Utopia by Lincoln Child

After countless formulaic best sellers co-written with Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child strikes out on his own with a truly original, compelling thriller set in a futuristic amusement park. Utopia follows robotics expert Dr. Andrew Warne on his first visit to the eponymous theme park, a re-imagined Disneyland largely presided over by a network of robots that he designed.

Fans of amusement parks should derive great pleasure from Child's carefully crafted descriptions of the park itself, from the vast labyrinth of behind-the-scenes tunnels below the park to amazingly complex rides that push just beyond the limits of current technology. The different "worlds" of the park, while not particularly imaginative (i.e. a futuristic space station, Victorian London), give Utopia the necessary note of authenticity for readers intimately familiar with real-world parks such as Universal Studios or Six Flags.

While the setting is enticing, the plot is key here. The novel reads as a cross between Jurassic Park and Asimov's better robot novels, not entirely a bad mix. The day of Warne's visit just happens to be the same day that particularly clever and ruthless cadres of thieves take the park hostage. While there are few suprises once the stage is set--indeed, many of the key plot points are easily predictable--the writing is crisp and the story moves swiftly enough to keep the reader entertained. The entire book takes place in the space of less than a day, and the visual punch of Child's writing virtually guarantees the movie rights will be snapped up soon.

The supporting characters fall into comfortable archetypes: Warne's daughter, who is of course imperiled in the novel's penultimate sequence; the ex-military guest who gets caught up in the action; and a handful of quirky villains who we know only by their code names. Utopia is not intended to be a character-driven tale, but the almost complete lack of development may disappoint more demanding readers.

Those looking for an engrossing, fast-paced thrill ride, though, will find it here.

Article Author: Scott Pepper

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