Book Review: The Electric Church

This book is right down my alley. Besides sci-fi movies, my next favorite genre is gangster flicks, such as Snatch, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Layer Cake, Goodfellas, etc. This story covers both bases and does it in a very entertaining manner. Jeff Somers dialogue is pitch perfect for this type of narrative. This is a highly engrossing novel that will appeal to all sci-fi and crime drama readers.

Avery Cates is your classic anti-hero, an assassin with a morale code. I like the fact that he is not written as some type of superman who can take loads of punishment without any consequences. This makes the character seem more realistic and appealing. Cates is forced to use his head to get out of bad circumstances instead of always falling back on gun play.

The world that Avery Cates lives in is bleak and depressing. All of the world governments have been swept away by an event known as Unification. There are no jobs for the average person, consequently you learn to live life as a criminal or you’re dyin’. But the strangest of all is the Electric Church and their creepy monks. Jeff Somers has definitely created a dark and strange future.

But the strength of this novel is the characters and the dialogue. The cast of characters that Avery Cates puts together for his job are best described as the “Merry Pranksters”. The dark humor that reverberates through out the story is hilarious and worth the price of admission alone.

At times, especially in the first third of the book there is a tendency to repeat certain points.

Gritty sci-fi noir at its finest and just plain fun. I really look forward to the further exploits of the Avery Cates in The Digital Plague and the upcoming The Eternal Prison.