AudioBook Review: 7th Son: Descent

7th Son: Descent

By:  J.C. Hutchins

Publish Date:  January 1, 2006

Format:  Podiobook

Genre:  Science Fiction

Series:  1st in 7th Son series

First Glance Feel:  Seven men who learn the truth behind their existence, and a conspiracy that they find themselves in. And hunt through clues left for them, to find the man behind murdering the president before he kills more.

Synopsis:
As America reels from the bizarre presidential assassination committed by a child, seven men are abducted from their normal lives and delivered to a secret government facility. Each man has his own career, his own specialty. All are identical in appearance. The seven strangers were not born, but grown — unwitting human clones — as part of a project called 7th Son.

The government now wants something from these “John Michael Smiths.” They share the flesh as well as the implanted memories of the psychopath responsible for the president’s murder. The killer has bigger plans, and only these seven have the unique qualifications to track and stop him. But when their progenitor makes the battle personal, it becomes clear John Alpha may know the seven better than they know themselves...

First Sentence:
The president of the United States is dead.

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My Thoughts and Summary:
Seven men are approached and not given a choose about going with the abrupt men who are sent to retrieve them. These men will learn they were put on this Earth with a reason in mind. An experiment. They are part of a secret project, 7th Son. When they are told the pieces they need to know of their creation they will have to come to terms with the fact that half of their lives are not their own. And the memories they share, which belong to another called John Alpha, is what will help them bond together and use their individual expert fields of professions to find the man that the facility feels is responsible for the presidents death. The knowledge John Alpha contains, of them and of the project, will be a challenge for them as they work together to find and collect him, before more die.

Wow. The start! The visual holds you on every word. To start with such an event as the President's death... and how it was done along with WHO! I was hooked to learn what was going on.

We get the story through the seven clones. It was rather easy to keep up with who was who as I went. When we meet each man we saw they each have a distinct personality, and each are completely different from the others in life, job, personality, and even in their abduction. Even as early as chapter 2, I knew each man as he was talking. I was amazed (early on and through out the book) with how easily I caught on to the clones so early. If I happened to start to blend the men J.C. Hutchins seemed to know that. The author would drop a distinct characteristic that told me who was talking or being talked to. J.C. has done an amazing job of making each character their own and memorable as he's moved the story on, and the plot deepened.

We spend time with the seven men as they came to grips with what they learn of themselves, the parents they remember, and the aunt and uncle that raised them. Then there was this whole facility and the psychotic John Alpha. In this form we learn of the men and the science project they are. But, we all know not all the details are shared... and the clones come to grips with who they are in order to solve the riddles John Alpha has left them, and try to stop his crazy rampage.

Oh, this story could soooo be a tv series. To watch and never knowing where Alpha was, or who he would be... Yes, could be a show to catch our attention and keep us guessing. I even thought Dollhouse fans might enjoy this book.

This story has a few action moments, but what has caught me is the mental intrigue. It was like a psychological battlefield for these men! What they learn and have to twist to keep people safe by finding John Alpha. The mystery and history behind the 7th Son project. The conspiracy grows, widening, and the feel that we've not even come to the point of knowing all that happens here or why. There are bread crumbs dropped and I'm working at putting the puzzle together. I like this. It's a story to think as I'm listening, digest, and think as it goes.

I have already downloaded book 2: Deceit and will be listening to it as soon as tomorrow. I have to know how deep this and the conspiracy goes!