Blurb:
Recently
graduated and newly hired Ruger-Phillips employee, Dr. Sam “Doc” Price is
excited to be starting his new assignment. He will be assessing training
developed for a team. It is, however, a team like no other, because only one of
the team members is human; the other is one of the most intelligent and lethal
systems ever built by man—the Joint Aerial Combat Capability or JACC. Loaded
with the latest in detection and threat assessment technology, JACC is a
silent, deadly hunter in the sky. Doc discovers, however, that JACC may not be
the only killer on the remote, Nevada test range where he now finds himself.
Soon, he is involved in a cat and mouse game with an unknown adversary. In this
fight for his life and the lives of his friends, Doc asks himself, how do you
match wits with the mind in the clouds, when you are not sure if you are facing
the cold, exact logic of machine intelligence or the coldblooded urges of a
human murderer?
Mind
in the Clouds is book two in the Mind Sleuth Series. It is not necessary to
read book one in order to understand this novel. The story in this book is
standalone.
About the Author:
Bruce
Perrin has been writing for more than twenty years, although you will find most
of that work only in professional technical journals or conference proceedings.
But, after completing a PhD in Industrial Psychology and a career in
psychological R&D, he is now applying his background and fascination with
technology and the human mind to writing novels. Besides writing, Bruce likes
to tinker with home automation and is an avid hiker, logging nearly 2,500 miles
each year in the first two years of Fitbit ownership. When he is not on the
trails, he lives with his wife in St. Louis, MO. For a closer look at his
writing life, book reviews, and progress on his upcoming works, please join him
at http://www.brucemperrin.blogspot.com/.
Review:
I
found Mind in the Clouds a bit
confusing, as the book is not organized by chapters, but by dates and times,
which seem to jump back and forth. The preface describes an incident that
occurs a few months before Dr. Sam “Doc” Price ever even hears about the JACC
project. Maybe part of the problem is that I did not read the “blurb” or plot
summary before I read the book. It probably would have made more sense if I
had, and I was a bit confused at first as to who the hero was.
At
any rate, I liked Sam, but I felt as though I was kind of slogging through the
beginning a bit. There was a lot of foreshadowing with inferences like, “I
would come to regret this decision later.” I found myself yelling at my Kindle,
“quit foreshadowing and get on with the plot!” Finally, Mr. Perrin did get on
with the plot, and the last forty-percent of the book got to be pretty
page-burning. But even then, he interrupted the pacing and took us back in time
yet again. Doc was fighting for his life, and he went back to a conversation he
had with one of the developers of the system. He couldn’t just say to the guy
in the room with him, “Hey, Troy, Dillon said JACC could…” Did we really need a
rehash of the entire conversation when their lives were at stake?
I’m
really grateful Mind in the Clouds didn’t
have a cliff-hanger ending. It’s nice to find an author who writes a series of
standalone books. I just wish he had an editor who would encourage him to tamp
down a bit on the foreshadowing, flashbacks, long technical conversations, and keep
the action going forward a bit more smoothly.
Author Website: http://www.brucemperrin.blogspot.com/
Heat Rating: PG-13
Length: 284 Pages
Prices:
Print: $10.99
Digital: $3.99
Thanks
for visiting.
