Utopia

Unending futuristic action set in an amusement park. So much vivid sensory description. Lots of blood, but couldn't be avoided. I would definitely buy a ticket were there such an astounding place to spend a vacation!

Just another very entertaining book in along series of fun books.  In addition to being entertained I also learned what a maroon is.  The next time I drive from Vegas to Reno I‘m going to stop at Utopia.

Utopia has the genuine Lincoln Child story line. Starts out fast and through twists and turns of the story, along with development of interesting charactors, ends on an unsuspected note. Good read - enjoy!

Here's what I find amazing about "Utopia." The book is 12 years old as I write this review. How far technology has advanced in just 12 years! In "Utopia," there are cell phones but no smart phones. There is no Facebook or equivalent. There is no texting; people call one another. One of the characters is issued a plane ticket on paper. The described technology was cutting edge just those few years ago, but now it feels slightly—only slightly—dated.

As for the plot, it's certainly entertaining. I was curious to see how it would differ from Michael Crichton's classic "Westworld" (1973). It is different in a fundamental way, which I won't reveal lest I be posting spoilers.

The book could have used a bit more proofreading. The plural of knight-errant is knights-errant, not knight-errants, and there are a couple of run-on sentences. But hey, who am I to complain? I could never write a thriller that anyone would want to read.

Lincoln Child is half of the dynamic duo (with Douglas Preston) of a string of best-sellers including Relic, The Cabinet of Curiosities, and Still Life with Crows, among others. With Utopia, Child sets off on his own and ends up with an entertaining thriller that, while perhaps not quite attaining full Preston & Child status, is nonetheless well worth reading for fans of the genre.

Dr. Andrew Warne is a robotics specialist. Not just another geek, Dr. Warne is the father of a controversial new theory on machine learning and has created a "Metanet" that is able to manage the systems of--and periodically improve and reprogram--a large number of connected robots at once. The creators of Utopia, a state-of-the-art "concept immersion" theme park in the Nevada desert, have found a use for Warne's Metanet, governing the hundreds of robots in the park. The Metanet is autonomously responsible for day-to-day maintenance and programmatic improvement of robots whose functions range from cleaning offices to serving ice-cream to park guests. It also manages the safety features of some of the park's most thrilling rides.

When some of Utopia's robots begin to experience problems--including one major safety malfunction that results in some serious injuries--Andrew Warne is called in to take the Metanet offline. Warne is understandably resistant to the idea of dismantling his brainchild, and as he searches for alternatives to the drastic action requested of him, he discovers that the problems the park's robots have been experiencing are not the fault of the Metanet at all. Rather, the park has become the target of some very proficient and very sinister hackers. Warne's suspicions are proven correct when the park's director is contacted by a terrorist with a simple and horrifying demand: hand over a disc containing the park's proprietary hologram software, or every one of the park's 65,000 guests will become a target.

As time ticks away and more and more park systems begin to malfunction, park employees scramble to stay a step ahead of the mercenaries threatening their livelihood. And Andrew Warne is forced to attempt the seemingly impossible--use his Metanet to thwart the sinister intentions of the terrorists.

Utopia is a fast-paced book that relies heavily on gratuitous action scenes to keep the story moving. But Child throws in some authorial curveballs that lend credence to his solo literary career. One device he employs very successfully is using various and unrelated points of view to show how the park's deterioration is perceived through the eyes of the guests caught in the crossfire. In addition, the masterful and creative descriptions of futuristic technology utilized in Utopia's design provide some welcome pauses in the flow of the action. Child seems to have based his imaginary theme park partly on real-life parks like Disney World and the Six Flags empire, but he has added enough of his own inventions to the descriptions of Utopia's Disney-like underground areas and standard park terminology (like calling crew members "cast members") to give the fictional Utopia an air of authenticity.

The book's weaknesses center on its characters. Andrew Warne's relationship with his fifteen-year-old daughter comes across as forced at times, and his past romantic involvement with park director Sarah Beautwright fails to generate either believable sparks or authentic awkwardness. Most of the primary characters (including the main antagonist) experience chapter-long periods of intense self-doubt, which becomes annoying to the reader fairly quickly. Still, the intense (if a bit grotesque) climax is a gratifying conclusion to the lengthy buildup of plot-driven suspense, and the reader leaves with a feeling of satisfied euphoria (rather like what riders feel like after exiting an exciting roller-coaster, I suppose).

Unsurprisingly (given Child's previous collaborations with coauthor Douglas Preston), Utopia offers little in the way of a positive moral outlook, but the book contains no scenes of overt sexuality and does a fairly good job of portraying a father's self-sacrificing love for his daughter. Some readers will object to Child's descriptions of violence, but even these are usually set within a context of human experience rather than simple gore. The point of the book seems to be that industrious people who mean well and have a good work ethic can triumph over evil, greedy people who seek to cause harm. While in the real world we know that this is unfortunately not always the case, the message is positive, and the general excitement and mostly good writing of the book make it worth reading. For those who enjoy books by authors like Michael Crichton and Philip Kerr (and, of course, those who enjoy the Preston & Child books), I would happily recommend Utopia.

Hard to rate this book, honestly, especially without half stars.
I disagree greatly with several of the reviews here. For one, comparing it to Die Hard is a completely unfair way to sell this to a potential buyer. Die Hard was a game of cat and mouse, full of action. There isn't much action in this book, nor any hiding. In fact, there's only one true gunfight, and it lasts 3 bullets. More bullets are fired in other areas of the book, but it's against unarmed, unknowing people.
It's also unfair to compare this book to Jurassic Park. Jurassic Park was a book about technology and action within a theme park of sorts. This is a book involving some technology and action within a true theme park, but it's a different breed. The action is limited, and the technology isn't explained or even described much, just presented as something that exists.
There are also some groaners. Most notably is the Wingnut character mentioned in other reviews. From his first appearance you know here's there simply to be sacrificed. No surprises there, but to the authors credit he downplays the convenient behavior trait that leads to his usefulness, and incorporates it more as part of a whole rather than a way to exploit. You may see Wingnut's usefulness coming, but Child doesn't get lazy and leave it at that.
Another issue is the terrorists themselves. At one point it's mentioned that people would be shocked if they knew the true face of the ringleader, yet nothing comes from it after he's stopped. A shame, but only due to that line.
So I've told you what this book isn't really, and that it has problems. Is it worth reading? Yes. The book is essentially a crisis book within a theme park, a difficult concept to make realistic. Child takes great effort to make it so, giving reasons why obvious answers must be ignored, and taking into account how a corporation would likely act. Nothing is too unrealistic, and none of the plot will make you groan very hard at all. This is arguably Child's greatest accomplishment within the book.
It's interesting, the characters have some depth to them, and you'll keep reading. The full potential is never realized, but there are no falls off the edge, so you'll read with a smile.
A solid effort. Not amazing, but solid enough that I look forward to Child's next solo effot.

This book begins with the formulaic "first chapter attack" that grabs you and makes you want to read what the heck happened. I know many of Preston/Child books begin this way, but something was different this time.

Child then naturally introduces the main character, his daughter, and the park. But the story seemed much too dependent on the park, the attraction of it. And what no one else has written here is that the writing is somewhat slowly paced, almost too much so for myself.

In my first reading, I only read about a third of it and moved on to other books which were less than impressive. But in my second reading of Utopia, I found that not only was I in the mood for the story (it's like watching a movie; you need to be in the right mood for it), it reminded me somewhat of my adventures in Las Vegas when I was younger. The book does, in fact, pick up speed, and, in what isn't new but is well done here, the story takes place in just one day!

That said, there is a lot of exposition that has to be expounded upon at times, so the reader can be as up-to-date as Andrew Warne and his daughter. With the release of Still Life with Crows, I know that Child and Preston are a perfect team. Utopia, I think, is a brilliant effort into the thriller realm, and I can't wait for his second solo effort to really see what Mr. Child can do.

His ideas are, by the way, extremely original.

What's really neat is to see Mr. Child's idioms (he likes the term "bean counters"; also, see his photograph online at his website) and, at some points, he will use easy-to-miss expressions that are similar to his co-writing efforts. Keep an eye out for references to past books as well. All this makes for superb, inter-connected reading that is really tenfold the amount of fun if their other books have been read (and paid attention to).

Lincoln Child's solo effort is a roaring virtual rollercoaster ride that offers thrills and spills of the literal and imaginative kind. From the opening crash on the Notting Hill to the explosive armoured car finale Utopia offers the kind of fast, exciting read that makes it perfect for that train or plane journey. Hard to put down, hard to not enjoy.
The premise is simple, a vastly futuristic theme park in the Nevada desert starts to experience what seems to be phantom failures but turns out to be humanly created as the entire park is held hostage whilst the unknowing public enjoy their day out. So, we join Utopia's metanet creator, Warne and his daughter Georgia as they are brought in to offline his lifetime work by the Utopia management team, headed by Warne's old flame, Sarah Boatwright who is now with the Chief Systems Officer, the Shakespeare-quoting Barksdale. Rather than offlining the system, Warne and the sole Robotics engineer, Terri, decide to investigate what's going on and are quickly brought into the confidences of Sarah who explains that a mysterious John Doe is terrorising the park with a small team. Each world experiences an act of sabotage and pick ups go awry. Inevitably, the casualty count grows and we learn of a senior placed operative who has dreamt up the entire plan but it has been hijacked by John Doe. A too late stab at conscience has a soliloquy from the instigator of the entire plan, but by then chaos has set in and the dome is set to explode leading to our climatic showdown. Throughout our mild-mannered professor becomes a hero to all as he races through the park to avert disaster with Terri and the military-trained Poole, who just happens to want to help.
Admittedly, Lincoln Child's first solo effort has a plot that is cliche-ridden and it is written as a screen play, though it would take a blockbuster film to do it justice visually. The premise, as the the store comments on the jacket proclaim, is pure `Die Hard in a theme park' and for all John Doe's crowing about the genius of his plan, the reader can spot who and what and when well ahead of the actual events. Nevertheless, if you want a fast paced action novel that is truly twenty-first century reality then Utopia's for you. Hopefully, Child will produce more.

I keep telling people that Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston don't write books: They write rides. So it's ironic that Child has actually written another of his fast and furious edge of your seat stories about a cutting-edge theme park and its super high-tech rides. The pacing is comfortably gradual with a few dips and turns and loop-de-loops as we build up speed following the tale of an inadvertant hero on a business trip with his plucky teenaged daughter at a futuristic theme park he helped bring to life with his considerable computer and robotics skills. There we meet lovely would-be heroines Terri the exotic nerd and Sarah the former lover and ultra-serious hard nosed career woman. All seems deceptively calm at the beginning until the death toll begins, with para-military snipers and hacker terrorists leaking onto the scene to gleefully tamper with the park's technology so that at first the unsuspecting tourists think everything that's happening is all just a part of the place's attention to detail and extreme special effects. As the tension builds, new characters are introduced including a shady vacationer with an unsual penchant for weaponry and interrogation techniques and a quirky, goofball prototype robot named Wingnut to supply the comic relief. While the story was not unpredictable, it remained fresh until the end, with the good guys having at the bad guys and vice versa in a rather Die-Hard style game of cat and mouse. As usual, Child never goes overboard with the technical descriptions and adds unexpected warmth and introspection to a few scenes, keeping the overall flavor light and fun for anyone who enjoys a good, adventurous shoot-em-up tale. The ultimate irony would be if someone actually built a Preston/Child themed park so we could all experience their stories with all the clever detail as the very park depicted here. With cinematic flair, an easy flow of story and dialogue, and plenty of imagination mixed with a heaping dose of science to make it seem real, Utopia is a book I'd gladly visit again and again. So, where's the gift shop?

I came across this book while searching for a book by my all-time favorite author with the same last name. The book sounded interesting so I gave it a try - and I'm SO glad I did! I love the writing style of Lincoln Child and even though I've never thought of myself as a "technothriller" fan, I couldn't put this one down. I read a lot of book. A lot - I average about one book a day so you can imagine how quickly I run out of books in my favorite genres. This book was a page turner, I read it in just a few hours and loved every second of it. What I like most about Lincoln Child is the rich vocabulary he uses. Being an avid reader, my vocabulary is probably a little above average but there were several words and phrases in this book that I had to look up (thank goodness I was reading the Kindle version so I could just touch the word to get the definition!).

If you're a fan of Lee Child, you'll love Lincoln Child's work too. I've read all of the books he has written in the last 4 days and now I'm moving on to the books he's written with a co-author.

This book has all the ingredients a thriller should have. We have a futuristic theme-park with a bunch of terrorists threatening to kill people if their demands aren't met and any move to try to warn the customers or try to determine how the terrorists have infiltrated the computer systems, will result in many customer deaths.

In the theme park called Utopia, holographic technology and realistic historical depictions are the norm with robots performing maintenance and in some instances, serving the clients. Something seems to cause the robots to malfunction (I just remember the line "Welcome to Westworld, where nothing can go wrong, go wrong, go wrong..."). The robot's programmer is called in to deprogram and remove the robots. What he finds is that instead of accidental system problems, someone has planted a "Trojan horse" program that causes the malfunctions.

Meanwhile, the park's management is approached by a terrorist, to give the master program of the park's core program, or a lot of people will die. We later find that this program could be used by the military to defeat heat seeking missiles and other programmed armaments. Therefore, giving up the code could have world-wide ramifications.

The story progresses to an exciting conclusion. The only issue I had that prevented me from giving it 5 stars, is people are getting hurt and killed on the attractions and the park officials are able to keep it quiet from law enforcement. I you can overlook this, then it should be a perfect thriller.

Utopia is a 21 century amusement park, the most advanced park in the world. Utopia is made up of four (a fifth to open soon) different "worlds" under a dome. Camelot, a midieval world; Callisto, a futuristic space-station world; Gaslight, a turn-of the century London themed world; Boardwalk, themed after those turn-of-the-century parks located near a beach; and soon to open Atlantis, themed after the lost-continent of the same name.
The story takes place during one day. The park is running smoothly, when terrorists quietly let themselves be known to the big-wigs, making demands or causing terror. Dr. Andrew "Drew" Warne, a robotics expert from Carnegie-Mellen University, visiting the park as an external-specialist, finds himself doing more than what was expected, but instead leading the way to saving the park and it's visitors.
Utopia is a beautifully written book, sometimes the descriptions and thoughts written within the story will remind you of a good-piece of fast moving literature. I very much enjoyed reading this, and found it exceptionally hard to put down and I actually cared about the characters. Even some of the terrorists were intellectual and fun to read about.
There were just a few problems with the book, however. The character of Georgia, Warne's daughter, seems, for 14 years old, to act both too young and too old. Also I truly hated Sarah Boatwright, the Chief of Operations of the park, and past girlfriend of Warne. She was just an egotistical, annoying and irresponsible person, and I have no idea how someone like Warne would have ever loved her.

Lincoln Child's latest solo offering is an entertaining action tale revolving around a day in the life of Utopia, the world's most state of the art and technologically advanced theme park. The park, envisioned by David Copperfield-like magician Eric Nightingale is encased in a huge dome and nestled in the Nevada desert outside Las Vegas. Utopia is laid out much like Disneyland with 4 different sections, the outer space themed Callisto, Boardwalk, a 1890's English seaside resort, the medieval Camelot and the mid English 1800's village, Gaslight.
Unfortunately this day, Utopia has been infiltrated by a team of mercenaries lead by the suave and cunning John Doe and held for ransom. In the days leading up to the park's hijacking a series of technical glitches has caused mishaps culminating in the partial derailing of some cars of the Notting Hill Chase, a terrifying super roller coaster. A young rider was thrown from the coaster and seriously injured. A malfunction in robotic parts of the track was suspected.
Andrew Warne, a Phd in computers and expert in robotics is unsuspectingly summoned to the park by his former colleague and paramour Sarah Boatwright the head of Utopia operations. Warne working in concert with Eric Nightingale designed all the robotic aspects of the park which are centrally controlled through the Metanet. Warne is accompanied by his teenage daughter Georgia thinking his visit will be casual. He expects to be told to add to and enhance his already spectacular creation. He arrives a week earlier than expected and is crushed when Boatwright tells him that he is to disassembles his precious Metanet, the suspected cause of the problems.
As the story progresses we find out through Warne that the park has been booby trapped, threatening the 66,000 people in attendance that day. Warne in concert with the extensive Utopia staff devises a plan to try to thwart the heavily armed commando team, which we learn has inside assistance from highly placed sources within the Utopia team.
The novel is highly creative and technologically imaginative and worthy of a recommendation to action, adventure readers and Preston and Child fans.

Utopia is one of the most advanced and realistic theme parks in the world. It has four separate divisions each offering their own thrills as patrons are immersed into the future, A boardwalk resort, Camelot or Victorian England. However, problems are occurring. Computers appear to be malfunctioning. Dr. Andrew Warne, a computer engineer and creator of the computer system in the park is called in to solve the problem. Unfortunately, a Mr. John Doe appears and claims responsibility for the mishaps. He plans to kill the patrons unless they turn over to him the program used to run the parks-- a revolutionary program that could be used militarily with great destruction if placed into the wrong hands. Warne and his colleagues must try to stop him.
Lincoln Child is a master of the technothriller. He renders much detail into his descriptions of these parks. Quite fascinating is the descriptions of the machinations of the running of a theme park. There is much superfluous plot inserted into the already compelling story line. It served to bulk up the novel unnecessarily. There are enough twists and turns in the plot to give any of the roller coasters a true competition. Overall, it is a fun book-- quite entertaining and recommended.

Utopia
By Lincoln Child
Theme- love, terror
Overall, I though Utopia was a good book. It was full of action and once the adventure started, it never slowed down. If you have not read the book, it's about a man named Andrew Warne. He built a computer program for a theme park called Utopia at the request of Eric Nightingale. Now they want him to take it offline, because they think it's creating problems with the robots it controls. For example, the robots are doing things to the rides that they shouldn't be doing, like loosening bolts on the rides instead of tightening them. But what if it's not the Metanet's fault? What if it's an outside party? And prepare for complications, because Dr. Warne's only daughter, Georgia, is somewhere in the park. Warne has to decide whether to go find her, or help save the park.
This book is very memorable, because it's about a theme park. I've never read a book about a theme park. Kids love theme parks, as do I. This theme park is made up of all kinds of attractions from all different worlds, time periods, and ideas, for example Callisto and Camelot. I think that it would be very interesting to go to one of these worlds, because I didn't live in any of the time periods, and it would be awsome to see how life was like.
This book talked about theme park terrorism. I wasn't expecting that, but there it was anyway. Groups of people being led by John Doe were holding Utopia hostage in order to get the exact computer program that the Metanet runs on for their own uses. They would kill people, and destroy the park if anyone, basically Sarah, changed anything to do with their plan. They were ruthless.
I agree with the author's idea of nurturing love, and platonic love. I'm glad that Dr. Warne and Sarah Boatwright had broken up before the story began, or else it would have made an already complicated story more complicated. My favorite part of the story is that it all took place in less than twelve hours, which explains why it was fast paced. Sarah, Warne, and anyone else on their team had to fix this before the park closed, the armored security car came to take away the terrorists. Basically the whole book is a race against time.
This book is sort of like what's going on in our country now. We are fighting against terrorism, just like the Utopia park officials. We both want to keep terrorism out.
I really liked this book. It always kept me guessing, and there was a twist, as it turned, out there was an inside agent. I figured that there would be, but who it was totally surprised me. I don't think anyone could have guessed who it was. The whole book was like that. You never knew what was going to happen next, what kind of crazy stunt either side would pull to get their job done. That's what made it good. You never knew what was coming. You had to keep guessing and very often you were wrong. It was a very good book, in the whole.

This is an excellent thriller written by a master of the craft. Child sets the stage in a high-tech theme park, controlled by sophisticated computers so that nothing can possibly go wrong *click* ... go wrong *click* ... go wrong ...

Of course, things do go horribly wrong. Others reviewers have covered the plot sufficiently. So I'll just say that it's a thrill-a-minute ride.

Child sets the story up like a clockwork machine. No blind alleys, no red herrings, no wasted scenes. Things that are discussed in scenes early in the book turn up again at the end, and I found myself thinking, "Ah... of course..." several times.

This is one of the best crafted thrillers I've ever read. I had one quibble about some techno-babble that I couldn't quite buy into. But that was a minor point, and didn't really detract from my enjoyment. (I'm an "Elder Geek", so I'm used to snorting and saying "Yeah, right!" when books, movies and TV shows try to get technical.)

I highly recommend this book.

Utopia by Lincoln Child combines elements from previous futuristic amusement park concepts such as Westworld, Futureworld and Jurassic Park and then mixes in some of the classic suspense elements of a hostage situation and turns out a pretty good novel.

Dr. Andrew Warne is a robotics specialist who created some of the robotics for Utopia, an entertainment world in the desert of Nevada that uses complex holographic and computerized technology to immerse visitors in various worlds such as the medieval area, or the boardwalk. Warne is called into the park because of an accident that occurred on one of the park's most popular rides that nearly resulted in the death of a young boy.

The book is peppered with some stereotypical characters-- Warne's ex-girlfriend is the Parks Operations Manager; Warne's teen-age daughter Georgia accompanies him on this visit-- and there's a lot of stuff we've seen before in other books like visitors running around with eyes wide open with amazement. There are the usual park administrators who spend a lot of time showing Warne the various foolproof systems, designs, cameras, sensors and grids to monitor every single aspect of park operations to make things completely safe. However, the reason you have stereotypes is because these types of features tend to work in creating the proper atmosphere for technology-gone-wrong thrillers.

And technology does go wrong in Utopia, and here is where Child throws his unique twist in, because the park systems have been infiltrated by a group of criminals who threaten to use all this incredible technology to kill everyone in the park unless their demands are met. The suspense comes from trying to out think the criminals without letting any of the park visitors know that anything is wrong.

There are no real surprises in this book-- you know who is going to die and who is going to live and you even figure out pretty quickly who the villain is. Nevertheless, the book is an enjoyable read. Child comes up with some unique uses of technology, both on the part of the criminals who have infiltrated the park and on the part of Warne and Boniface as they furiously plan and scheme to outwit the criminals. He puts his characters together well and succeeds in maintaining the level of suspense throughout the novel. I enjoyed the book and look forward to reading the inevitable sequel.

After seven great novels (and one in the can) with Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child decided to stretch his legs as a solo writer with "Utopia". As a long time fan of the two, I couldn't have been more impressed with the result. Like his collaborative efforts, "Utopia" offers a genuinely original story wrapped up in all kinds of neat technology. What makes "Utopia" shine, though, is the excellent back-story and the superb characters.
"Utopia" is set in an amusement park of the same name, but this isn't just any amusement park. It is an enormous glass dome in the middle of the Nevada desert. Inside, one can find astonishingly realistic recreations of Victorian England, a turn of the Century American seaside boardwalk, Camelot and a futuristic spaceport (and, Atlantis: Coming Soon!). Of course each area includes the most fantastic rides one can imagine, as well as restaurants, live shows, reasonably priced forty dollar t-shirts and...casinos. Moreover, Utopia is the owner of hundreds of patents relating to holograms , robotics and computing.
As one might imagine, all of this money and technology makes for a tempting target, and right on cue, John Doe appears to insert chaos into this little piece of paradise. At the same time, Andrew Warne, the creator of the park's robots, arrives to troubleshoot some strange problems that have been occurring (with daughter in tow). As mayhem breaks loose in the park, Warne struggles to decipher Doe's plan, and stop him before it's too late.
The story is unlike anything I have ever encountered before; a rare unique effort in a world of rehashed ideas. But it was the characters that impressed me the most. In addition to capturing their current concerns and fears beautifully, Child is constantly dropping little hints about their pasts: where they came from, what they do, who they love, etc. At the same time, he never let's himself get distracted; he doesn't diverge from the story, but rather inserts little asides to flesh out the characters without delving into reams of details. He is particularly successful with John Doe in this regard, and the result is a compelling, but mysterious character.
"Utopia" is a fast paced thriller with a lot of heart. Wrapped in a high-tech wonderland, there are characters with believable, rich lives. The pacing, structure and use of language are all likewise excellent. I have to admit, having been a long time fan of Child's joint work, I was concerned about his decision to go solo. I needn't have been, as "Utopia" is an excellent novel by any measure. Now I just have to wait eagerly for Preston's solo effort later this year!

I like Child's collaborations with Douglas Preston because of the way they can blend the supernatural with science and the historical to create mind capturing stories. However, this book has a very tired plot with mercenaries holding a theme park hostage for casino loot and a new holographic gadget that can be used to counterfeit more loot. How many times have we seen this story either in print or on the big screen? Child attempts to freshen this plot ala Michael Crichton by sprinkling in a lot of robotic and holographic technology, but how excited can one get over what is in effect Disney World? In fairness, he does keep the reader's attention (barely) through the mystery of the perpetrators and their motivation. The characters are also well developed and the dialog is good. However, as the story unfolded and the mysteries were solved, the book degenerated into a typical thriller with lots of chases, gun battles, and explosions that ultimately left me disappointed. If you like the Preston/Child works, then I think you too will be disappointed with this book.

Truth be told, I'll read just about anything that's set in an amusement park. If that park happens to bear a more-than-passing resemblance to my "happy place", aka Walt Disney World, so much the better. And if it also echoes one of my favorite movies of all time - Westworld, not to mention it's inferior sequel, Futureworld - well, what more could this boy want?

So it wasn't much of a stretch to say I practically jumped with joy when my best friend presented me with Utopia. "Woo-hoo!" I cried with delight, seeing the map of the park which would make it much easier to later visualize the action. Little things really do mean a lot!

The story itself is somewhat reminiscent of the old action flick Rollercoaster ("Presented In Sensoround!"), with terrorists threatening to take out a whole lot of people who are in the park having the time of their life unless certain demands are met. Quicker than you can sing, "It's a small world after all," mishaps are happening around the park and the management realizes that they might potentially have a disaster of unmitigated proportions on their hands. Unable to warn park guests or evacuate them - under threat of something VERY BAD happening - the race is on to try and figure out how to prevent theme park armageddon.

Anyone who loves amusement parks or tales set in them is sure to get a major kick out of this. And if you finish this book and don't think to yourself, "God, I wanna go to Utopia!" then you just ain't the park-lover you claim to be! :)

I've read all of the Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child books with the exception of "Still Life of Crows" and have loved or liked all of them. Thunderhead, Relic, and The Ice Limit are 3 of the best thrillers to come out in a while. Since I love amusement parks anyway, I couldn't wait to see what kind of havoc the terrorists would unleash in Utopia. Even though the body count nears triple digits by the end due to multiple "accidents", there just is a lack of urgency brought on by the fact that nearly all of the park's guest are in the dark through the whole book. There is never a mass panic and while the final countdown to destruction is taking place, only about 10 people, including the terrorists, even know it. I just never felt my heart racing until the last few pages.
My only major problem was how almost everything was based on coincidence. Certain people and things in the park, coupled with their function and circumstances are used to keep the story going in an almost unbelievable fashion. Guns jam at inopportune moments, witnesses to events happen to be ex-military, in a park with no weapons an alternative is presented that on any other day would not be available, etc. The book is good fun and the ending makes up for most of its' problems but the story is so reliant on contrivance it gets damn silly by the end.
Still it's a good summer read but in this rare case I think a movie version would be more fulfilling.

I am a huge fan of the Preston/Child collaborations. Utopia is the first solo effort I have read. Others have detailed the plot line, so I'll just give you my thoughts. This book is fast paced, but it lacks the suspense books like Relic possess. I loved the theme park setting. And the concept for that park is breath-taking, but I felt it was under-utilized. The park is so clever that dozens of twists and turns leap to mind that could have added suspense to this novel. The plot is predictable and you know who the bad guy is almost immediately. My other complaint with the story is the lack of fleshing out John Doe. I kept wanting it to be Eric Nightingale come for revenge on the commercialization of his dream, but we never get a good look at who John Doe is. All this being said, I still recommend this book as a fast paced and fun read, but I much prefer the Lincoln/Child colaborations. If you haven't read any of them pick up Relic and Reliquary or Cabunet of Curiousities first.

Utopia is a high-tech theme park filled with cutting edge holograms, AI managed robotics, costumed entertainers and the odd terrorist or two.
Mister Child borrows a page from Die Hard as he leads the reader down a trail of technology theft as the only motivation, but then there is all that cold hard cash on level C.
The character development is exceptionally strong for Andrew Warne, his daughter Georgia and his ex-lover Sarah as they are entangled in several different triangles through out the story. These are likable people thrust into an extraordinary circumstance.
The terrorists are called John Doe, Water Buffalo, Candyman and so forth. They are all specialists, mostly ex military out to hit a home run (and they don't care how many people they kill).
The theme park has four worlds ranging from Camelot to turn of century England to the space age Callisto. There are chills, thrills and blobs of C-4 plastique all through the park.
Finally, Mister Child understands the technology he is describing (whether it is the bits and bytes or a M24 sniper rifle).
Overall, this was a very satisfying read.

I have just finished reading Utopia - and, as a fan of the Preston and Child duo, I feel that this beats certain favourites including Relic !
The story is well thought out, although I was worried it was going to be another "westworld" - but it certainly isn't anything like it. As a fan of theme park mechanics I am amazed how much research Lincoln Child put into this. I have to complain that the depthness of the main characters are not as good as when he teams with Doug - but its certainly not important as the story takes you along a rollercoaster thrill ride (excuse the pun) from page to page !
Just like all of the Preston/Child books - you get half way through, second guessing what is about to happen, and confused at the remaining hundred pages or so ! But suddenly, the story twists and you're immediately back in the plot, running through a fantasy world of intrigue and close disasters !
Lincoln Child is writing a second book - yet he still co-writes with Douglas Preston - at the rate they are starting to churn out these awesome stories, my only hope is that the quality remains and continues to keep me in suspense !

In his first solo thriller, Lincoln Childs carries his previous Douglas Preston collaborations into a theme parked called "Utopia." As in his other novels, Childs packs in the plots, subplots, and hidden agendas, although without Preston, they don't seem quite as "tight." Granted, when things cook, they really cook and I can see a cinematic version in the wings. However, Andrew Warne is such a complacent hero, he doesn't carry the novel as well as previous Child creations. His split from Sarah seems trivial and his pending romance with Terri subliminally unerotic. Add the typical teenage daughter (why can't these novels gives us a childless hero just once?), and villains that are as obvious as they are banal. Who is John Doe? He even says near the end of the book that the people wouldn't believe who he REALLY is. Guess not...Childs never solves that interesting little tidbit. The "mole" is pretty obvious if you just use your mind a little. I will give Childs credit for the character of Angus Poole, the tourist who becomes a pivotal part of the plot and its resolution. Overall, it's a fun book, it just bogs down a little and the lack of telling us who John Doe really is leaves a little sour taste. But, what the heck..you could do worse!
RECOMMENDED.