Book Review: Pulse by Jeremy Robinson

I just discovered the works of Jeremy Robinson this year.  I was browsing on Amazon and Project Nemesis was recommended.  I saw that Island 731 was listed as book #0 in the series, so I checked it out and quickly became a fan.  Pulse is the sixth novel by Robinson that I have read this year.  It is the first book in one of his most popular series;  the Jack Sigler "Chess Team" Thrillers.  Here is the list of previous books that I've read, in order:

• Island 731 (Nemesis Saga #0)
• Project Nemesis (Nemesis Saga #1)
• Project Maigo (Nemesis Saga #2)
• Raising the Past
• Torment (written as Jeremy Bishop)

Before writing this review, I also finished The Didymus Contingency, which is Robinson's first book.  I enjoyed all of these books, and they all had a similar writing style which kept you wanting to read.  Island 731 really got my interest after about 50 pages - I didn't want to put it down.  The same with the rest of the books once I got around 30 pages into them.

However, I found Pulse to be a somewhat different.  For some reason, I found the writing style to be less engaging, which is interesting, since this book was written after The Didymus Contingency and Raising the Past, and before the rest of the books on my list.  For lack of a better word, Pulse had a different "voice".  Perhaps the style and tone of this book is consistent with the rest of the "Chess Team" thrillers.  I don't know, since I haven't read any others - yet.  I'm not sure if I will read the rest of the series .  I'm on the fence as to whether I will enjoy them as much as the other books on the list above.  At some point, I may check out book #2, Instinct, but that will likely be after I read several of his other books, which currently include (at a minimum):

• Project 731 (Nemesis Saga #3)
• Project Hyperion (Nemesis Saga #4)
• Beneath
• Unity (first in a new series)
• Apocalypse Machine

Overall, Pulse was a good story, and I did find it entertaining, and I liked the characters - but I just didn't find it as easy to read or enjoy it as much as the previous books that I read.  I'm not really sure why.  I enjoyed The Doomsday Key by James Rollins, which also focuses on the escapades of an elite military unit - so it isn't the content of the story.  For some reason, I just didn't find it as engaging.  I think that this book also had a slower pace for a longer period than the other stories - the pace does eventually pick up, at which point I was able to get through the material more quickly.  If I recall correctly, this was somewhere around the halfway point.

It is a good thriller, and it does cover a lot of material.  In short, the Chess Team takes on a powerful organization planning to create invincible, regenerating soldiers using the DNA of a creature from Greek Mythology.  There is an excellent mystery in the story, and I was pretty satisfied with Robinson's very original viewpoint to the mythological aspect.  That's about all I want to say about it - I don't want to spoil anything for future readers.

I will say that the characters are consistent with Robinson's other books.  They are all interesting, some of them have interesting pasts, and some of them need to deal with some very interesting personal problems.  This contributes greatly to the story, as they seem like real people.  They aren't super heroes, and they make mistakes - the good guys don't always win in this story.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys thrillers, especially those that involve a military team fighting to save the world from disaster.  After finishing the other books on my second list, we'll see if I turn my sights to book #2 in the series.