Kevin Brooks is the groundbreaking author of the internationally acclaimed novels DAWN; BLACK RABBIT SUMMER; BEING; THE ROAD OF THE DEAD, a Mystery Writers of America "Edgar" nominee; CANDY; KISSING THE RAIN; LUCAS; and MARTYN PIG, which received England's Branford Boase Award for Best First Novel. Brooks lives in Yorkshire, England.
HB
During a routine endoscopy, a doctor finds something inside Robert
that makes no sense -- metal filaments, pipes, and wires, all
hidden under a casing designed to fool such mundane exams. Escaping
the sinister men who order a doctor to "cut that thing open,"
Robert teams up with Eddi, a charismatic thief with her own agenda.
Being operates at top speed, at once a conventional chase
adventure, a psychological thriller, and a romance. While the duo
alternately hides and flees, Robert struggles to come to terms with
his apparent inhumanity; and as his relationship with Eddi evolves
from distrust to companionship (an element of sweetness that
lightens an otherwise bleak tale), he uses it to convince himself
that he's just like everyone else: "I looked like a human. I
thought and felt like a human. Did it matter that I wasn't a
human?" Poetic descriptions of Robert's mysterious hardware are
terrifying and beautiful -- within him resides "a subatomic dome, a
dark cathedral, a perfect abomination" -- and shade the book with a
tense self-loathing. More than his pursuers, Robert is running from
himself. A lifelong foster kid, both his street smarts and vague
past are entirely believable, making his disorientation that much
more powerful. Brooks takes the fantasy of being special -- Robert
is uniquely strong and possessed of a singular, if shrouded,
heritage -- and mines its dark side with grit, compassion, and
intrigue. CLAIRE E. GROSS
Kirkus
During a routine exam, 16-year-old Robert Smith feels the scalpel's
slice and helplessly views
metal and plastic parts inside his stomach wall. Who, or what, is
he? Like a character from Robin
Cook's medical thrillers, the teen breaks out of anesthesia, throws
down with the bad guys and
executes a daring escape. Trusting nobody, Robert decides to hide
out with Eddi, a former
acquaintance. His protector is a 19-year-old master criminal
running her own fake ID business. Here
the story grinds to a glacial pace and the author turns his
suspense story into a character-driven work.
Over 200 pages feature Robert droning on about his current dilemma,
mysterious background and
destiny. Eddi and Robert have roles more like cloak-and-dagger
spies than frightened teens, and
conflicts are easily solved. The story limps along until the final
18 explosive pages. After being teased
by early suggestions of an action story, readers may be satisfied
by the gruesome ending. However,
it's more likely that once the opening premise fades, teens will
give up on this title. (Fiction. YA)
. . .
PW Starred
Brooks's (The Road of the Dead) latest novel wraps high-speed,
adrenaline-laced adventure around a thought-provoking exploration
of the very nature of identity and existence. A routine endoscopy
goes terribly wrong for 16-year-old Robert when the camera
discovers that the boy's belly is filled with a network of
mysterious, inhuman machinery. Rousing himself from deep
anesthetization, Robert calls on hitherto untapped inner powers to
escape from a steely-eyed and sinister man called Ryan and others
who seem to have been called in from a covert government agency.
Robert finds himself accused of murder and, in desperation, lands
on the doorstep of Eddi Ray, a young woman who specializes in
producing thoroughly documented false identities. Soon Robert and
Eddi flee the English chill and gloom (so vividly evoked by Brooks
that the icy drizzle is nearly palpable) for a new life-and
eventually romance-in sunny southern Spain. A tantalizingly
open-ended conclusion invites speculation long after the book's
finish. Though readers who have patiently waited for the answer to
whether Robert is "robot, automaton, android, cyborg, beast,
machine, [or] alien" may initially be frustrated, they will likely
be satisfied by an ending that feels true to his character. Expect
a wild ride from this
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