to return to what he does best and leave the hallowed halls of Heinlein, Asimov, Pohl, Cherryh and the immortal Phillip K Dick undisturbed in the future.

I was hesitant to read this book, because I generally prefer historic novels. However, I was compelled to take a risk because of Caleb Carr's masterful style. Although I preferred "Angel of Darkness" and "The Alienist," it was well worth the risk. Carr's understanding and portrayal of the dynamics of human relationships is remarkable. His characters are well constructed and find themselves involved in a drama that may be based more in reality than we would like to think! It is an incredible, insightful look ahead with a great twist ending. I would recommend that any fan of Carr's skip the hesitation and jump right in as this accomplished author moves into a new genre!

This is the most disappointing book I have read in a long time. As with the other reviewers, I became a Caleb Carr fan through his previous two books, and I bought this one as soon as I saw it. I can only think he decided to make a quick buck off of his name or he simply wanted a vehicle for his book long diatribe against modern society and its technological trappings. The plot is contrived and illogical, and the characters are shallow to the point of cartoonish. Even the science, what there is of it in the book, is bad. The hand held "rail gun" that purportedly delivered enough energy to disintegrate a human body into small pieces would have enough recoil to kill the user. In the chase of the fanatic terrorist the group had ample opportunities to eliminate him but the author contrived illogical reasons why they could not do so in order to keep the chase going. I just wish the rating system allowed for zero stars. This book earned it.

Call it intellectual, philosophical, prophetic, whatever. I call it boring and opaque. I felt like I was reading someone's undergraduate assignment.

I chose to read this book because I heard Carr was a great writer. I assume this is true for his other books, but this book is just beyond boring. It is less of a story and more of a string of worst case scenarios for Carr's predictions for the future.

Sure, it may be a commentary on today's problems and what will go wrong if we do not straighten up, but I really did not care as I was reading it. He just did not connect with me as a reader. Frankly, I'd rather read a non-fiction social commentary than an essay pretending to be fiction.

Skip it. Read his other books.

Killing Time is the fifth studio release from the New York based punk quartet Bayside. Bayside has always been know for their catchy choruses, aggressive guitars, and heart felt lyrics, and Killing Time makes no exception. The album starts off with "Already Gone", from the first second the song starts, it's in your face and with no sign of ending. Bayside demonstrates their trademark sound, with the unparalleled guitar style of Jack O'Shea, and the ever familiar singing of lead singer Anthony Raneri. "Sick, Sick, Sick" is one of my favorite tracks on the album. It reminds me of older Bayside with a new edge and energy. Raneri digs deep into his soul on this track about his former wife. Raneri has the ability of writing his personal feelings into a song that anyone can relate to on a personal level. "Mona Lisa" has a pendulous beat that encompasses the listener into a trance. The bridge reminds me a lot of "The Walking Wounded" with a tuba, accordion and other instruments present in the background. "It's Not a Bad Little War" is about taking a chance at what you love, and doing your best at it. I believe it is about Raneri's personal reflection on his life in music, and what he really wanted to do with his life. "Sinking and Swimming on Long Island", really demonstrates the honesty that Bayside is known for in their music. With lines like "the harder you work, the harder you fall, you wake up one day with nothing at all", any listener can connect to this song, and relate it to their own life. "Seeing Sound" is probably the most catchy song on the entire album. It's the kind of song that makes you feel light, and without a worry in the world. Full of character and Da da da dum's you'll want to replay this song over and over. "The Wrong Way" starts off with a nice drum fill by drummer Chris Gugliermo. This song is lyrically reminds me a lot of older Bayside. The lyrics have a dark side that you would expect from Bayside, but also includes many positive lyrics, like "I believe in futures", and "make it so tomorrow starts today". "On Love, On Life", displays some amazing song writing from these guys, and really shows the transformation they have gone through as artists. I particularly like this song because it continues to show the experimentation that the band has done with not-so-conventional instruments in the alternative music scene. "The New Flesh" has one of the most unique lead guitar parts on the entire record. The back up vocals add great depth to the song, and really back up Raneri's passion. The title track "Killing Time" starts of with a chuggy intro that sets the tone of the song while still keeping the sound that is carried throughout the album. Again, this song is brutally honest and easy to relate to. This song is meant to be played loud! It has a "let it all out" kind of feel, that is aimed to make the listener smile.
The only problem that I had with this album was its length! I felt like it was similar to a good party that ended before midnight. I wanted to keep going on with the rocking but it ended. Aside from its length, Killing Time is an amazing album and really demonstrates what Bayside is, has become, and what is in store for future releases.

Caleb Carr is best known for mysteries set in nineteenth-century New York. This book is set in the twenty-first century but reads like nineteenth-century SF i.e. Verne or Wells. The parallels to Captain Nemo and the Nautilus are especially strong. So fans of Gibsonesque cyberpunk won't like it. The technology is sketchily described and blaming the Internet for the virtual collapse of civilization is a little simplistic. There are also logical lapses. For example in one chapter Carr descibes how dead the ocean is, fish having been wiped out by pollution and overfishing. In the next he descibes the teeming seabirds on the Scottish island of St. Kilda. So what exactly are the birds feeding on? On the other hand the story really moves and the characters are well drawn and likable. All in all the book might be worth buying used or checking out at the library. But I don't think I'd pay full price for it.

I agree with the comments of the other reviewers-- this book is a major disappointment considering the author's previous two novels. Where Carr seemed masterful in his other books describing, in exquisite detail, the historical surroundings in which his characters found themselves, we are treated to none of that in this book. While the premise is interesting, it is certainly nothing original to science fiction fans-- this same premise has been written better and with more style many times before. The worst disappointment has to be the character development (a strong point in Carr's earlier novels). These characters are paper-thin and cliche. Halfway through the novel, I came to the startling revelation that the characters were less like the sort I would expect in a Caleb Carr novel-- and more like what I would find in a saturday morning episode of the Superfriends (I half expected the female romantic interest to whip out a lasso of truth). Galavanting around the world in various unbelievable episodes, these characters were merely plot devices for Mr. Carr's diatribe against our growing ignorance and dependence on "information" from a multitude of sources.

Judging by some of the other reviews here I think people missed the author's intent. This book is an homage to Jules Verne, HG Wells, and other lterary science adventures of the past. Coincidentally I had read 20,000 Leagues, Master of the World, and Journey to the Center of the Earth just a few months ago. Carr captures the flavor of those books perfectly. Channeling the confident passion with which they were written. I wish I had a better understanding of the era when those Verne books were first published. I surmise the world was on the cusp of tremendous change fostered by science and technology. Times similar to our own. When I read those Verne books I didn't quite get their appeal. I was coming at them from a modern perspective. But after reading Carr's book, I understood how it must've felt to read them when they were new. Does any of this make sense? Put Killing Time in the proper context and you'll be blown away by it's brilliance.

I give it two stars for having potential... the folks saying this is the WORST book they've ever read obviously have never tried "Princess Bride" or read fanfic. Carr at least can punctuate, capitalize, write in complete sentence and never abuses a parenthese. That having said, this book is FAR from being good. I think he should have read more in the SF genre before attempting this. My suspension of disbelief was rarely willing nor complete viable, particularly with his air/space/submarine ship. Truly how DID that thing get around without causing massive air crashes and all sorts of environmental damage?
Maybe I'm just an old cynical historian, but did you REALLy think that the nature of government would truly cahnge all that much over time. Is it really shocking, particularly to old SF readers, that governments in the future would be as repressive and governments in the past? In all honest, modern city governments in the Industrialized nations wield power over their citizen that medieval tyrants would have KILLED to wield.

Three things that struck me most forcefully were:

1. His lack of descriptive detail, I never managed to "forget" I was just reading a book. He writes early in the book "The results of this 'revelation' I hardly need record-"

Um yes Mr. Carr, you DO need to record them as your reading audience does NOT live in the dystopian world of your hero. We do need some details. Another 50 to one hundred pages would have fleshed out the book nicely and pulled the characters out of their two dimensional status.

2. Later in the book he talks of a breakdown in hospital procedure leading to massive strep outbreaks. Really? I mean really? Even giving that this was written in 2000 and well before the Swine Flu panic, it really makes no sense and reduced me to laughing til I dropped the book as I had been in my doctor's office the prior week and because I had a sore throat, I wasn't certain that the receptionist was even going to allow me in the building to infect other people.

3. The narrative, truly a horrible choice of writing style. By making it a narrative, I felt that Carr trampled the maxim of "show don't tell" In all honesty, the book felt like it had been written by an amateur or a teenager, it just had a very "immature" feel and style.

And I won't even address the decision to introduce time travel into the plot in the last FIFTY pages! Must we have EVERY SF cliche present?I give it two stars for having potential... the folks saying this is the WORST book they've ever read obviously have never tried "Princess Bride" or read fanfic. Carr at least can punctuate, capitalize, write in complete sentence and never abuses a parenthese. That having said, this book is FAR from being good. I think he should have read more in the SF genre before attempting this. My suspension of disbelief was rarely willing nor complete viable, particularly with his air/space/submarine ship. Truly how DID that thing get around without causing massive air crashes and all sorts of environmental damage?

Three things that struck me most forcefully were:

1. His lack of descriptive detail, I never managed to "forget" I was just reading a book. He writes early in the book "The results of this 'revelation' I hardly need record-"

Um yes Mr. Carr, you DO need to record them as your reading audience does NOT live in the dystopian world of your hero. We do need some details. Another 50 to one hundred pages would have fleshed out the book nicely and pulled the characters out of their two dimensional status.

2. On pg 145, he talks of a breakdown in hospital procedure leading to massive strep outbreaks. Really? I mean really? Even giving that this was written in 2000 and well before the Swine Flu panic, it really makes no sense and reduced me to laughing til I dropped the book as I had been in my doctor's office the prior week and because I had a sore throat, I wasn't certain that the receptionist was even going to allow me in the building to infect other people.

3. The narrative, truly a horrible choice of writing style. By making it a narrative, I felt that Carr trampled the maxim of "show, don't tell" In all honesty, the book felt like it had been written by an amateur or a teenager, it just had a very "immature" feel and style.

And I won't even address the decision to introduce time travel into the plot in the last FIFTY pages! Must we have EVERY SF cliche present?

Beware Caleb Carr fans. I could have taken a near future premise if it had any foundation in fact or logic, but it doesn't. I got to page 83 and found it unbearable to go further. His characters are unsufferable. I don't care one whit about what happens to any of them. The diction is pompous. The writing full of irrelevant and gratuitious asides and conclusions.
Here is a sample, typical sentence, "As we approached and then entered the armory--a compartment filled with racks of weapons unlike anything I'd ever seen--Eli and Jonah told me that the first members of the team to find their way to one another had been themselves and Malcolm, who had all been in the same class at Yale."
No positive description of the armory or the weapons. How does the reader get a mental picture out of this? If it is nothing like what he has seen, WHAT IS IT LIKE? Why don't we hear Eli and Jonah talking about this? If it's not important enough for dialogue, why are sentences like this one constantly in the story.
This is not only a departure from his former well-written historical novels, it is a departure from good writing period.
This book taught me a good lesson -- I will never buy a book based just on the author's name. I will read the reviews first!

Ever since I read The Alienist, I have touted the brilliance of Mr. Carr. Angel of Darkness was a lesser effort, but I continued to praise the author's writing to anyone who would listen. I have been waiting anxiously for his next novel. I don't read his books, I savor each word, marveling at his abilities. As I began doing with this book. I was so thoroughly bored, however, that I gave up half way through. So, I have to ask, did someone mistakening put his name on the cover? The characters are cartoonish, the action boring, and the ending, well, I'll never know. I think I will reread The Alienist instead.

Over all, a decent read but the story plodded along and Carr doesn't fully develop the dismay protagonist must have felt in his situation as much as I think he could have. Additionally, this novel felt short. What I mean by that is that more of the storyline could have been developed. It felt more like a short story. It is probably important to remember this was originally serialized in Time magazine in 2000.
I am hoping this is not indicative of Carr's future work because I really loved the "Alienist" and "The angel of darkness."

Ever since I read The Alienist, I have touted the brilliance of Mr. Carr. Angel of Darkness was a lesser effort, but I continued to praise the author's writing to anyone who would listen. I have been waiting anxiously for his next novel. I don't read his books, I savor each word, marveling at his abilities. As I began doing with this book. I was so thoroughly bored, however, that I gave up half way through. So, I have to ask, did someone mistakening put his name on the cover? The characters are cartoonish, the action boring, and the ending, well, I'll never know. I think I will reread The Alienist instead.

Over all, a decent read but the story plodded along and Carr doesn't fully develop the dismay protagonist must have felt in his situation as much as I think he could have. Additionally, this novel felt short. What I mean by that is that more of the storyline could have been developed. It felt more like a short story. It is probably important to remember this was originally serialized in Time magazine in 2000.
I am hoping this is not indicative of Carr's future work because I really loved the "Alienist" and "The angel of darkness."

I bought this book because I really enjoyed The Alienist and the Angel of Darkness. Those books had memorable characters and complicated, deep plots. They were excellent mysteries that made it on to my "top shelf".
This book, however, reminds me of schlocky sci-fi from the 40s and 50s. It reads almost like the plot to a cheesy action movie. It might have been enjoyable if I had not read Caleb Carr's other books and been expecting something different. If you are expecting the same, beware!

Killing Time is the first Carr novel I have read, and I must say I probably will not read the others. To start, I agree with many of the other reviewers in the opinion that the characters and their development were the biggest problem with the novel, They bland and two-dimentional enough that at times I couldn't tell many of them apart -- and it didn't really matter to the story if I didn't. For the most part they were either mouthpieces or soundingboards for the books philisophical roots, with no real life of their own. The attempt to imbue Larissa with any humanity by making her wear the "I was the victim of incest" hat was especially annoying. With characters lacking so much, the plot could also be considered abyssmal. It is full of devices which drag out situations beyond reason in order to prolong the predictable suspense. Many parts, and especially the ending have major problems (excuse me, mr. carr, there seems to be a novel in your plot holes). It may be that some of the offenses to the book's pacing stem from the serial publication, but one only has to read dickens or, more recently, banana yoshimoto to know that this is not inevitable. This said, the book is pretty much a failure as a novel.
I gave it three stars only because many of the ideas were interesting and entertaining (the haoxes, the analog archipelego). Butthe books' flaw is that the elements of its story are simply vessels for these ideas, with no value of their own. So -- the book would have made a good, lively essay and could have kept many of the fun elements if Carr had so chosen. As is, it does seem like an early draft of a novel from a college workshop.

I read both the Alienist and Angel of Darkness and found them engaging, authentic, and incredibly enjoyable. So what happened? I think the previous reviewers hit the nail on the head, the plot was laughable, the characters were about as interesting as nails and his version of the future seemed ultra-contrite.
As for the prose, did an adverb bomb explode all over his computer? If had read one more line like 'He ran quickly...' I was going to scream.
I can't believe I wasted twenty buck on it...

What should have remained a provocative essay for the major magazines fell prey to the desire for a little holiday money for Carr's publishers, if not Carr himself. Because it is a padded extension of that essay, spinning out a hackneyed view of Earth of the future that Carr has no idea how to make compelling or real, "Killing Time" is neither involving, nor believable (as the original essay was), nor, conversely, so fascinating a fantasy that the reader willingly loses him or herself in the story. As a result, Carr fails to contribute to his own legacy begun with The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness. Perhaps he should take a lesson from Arthur Conan Doyle. Best remembered for the Sherlock Holmes adventures, Conan Doyle attempted to wrest himself from the burden of that character with such silliness as "The Green Belt"...which attempted a fantasy in which a poisonous green belt of gas threatens the existence of all humanity...but, in the end, fails, due to the efforts of a small band of stalwart castaways. Bottom line: Don't alienate your appreciation for Caleb Carr by reading this.

The ranking and reviews are spot on. How can someone who wrote the Alienist churn out something as embarrassing as this? This feels as if maybe Mr. Carr had a late mortgage payment, and wrote a derivative sci-fi book to cover the expense? Maybe that statement is not fair. I think I feel a little betrayed and perhaps that is why. I raced out to buy the lastest Caleb Carr book the day it was released and I felt so let down after reading this.

Some authors are wonderful and write compelling literature, some authors are not as gifted but nevertheless write entertaining books that are enjoyable, and some authors are just bad. But authors are generally consistent. If I pick up Clive Cussler I am not expecting literature. If I pick up Caleb Carr though I do expect something more than what I got with Killing Time. If I were Caleb Carr I would have been ashamed, nor mortified, to see this book published and have it stand next to this likes of the Alienist. My bitter thought after reading this is that I would have happily given Mr. Carr another $20 for just my enjoyable memories of the Alienist; he did not need to deceive me out of it with this book.

In the afterword, Carr thanks his agent for getting him this assignment. You got to be kidding, man. Who in their right mind would 'assign' somebody a novel? I blame the publishers for fumbling the ball on this one. The idea was great, but the follow-through was horrific.
The publishers, if they had any guts, should have fired the writer and hired someone with real talent and imagination and story-telling ability. I would rather read John Grisham's interpretation of this idea. I would at least be entertained....

Celeb Carr is known for his historical fiction thrillers (which I loved). Here he tries to tackle the future.. hence science fiction. My advice is he lay off the latter. The novel is very weak science fiction, the premise weak, and the story is put together in a way remenicent of light weight serial novella of old while trying to make a serious point which instead sounds silly. The results are that the novel is not fun to read. Save your money and buy his earlier work instead.

If you love to hate Bill Gates, Killing Time offers a portrait of a villainous information age tycoon that should fit quite well with your world view. Unfortunately, that's about all it offers. It shouldn't have been like that. The premise of this novel, that information is not knowledge and the Internet is a lousy place to go if you are looking for the truth, is marvelously rich with possibility. But that premise is sacrificed almost immediately to the trite, predictible workings of a sci-fi pot boiler. I've seen Flash Gordon episodes with better drawn characters, and Marvel comics (from which genre Carr seems to have borrowed profusely) with more believable story lines. Having read The Alienist, I know that Carr can do much better. I hope that next time he takes more care for the quality of his work.

This is a comic book without the pictures. I cannot imagine it being of interest to anyone other than ten (okay, eight) year old boys. It has the characters and plotline of a shuffled deck of Pokemon(r) cards and clunky prose to boot. It is a serious, fatal mistake to make your narrator a pompous professorial type and then keep illustrating his pomposity ad nauseam. I literally could not finish it and really would like my money back. Carr's previous books were of an uneven quality but this is a surprisingly bad development. Read the instruction manual for your VCR before you start this one; it has better science, clearer prose, more interesting characters and a better plot.

Did the man who wrote the gripping and articulate Angel of Darkness and The Alienist write this thing? I can't believe it. It reads like a bad college attempt at a novel. Characters are flimsy, the narrator is voluble but without form, and the constant message that things will get unimaginably worse and so and so will feel incredibly worse...well, it has to be either another person's book under Carr's name or some ploy to earn a few dollars on a discarded manuscript. The ideology of it is childish. Yikes.

I like the whole disinformation angle. The islamist assasination in the US becomes a pretext to send troops to Afghanistan and then the attack on the afghani terrorist leader had a truly bizare foreshadowing of the caves where "the director" and his minions actually really did fight US troops. This book is mostly whimsy and grim near future. Some plodding dialogue.

This was written post Clinton admin missle strike attacks on Afghani targets, and the threat was identified. Still, the thing about Afghanistan is eery. Caleb Carr later day Nostradamus? : ) I would rather another Alienist type historical fiction novel.

Having read other books by Caleb Carr, I expected a lot of this book, which I bought sight unseen. BIG MISTAKE. I am a science fiction fan as well as a mystery fan, and Killing Time is a waste of time in either genre. The characters are so shallow that even cartoons do better. Carr's idea of character differentiation is to make one character call everything (machines, food, ideas) 'sexy' while another is constantly putting the make on every male she meets. The plot is somewhat weaker than the characters. Save yourself some time and money and give this book a pass!

Caleb Carr's novel of the future, Killing Time, deals with issues that are very pertinent and very important in our modern world today. He highlights the role of corporations and mass media, attacks first world/third world relations, and makes us question our reliance on technology. In this novel the information we learn from and base our lives on is brought into question. In the near future setting, the world has been racked by more than its fair share of tragedy (economic collapse, a Staphylococcus epidemic, assassinations, etc). Global and national tensions are at an all time high as corporations and media outlets begin to equal governments in power and authority. The media has the capability to create as much destruction as any army or to sway opinions as effectively as any demagogue.

In this environment a small group of information-terrorists seek to undermine this power. They travel the world altering information trying to show how addicted the population has become on information. Their actions however tend to have the opposite effect. People and governments have become so dependent on information and believe in it so blindly that they'll accept anything thrown at them without question. The actions and reactions of nations in this story are frighteningly similar to those that we see in the modern day international political and military landscape. At times you'll wonder if this is as fictional as it's labeled to be.

A few pages into this book I stopped and thought "what ...is this!?!"
This book seems to be a collection of cardboard characters that have been combined with Mr. Carr's laundry list of complaints about current society and government. I've read Red Chinese propaganda from the Cultural Revolution that was subtler!
Gee, so ya think the Internet leads to a dissemination of bad science and half truths? Why don�t you pound it in our heads over and over again throughout the book? No, 25 times isn�t enough! Please repeat it like a mantra!
Yeesh.
That and it also reads bad makeover of a Doc Savage novel with a dash of clumsy sexuality added.
I really don't understand what happened after the two "Alienist" books but this was 99% worse than either of those.
I so wanted to like this novel, but it took all my effort to finish it off.
All I can say is "WOW�... much as I would when seeing a car wreck.
Mr Carr, better luck next time.

Carr's pessimistic view of the future and the preachy fashion in which it's presented made this book hard to finish, although with effort, I made it through. Carr's previous novels far surpassed this piece of work. The ideas and the plot definitely had potential, but Carr just couldn't quite fulfill it. This book seemed to be written more for Carr's ideas of the future, and not for thrills and suspense.
Recommend...The library

I hardly ever purchase hardcovers for myself any more. But I just couldn't resist this one when I stumbled on it while christmas shopping. I had been anxiously looking for Carr's next next literary foray -- I wasnt' going to wait another year until this one was printed in paperback. I don't regret the decision.
This near-future novel set in a reality of extremes occasionally reminded me of Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale," even though its extremes and terrors were of a decidedly different nature.
It is an imaginative novel, sharply departing from the subject matter and style of "The Alienist" and "The Angel of Darkness." I confess to having become a great deal more wrapped-up in those two than I was in "Killing Time." This is of little consequence, though, when one enjoys a novel for itself.

From the unexplained suspension in the protagonist's common sense to the world-renowned scientists performance of feats of strength and agility to the predictable bedding of the "beautiful sister of the mastermind" by the hero (or visa versa), this book is full of things that make you say - "this book is missing some pages."
For some reason, I kept reading...maybe it's the vague resemblance of the insane yet brilliant brother-sister combo to the villains of the old TV show Wiseguy.

KILLING TIME gives the impression of a comic serial-turned-novel. One-dimensional gleefully exaggerated characters, weapons and technology out of second-rate sci-fi movies, and artificial dialogue liberally sprinkled with exclamation points. In a way it's a light read, but it's also heavy food for thought. Kinda creepy reading it now, so soon after the terrorist attacks.

Granted, "Killing Time" was rather flat compared to the richer works of the author, but I can see how he might have wanted to escape from the rather restraining neighborhood of New York, late 1800s. This story started out as a serialized novel in TIME magazine, which explains the cheesy "But THEN something TRULY interesting happenned (turn the page)" endings. It's a (hopefully) intentional Verne/ Wells homage, and as such it feels dated in many ways, but then this is a book built around one simple (very simple) premise: Information Isn't Knowledge. True. Yes, it's far from a great book, but much worse hits the top of the bestseller lists with astounding frequency, so don't worry about the generally bad reviews. Maybe you'll enjoy a nostalgic juvenile adventure, and in that case, you can find worse ways to, er, kill time.

From time to time this book showed great potential, but the love affair between Gideon Wolfe and Malcolm's sister seemed like something out of a 1956 B movie. I didn't find Wolfe to have much depth and the rest of the characters were not explored enough. It was just okay and nothing more. I have come to expect much more from Carr.

In Caleb Carr's newest fiction foray, Killing Time, his protagonist, Dr. Gideon Wolfe faces a Global Village that would have made Marshall McLuhan shout "I told you so!"
As McLuhan predicted, too much information quickly sets in place a series of cataclysmic events, not the least of which is worldwide political imbalance and total forfeiture of government authority to global corporations. The insidious part is that people in general don't know this is happening, believing these puppet governments are still in charge. Predictably, the corporations have made decisions based on good business, not good environment--turning Earth into a wasteland, and creating, among other things, a mean planet--rife with disease and poverty and water wars. Third World countries have de-evolved into havens for syndicate dictators and black market mercenaries.
Like his previous novel, The Alienist, Carr's story begins in New York City. But it quickly departs this familiar territory for imagined terrains unknown. Like his Alienist protagonist, Killing Time's hero, Dr. Gideon Wolfe, has a love of criminal psychology and a soft spot for misfits. But the environs described in this story are not as painstakingly painted as in Carr's Alienist world.
In Killing Time, the Internet is like a character--the epicenter of everything--including business transactions and government. All news is ravenously devoured, regardless of truth or fact. Information, once a commodity, has evolved into an addiction--like an intravenous data drip And everyone in the world is a junkie. This overwhelming curiosity creates a suitable environment for spin doctors to play God and change geopolitical dynamics with artificially created news and history.
It's a role for which Dr. Gideon Wolfe abandons his life as a prominent criminal psychologist and professor to join a band of renegades with a disinformation agenda. United for the cause and supported financially by an independently wealthy son of an Internet mogul, this team of accomplished [but flawed] misfits sets about "righting" some of history's "wrongs," by delicately putting a new spin on previously recorded facts. In this penultimate game of control, false documents, lies and general history re-writing is considered a reasonable cost of this war on business.
Still, Carr manages to snare the reader by writing in a style tha tmkaes you think Dr. Wolfe is telling you his adventure over drinks--or through a diary. The first-hand narrative is what makes you care about Wolfe, and the people he grows to admire and love in the story. His fluid writing style draws you into each scene and guides your imagination to fill in the blanks where appropriate. And despite the dark surroundings, the year 2023 isn't all bad for Wolfe--and us, in this techno romp through muddy oceans and nuclear armies.
Carr, also known for his non-fiction historical essays, manages to create an interesting group of characters, some of which are more fleshed out than others. And he hits all the basic "how-to-write-a-story" marks. His love of history [and New York City] is clearly visible in his efforts to weave specific events into his story quilt. And while this novel is not nearly as beautiful as his ugly serial killer tome, The Alienist, it's still time well spent.

Terrible, terrible book. I foolishly bought it without reading a single review here or elsewhere. I enjoyed "The Alienist" and was looking for something new to read - but this is an awful waste. In penance I am donating the cover price to our local food pantry; you can do better by avoiding this book.

I was so anticipating this book since I LOVED his previous work. I kept looking-up "Caleb Carr" on this site and last summer I pre-ordered this book and waited longingly to receive it. I am, as many others are, disappointed. I couldn't get into the characters and the "techie" future. It may be a good book in and of itself--but as a Carr fan it just seemed wrong. Sci-fi fans will probably enjoy it. I can only hope that we will see more of him in the style we've loved for years. It is definately not a book I would have bought if Carr's name wasn't on it. PS--Did anyone else notice Carr sitting at the bar in the movie 200 Cigarettes?

After reading and enjoying Mr Carr's 1st two books, I happily grabbed this book up and was ready for an entertaining evening. Sadly, this may be the worst book I have read in the last ten years. Immature, pointless, self-serving, and just plain bad. Mr. Carr shows much promise as a novelist and it is a shame he stank so bad here. Whoever Mr. Carr is trying to emulate with this dreck should try to shake some sense back into him.

Although different from Carr's earlier work, Killing Time is an interesting extrapolation of current environmental and political trends into the near future, by a knowldgeable historian. I especially liked the narrator's attempt to look at all sorts of topical issues without illusions or political correctness.

This was a complete departure for Caleb Carr, but it was a great one. His style remains the same, bringing excellent prose, great plot hooks and dark, moody settings to a very serious topic: Do we consider the consequences of our technology? As a whole, I found myself ripping through the pages and read it in a brief two-day period.
It is obvious after reading Killing Time that discussing technological impact on mankind is Caleb's sole mission in this book. He gives us a nightmare scenario, and reminds us of our responsibilities. He also does it in an entertaining fashion.
While I may disagree with some of the points Carr makes, I feel entertained, and I also know that this book made me think, hard.... for several days. I cannot ask for more.

I feel very fortunate to have borrowed this book from the library vice buying a copy. Reading this book wasted my time. The central idea, that an information society has special vulnerability to propaganda and manipulation by elites, strikes me as counter-factual and condescending. As sermon, this book failed to convince me.

As an adventure story, it failed to convince me. The idea of a secret elite with a high-technology airship manipulating the fate of the world's population lacks originality. (See Verne's Robur the Conqueror at Project Gutenberg.)

The book's ending relies on deus ex machina, and one that lies off-stage. It failed to convince me. In fact, the author relies on the very same mechanism for the ending that he condemns throughout the rest of the book: manipulation by an elite.

I can say only one positive thing about this book. I now know to avoid this author's work.

Having enjoyed The Alienist and Angel of Darkness, I looked forward to this Caleb Carr novel. I cannot believe that he wrote it. Based on other books, I expected well developed characters, well researched basis for the plot elements, and even some message. I was disappointed to find very flat characters poorly described and with little explanation for their motivations, a proposterous plot largely drawn from Jules Verne, and a preachy, unconvincing message. I dragged myself all the way through hoping to find SOMETHING worth the effort. I should have checked the the store reader reviews before buying this book. Killing Time is what I did and I want that time back along with the purchase price. I can't believe this is a Caleb Carr book. It contains nothing like his other works in tone or quality. What a disappointment.

Having read both The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness, I hate to admit that I actually found myself looking forward to this latest novel from Caleb Carr. I was not disappointed by this latest effort. I had hoped that it was to be another in his previous series, but found myself drawn into this world of his creation. One of the most surprising elements of this novel, once I realized the characters were different, was the parallels between the character ensembles and their activities. Faced with extreme situations, the group found time for intellectual discussions over dinner, something lacking in the modern world. I hated for the book to end and was surprised at the outcome, the solution was almost too easy. Here's hoping for another book by Mr Carr, featuring either group of characters.

Carr's new novel proves without a doubt that here is an author that can successfully write books with scenarios set in the past and in the future. Killing Time is right up there with books authored by writers like Jules Verne. It brings to mind the sci-fi novel,"l984".
It is a good read. Perhaps readers like myself, who could not put this book down, spend a lot of time on the Internet and the portent for mind control, given human nature, is there. After all, are we not all being presently fed "information" via the media about the election of the President of the United States that, daily, has turned out to be mostly "misinformation"?
If one likes sci-fi novels that are well written, they will love this one.

I am delighted to see that the articulate neurosurgeon of the human psyche has taken his scapel to our quite possible future. Perhaps the sappy ending was necessary to keep us all from reaching for too much prozac, but his dystopic vision is dead eye. We reject his insight as "just politics" at our own peril. Just who do we think we are? As Carr notes so well, "We want to be deceived." Carr refuses to deceive us and some are petulant - unless we recognize prophecy when we see it - not as prediction but as warning - then we are just willing to be led off the cliff into the postmodern chaos of industrial feudalism.

This book had potential but was not well-developed. I think it would have been better as a short story. One thing that bothered me was that Gideon just decides to drastically change his life and join a fringe group without any contemplation. I kept waiting for the questions any sane person would ask these people. They didn't come until the end.

That being said, the message of not believing everything you read in the news is extremely important. It's too bad the book wasn't better written so it could reach more people.

Having read two of Mr Carrs' previous books and enjoyed them tremendously, I am so disappointed in this new novel. The plot was so thin as to be non-existent and the characters were two dimensional at best. I listened to the book on audio and found myself having to constantly rewind because my attention had wandered and I had missed part of the story. I wish I had missed the whole story. Please tell Mr Carr that he does not have the voice to tell his stories. His voice is monotonous. The real problem was the story and I will be reluctant to buy another Caleb Carr novel in the future.

I'm sure there are many like myself who patiently endures the two or three years between Carr novels.I immensely enjoyed 'The Alienist'and the follow up, 'The Angel of Darkness'.I finished 'Killing Time' in all of two days, not because the story was particularly riveting,but because it is only 274 pages. I couldn't help but think as I read the story that perhaps this would have made a better short story in an anthology collection.While I thought the 'Twilight Zone' premise of the story was kind of intriguing, I am kind of disappointed.I'm not saying not to read it, it is not entirely bad, but it is not what Ive come to expect from Caleb Carr.