Review: Carnal Sacraments
A Book with a Mystery: Carnal Sacraments by Perry Brass
A white-knuckle suspense story set in the year 2075, the distant yet close-enough future, when constant corporate + government surveillance is Standard Operating Procedure. Endless war and endless “security” punch their way through individual lives. And your job level will determine exactly if and how you live and die. In a glittering city in a very internationalized Germany, Jeffrey Cooper, Alabama-born design star, has made a pact with the Devil himself. No matter what age he is, the mega-Corporation running the world will keep him looking movie-star young and handsome. Cooper has left his past, his history and heart behind. But they will catch up with him when he meets a handsome young Dutchman who offers him his real soul back-but with even a higher price than the Corporation is making him pay.
The beginning was one large info dump loosely wrapped around a short traumatic event. Hard to keep up with and understand. The use of German words and phrases was a nice touch, but did slow down my reading, as I had to figure out the word/phrase. There is a lot of social and economic commentary it the story, a bit more than I enjoy. The look into what an extended life would do to someone mentally was interesting though. I had a hard time liking or relating to the main character, and I'm not even sure the reader is expected to. The time spent in India was interesting, I've been there, so I enjoyed seeing the differences to the country I know. Most of the story is about figuring stuff out for the main character, first how some one of his age deals with a changing world, while he is almost timeless. Then how to relate to his new boyfriend, who seems to be almost from another world. Finally the true motivation of his business partner from India. Everything seemed to fall apart very quickly at the end, I almost wish they had died, it would have been more epic, in my opinion.
The mystery didn't actaully show up until late in the book, with some indications that it was present all along, just too obscure for the reader (or at least me) to notice.
Rating: C-
2014 Reading Bingo
A book with more than 500 Pages
A Forgotten Classic
A Book that Became a Movie
The Maze Runner
A Book Published this Year
Battle of Will
A Book with a Number in the Title
A Book Written by Someone Under Thirty
A Book with Non-Human Characters
Shards of Time
A Funny Book
A Book by a Female Author
A Book with a Mystery
Carnal Sacraments
A Book with a One-Word Title
Coraline
A Book of Short Stories
Free Square
A Book Set on a Different Continent
A Book of Non Fiction
The First Book by a Favorite Author
A book you Heard About Online
Meeting on Mars
A Best-Selling Book
A Book Based on a True Story
A Book at the Bottom of your To Be Read Pile
A Light In The Dark
A Book Your Friend Loves
The Graveyard Book
A Book that Scares You
A Book that is More Than 10 Years Old
The Second Book in a Series
Ghost Train to New Orleans
A Book with a Blue Cover
Links in the table go to the reviews for that book. The cover links to the Amazon page.