Surrogate
2.5 stars.If there's one thing I learned from reading this book it's this: If you die and your soul inhabits a new body, you become a complete an utter badass. Like hitman level awesome. An ass kicker on par with Milla Jovovich in Resident Evil. You can take down entire families in a single bound, and magically refill the empty automatic weapon you stole from the guard you killed, ala Linda Hamilton in Terminator, so that you might slay another family.
The ending is the biggest problem the book has, as it seems that the author simply gave up around the 80% mark. The final chapter legitimately feels like a script wrap up, something tacked on at the end to give people a happy ending. So much tell. Zero show. So, so disappointing.
Sigh...
Okay, I must admit, the book wasn't a complete waste of time, but Bernstein didn't seem to know where he was going or what he wanted to accomplish because Surrogate is all over the place. The premise was great, but the delivery was lackluster. The characters were barely there; more like actors thrust into roles with no direction. Some of the gross-out scenes worked rather well for me, though, and Bernstein did manage to turn my stomach more than once. The writing is competent and flows. No errors and whatnot. Still, there's something at basement level I didn't like about this book. Something irked me. I can't lay my finger on it...
In summation: I don't know what to think about this book, so I'm giving it 2.5 stars. Some readers might enjoy it, some might hate it, but I'm left with an overwhelming feeling of... meh. I highly doubt this one will stay with me past a week.
