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    Flash
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    Flash
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    Flash
    Ebook610 pages9 hours

    Flash

    By L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Return to the future of Archform: Beauty. In the twenty-fourth century, Earth is vastly changed. Ecological and biological catastrophe have raged across the planet, but for the survivors, it is a world of plenty. Even the poorest live in abundance, and the upper class -- the ascendant -- command technological marvels.

    Ten years ago, Jonat deVrai was a rising star in the Marines. But he shocked his superiors by walking away from the Corps after witnessing atrocity and hypocrisy during the Reclamation of Guyana. Starting his life over, he established himself as the world's expert on the effectiveness of "prod"-- product placement, the only advertising which viewers will allow through the sophisticated filters they all use against unwanted intrusions on their electronic link networks. Prod, reinforced with sublims and the "res" -- resonant frequencies, a form of sonic branding -- is the wave of the future.

    Jonat now advises multinational corporations on their prod campaigns, his busy life only occasionally disturbed by vivid flashbacks to his military years. Then his comfortable world is upset when the Centre for Societal Research approaches him to study the effects of res and prod on political campaigns.

    After a res-heavy political rally for Laborite Republican Senatorial candidate Juan Carlismo, armed thugs jump deVrai in a parking garage. A day later, a sniper ambushes him. What looked like a safe, lucrative contract has suddenly turned dangerous. The stakes raise further when deVrai foils a remote-controlled cydroid assassination attempt on a Popular Democrat candidate. Cydroids built from deVrai's stolen DNA are turning up dead throughout NorAm.

    Suspicion and conspiracy race around Jonat. Who wants him dead? Candidate Juan Carlismo's use of prod is skirting the limits of legality. The Centre has its own obscure agenda and may want deVrai as a martyr. The terrorist group PAMD is targeting ascendents in deVrai's family. And one of his clients is known for holding legendary grudges - could he have gone over the edge?

    With his life on the line, deVrai must sort flash from fact before it's too late.

    Flash is a blend of all-out thriller and thoughtful social, political, and technological exploration that that gets into your mind in a way even res and prod could never match.

    "A marvelous thriller that plausibly extrapolates from current possibilities in IT, AI, media, and crime, it also constitutes the way for newcomers to get acquainted with Modesitt--at his best."--Booklist

    Other Series by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
    The Saga of Recluce
    The Imager Portfolio
    The Corean Chronicles
    The Spellsong Cycle
    The Ghost Books
    The Ecolitan Matter
    The Forever Hero
    Timegod's World

    Other Books
    The Green Progression
    Hammer of Darkness
    The Parafaith War
    Adiamante
    Gravity Dreams
    The Octagonal Raven
    Archform: Beauty
    The Ethos Effect
    Flash
    The Eternity Artifact
    The Elysium Commission
    Viewpoints Critical
    Haze
    Empress of Eternity
    The One-Eyed Man
    Solar Express

    At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateSep 1, 2004
    ISBN9781429913959
    Author

    L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

    L. E. Modesitt, Jr., is the bestselling author of the fantasy series The Saga of Recluce, Corean Chronicles, and the Imager Portfolio. His science fiction includes Adiamante, the Ecolitan novels, the Forever Hero Trilogy, and Archform: Beauty. Besides a writer, Modesitt has been a U.S. Navy pilot, a director of research for a political campaign, legislative assistant and staff director for a U.S. Congressman, Director of Legislation and Congressional Relations for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a consultant on environmental, regulatory, and communications issues, and a college lecturer. He lives in Cedar City, Utah.

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    Reviews for Flash

    4/5

    12 ratings4 reviews

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    • 2/5
      Eh. It ended up being okay, overall. It started pretty slow and boring. I only kept reading it because it was an ebook and I didn't have anything better to read on my Treo. Eventually it got more interesting, but even at the end was only mediocre. It felt like a first draft, not a finished novel.
    • 3/5
      In the 24th Century, the Earth has mostly recovered from ecological catastrophes...but not from political ones. Jonat deVrai resigned his Marine commission when he discovered that far from making the world safe for innocents, he was making the world safe for multi-national profits. Now he works as a specialty consultant on 'prod'; specialized advertisements designed to get past ad filters. But a new commission plunges deVrai in a maze of conspiracies and lethal ambushes. Jonat must sort out friend from foe, and unravel the tangled web of intrigue and murder before he becomes a 'martyr' for a cause he despises. A little light on characterization in places, but written well enough to hold my attention and consider reading other Modesitt novels.
    • 3/5
      A pulp sci-fi thriller set 400 years into the future. An ex-marine turned marketing consultant finds himself the pawn in a large-scale political struggle for power. The authorities won't help, so he uses his military skills to take out the people who are threatening him (ruthlessly), all while keeping up his consulting business and looking after the two kids of his sister and brother-in-law.For a book about espionage and military action, this spends an astonishing amount of time talking about the day-to-day life of an independent marketing consultant - as well as what he's making for dinner every day. It's not great, but I enjoyed it more than I feel I should have. A guilty pleasure.
    • 1/5
      Omigod the first half of this book dragged it's ass. And, like, I didn't know it was future-time thank you for info-dumping so many damn newspeak words to me—I wouldn't have figured it out otherwise.Possibly unsurprisingly, the pace gets a little better and the story interesting once the female characters are developed and introduced more thoroughly, and the overall arc isn't bad, really, just how it's portrayed is a little, y'know. I understand the desire to make characters fully real by letting us know that sometime after picking a cup up they must return it to the counter, or whatever, but it gets a little (lot) much.