Caleb Carr

Our Price: $32.00 Readers' Advantage Price: $30.40 Join Now  In Stock:Ships within 24 hours  Same Day Delivery in Manhattan. Format: Compact Disc ISBN: 0743505891 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Pub. Date: August  2000 Edition Desc: 4 CDs Barnes & Noble Sales Rank: 440,597  Other Formats: Hardcover (Large Print), Mass Market Paperback, Audio, Adobe Acrobat eBook

     

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ABOUT THIS ITEM

 From Our Editors
Our Review
History in the Making
Though his background is in military history, with his bestselling thrillers The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness, Caleb Carr proved he could walk the historical-fiction walk on the streets of old New York. In Killing Time, a high-stakes technothriller that will leave your head spinning, Carr turns a new corner, conjuring up a haunting vision of the future that is as much a meditation on modern technology as it is an ominous glimpse of technology's consequences.

The year is 2023. Since the E. coli breakout of 2021, hamburgers have become a luxury, the oceans have become lifeless masses of brown sludge, and the air in New York has grown so polluted the mayor advises citizens to stay indoors for anything less than an emergency. But that's not all: A staphylococcus epidemic decimated 40 million people worldwide in 2006, and a devastating stock market crash leveled global economies in 2007. More importantly, the information age has not made good on its promise of a "free exchange of knowledge." Instead, societies have fallen victim to a "love affair with information technology," and their citizens have been virtually brainwashed by information under control of the nations' leaders. The structure of society itself has undergone an immeasurable shift, and only those countries whose poverty has kept them unwired have been spared.

But even a world in chaos can be turned upside down. Dr. Gideon Wolfe, a successful criminal profiler and professor of psychology at John Jay University in New York, is visited by the widow of John Price, the famed special-effects wizard who was murdered only days earlier. Mrs. Price gives Wolfe a computer disc with now-famous footage of President Emily Forrester's assassination, proving the footage had been tampered with and the Afghani accused of killing the president was nothing more than a digital image concealing the true culprit's identity.

A few short hours after Wolfe brings the evidence to his old friend Max Jenkins, a private detective, Jenkins is murdered. Wolfe is then swept onboard the amphibious ship of a small group of resistance fighters led by Larissa and Malcolm Tressalian, who soon catapult him into a new understanding of the world. The Tressalians reveal to him their responsibility for a number of historical "discoveries" that in recent years have discredited everything from the New Testament to human evolution to Winston Churchill. What began as mischievous tampering now threatens to yield disastrous global effects.

Reminiscent of George Orwell's 1984, with a tip of the hat to The Matrix, Killing Time combines traditional elements of the mystery and thriller with Carr's unique historical and psychological insight. Although at times Carr lapses into preaching about the dangers of runaway technology, this novel is ultimately a reflection on the vulnerability of history under the control of those in power. And although we can't predict the future for Caleb Carr, we can certainly commend him for offering us this terrifying glimpse of history in the making.

Elise Vogel is a freelance writer living in New York City.

Synopsis
Caleb Carr has boldly established a new genre-future history-combining the best elements of mystery and thrillers with unique historical insight.

From the Publisher
The blockbuster author of The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness moves in a terrific new direction with this brillantly conceived thriller set in the illusory world of 2023.

About the Author:

Caleb Carr was born in Manhattan and grew up on the Lower East Side, where he stills lives. In addition to his bestselling fiction, Mr. Carr writes frequently on military and political affairs. He is the series editor of the Modern Library War Series and is a contributing editor of MHQ: The Quarterly Journals of Military History.

 From the Critics
From Carol Memmott - USA Today  
Fans of Caleb Carr will be astounded by Killing Time, a techno-terrifying tale of the information age run amok. It's a high-speed connection to our most paranoid thoughts about where our wired world is heading.
 
From George Magazine  
Caleb Carr's mindblowing Killing Time has ruined the future for me. Now I'm going to spend the next 25 years waiting for the world to turn out exactly the way Carr eloquently imagines it in this twisted, hilarious, touching yarn that involves so many mysterious threads that I'm reading it again. Killing Time is an intimate family drama told against a global backdrop, from a born storyteller who's invented a new way to write.
 
From George  
Mind-blowing...twisted, hilarious, touching...an intimate family drama told against a global backdrop, from a born storyteller who's invented a new way to write.
 
From USA Today  
A non-stop thrill ride...Carr is a master of the cliffhanger.
 
From Denver Post  
Startling...a daring step...a book of ideas and an allegorical warning against a future that must be avoided.
 
Read all 9 reviews about this title

 CUSTOMER REVIEWS - An Open Forum
Number of Reviews: 3    Average Rating:

A reviewer (footprof@aol.com), March 4, 2002,
Not Like the First Two
I was very disappointed with this book. Nowhere near the quality of his first two novels, Mr. Carr's vision of the future makes for a fast read, but not much else. There is, however, an eerie undertone given the recent events in Afghanistan.

Bacon, a police officer from Colorado, February 1, 2002,
Very disappointing
I couldn't wait to read this book after reading Carr's Alienist and Angel of Darkness. I loved those books but was very disappointed in this one. Carr seems to have a knack for writing historical novels and should stick to them. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

Gail Cooke (grospoin@aol.com), January 8, 2001,
AUTHOR'S READING ADDS TO UNDERSTANDING
Ofttimes, when an author reads his or her own work a heightened understanding, a richer intent is added. Such is the case with Caleb Carr's latest, 'Killing Time.' Mr. Carr imbues his rendering with a chilling sureness. The author's first two novels, 'The Alienist' and 'The Angels Of Darkness' were set during New York City's Gilded Age. This time out Mr. Carr takes the reader some years hence - the year 2023 to be exact when Dr. Gideon Wolfe, a professor and criminal profiler comes upon a photo of a recent presidential assassination that has been digitally altered. In Dr. Wolfe's day public opinion is largely dictated by the Internet. Opposing sides are vying for popular favor. 'Information,' as Mr. Carr has pointed out, 'is a double-edged sword. You have to know how to look underneath it.' In addition to information and its dispersal, 'Killing Time' also tackles financial uncertainty, a depletion of natural resources, and mass murder. It's a rather fearsome but fascinating take on the Information Age - read superbly by the author.

FROM THE BOOK