TITLE: Project Antichrist
AUTHOR: Pavel Kravchenko
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
APPROXIMATE LENGTH: 251 pages
Recommended for fans of conspiracy thrillers and futuristic sci-fi.
GENRE
Science Fiction—Thriller
Project Antichrist takes place in a
futuristic Chicago and has a classic conspiracy thriller opening: the
main character, Luke Whales, discovers a dead body in his apartment and,
finding himself framed for the murder, runs from the
authorities while searching for the truth. As the story moves along,
the sci-fi elements begin trickling in—an evil corporation, mysterious
aliens, higher planes of existence.
Project Antichrist ends with something of a
cliffhanger. While the mysteries are for the most part explained by the
end, the consequences are yet to be dealt with.
PACE
Project Antichrist dives into the mystery early on and keeps up a fairly frenetic pace throughout as each answer leads to more questions.
PERSPECTIVE
This book opens with Luke’s first person past
narrative, then rotates between his point of view and the third person
limited perspectives of several characters, such as the FBI agents
chasing him. Each time a chapter is written in first
person, it’s Luke’s point of view.
CONTENT REVIEW
Luke Whales, a TV show host living in near-future
Chicago, seems to have it all—money, looks, success. But behind the
scenes, things aren’t so rosy. Divorced and still pining for his
ex-wife, he takes antidepressants to make the world seem
like a better place. One day, he comes home to find a dead body in his
apartment and his personal gun missing. Realizing that he’s being set
up, he flees.
From there, his circumstances only become more bizarre. Although
Project Antichrist begins with a seemingly straightforward Fugitive-like
plot—innocent man runs from the authorities while searching for the
real killer—spirals out into a tangle of mysteries involving the
powerful corporation behind the antidepressants
Luke (and a huge chunk of the nation) takes and mysterious aliens with a
sinister agenda.
Luke is an easy protagonist to root for, despite,
or perhaps because of, his many flaws. Years of being a celebrity have
made him arrogant, self-centered, and entitled, but at the center of it
all, he’s still just a guy trying to figure
things out. His bewilderment and considerable cluelessness when it
comes to the whole fugitive situation are rather endearing. After all,
he’s no superhero. He’s not even an everyday hero. And he’s a bit
volatile—one of the first things he does in the book
is march over to his ex-wife’s house and clock her new boyfriend.
As the story unfolds, Kravchenko introduces the
reader to a number of interesting characters. There’s Iris, a
hipster-like young woman with grand ideas and a bit of an attitude, who
helps him flee the FBI simply because he needs her. And
Paul, Luke’s friend from his pre-fame days who may or may not hold a
grudge against him. And FBI agents Brighton and Brome, the latter of
whom begins questioning the seemingly straightforward nature of the
murder case he investigates.
Then there’s Dr. Young, a character who doesn’t
have a lot of “screen time” compared to the other characters, but whose
knowledge and thoughts shape the themes of the novel. Part priest and
part psychiatrist, he knows more about what’s
going on than perhaps he should. He’s the one who introduces Luke to
the idea that there’s more going on than a simple murder. One of the
most interesting sections in the book is the scene in which Dr. Young
philosophizes about the nature of the antidepressants
that have become so prevalent in this futuristic United States, a
passage that serves as a commentary for our real-life increasing
dependence on behavioral drugs.
And then things get apocalyptic. The title of the book is
Project Antichrist, after all. The notion that the ones humans have
thought of as gods are in fact aliens so powerful, they seem divine,
isn’t entirely new to sci-fi, but Kravchenko gives the idea his own
twist. Dr. Young acts almost like a prophet, telling
Luke of things that are and things to come that are not only
unbelievable, but borderline inconceivable. How Luke fits into this
grand concept is slowly revealed throughout the course of the novel.
Along the way, Luke gets himself into plenty of
trouble—chases with the police, an insane plot to rescue his friends
from the clutches of the evil corporation, encounters with frightening,
almost supernatural alien beings. Caught in the
epicenter of conspiracies and puzzles, he struggles to reconcile what
he sees with what he can believe. By the time
Project Antichrist reaches its cliffhanger of a conclusion, normalcy is but a distant memory. In
Project Antichrist, Kravchenko has crafted a thrilling sci-fi
mystery with fascinating concepts and exciting action scenes. I had a
hard time putting this book down because I simply had to know what was
going on, and what would happen next.
THE NITPICKY STUFF
I found a handful of typos and errors while reading, but nothing too distracting.
This book contains violence typical to the thriller
genre—shootings, chases, etc. There’s nothing particularly gruesome or
graphic.
AUTHOR INFO
Pavel Kravchenko grew up in Ukraine and moved to
the United States at the age of twenty. He has held a number of
different occupations and has published several short stories.
Project Antichrist is his first novel. He currently lives in Illinois with his wife and two children.
This is what I want. Thanks for sharing.
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