Pink Eye, by Tom Norton, JUN2024 LTER
Talk Reviews of Early Reviewers Books
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1LyndaInOregon
This debut novel takes a pretty cynical look at academia, the military/science complex, the entertainment industry, and humankind in general, but with an unexpected soft spot for a couple of stoner high school students who start out just wanting to be paid for their gig and end up having to save the galaxy. Or maybe not.
If that all sounds a bit confusing, it’s because this slap-dash, high-speed romp never really slows down quite enough to permit a critical analysis. It’s all great fun, but don’t look for much in the way of characterization, moral, or philosophy.
It all starts when a night-shift number-cruncher at a Big Eye observatory in Tasmania has the questionable luck of being on deck when The Signal comes in. He’s astute enough to recognize the potential here, and just pissed-off enough at his boss to keep it his own little secret until he can take it home and code-monkey it until he figures it out. And just like that, he becomes the celebrity recipient of the First Legitimate Message from Extraterrestrial Life.
Although the Gatogrosians are singularly unattractive to the Human eye, they are offering quantum leaps in technology, if only they’re allowed to observe Human culture and society for a while first, choosing a small, isolated Tasmanian community and offering Big Bucks (although it’s never really clear exactly where the money is supposed to come from) to the adult residents if they’ll allow Gatogrosian drones (which look unnervingly like a human eyeball, only pink, hence the title) to float around, observe, and record as the townspeople pretend to ignore them and go about business as usual. The military/science community is all over this, of course, having been given some nifty alien technology to play with, and most of the townspeople seem ready to roll with it, until Bobby and his buddy Chooch take offense at being excluded from the cash payoff because they are “only kids”.
Fueled by some really good bud, they break the cardinal rule, and not only refuse to ignore the Pink Eyes, but actively harass them, inadvertently uncovering the aliens’ true aims and getting drawn in to an internal protest movement that spins the two teens, the suddenly-famous number-cruncher (remember him?), and assorted other characters into a breakneck adventure that never lets up for a moment.
Fortunately, it’s a quick read. Just don’t attempt to follow the vagaries of the plot too closely, or question the paper-thin characterizations of most of the players.
If that all sounds a bit confusing, it’s because this slap-dash, high-speed romp never really slows down quite enough to permit a critical analysis. It’s all great fun, but don’t look for much in the way of characterization, moral, or philosophy.
It all starts when a night-shift number-cruncher at a Big Eye observatory in Tasmania has the questionable luck of being on deck when The Signal comes in. He’s astute enough to recognize the potential here, and just pissed-off enough at his boss to keep it his own little secret until he can take it home and code-monkey it until he figures it out. And just like that, he becomes the celebrity recipient of the First Legitimate Message from Extraterrestrial Life.
Although the Gatogrosians are singularly unattractive to the Human eye, they are offering quantum leaps in technology, if only they’re allowed to observe Human culture and society for a while first, choosing a small, isolated Tasmanian community and offering Big Bucks (although it’s never really clear exactly where the money is supposed to come from) to the adult residents if they’ll allow Gatogrosian drones (which look unnervingly like a human eyeball, only pink, hence the title) to float around, observe, and record as the townspeople pretend to ignore them and go about business as usual. The military/science community is all over this, of course, having been given some nifty alien technology to play with, and most of the townspeople seem ready to roll with it, until Bobby and his buddy Chooch take offense at being excluded from the cash payoff because they are “only kids”.
Fueled by some really good bud, they break the cardinal rule, and not only refuse to ignore the Pink Eyes, but actively harass them, inadvertently uncovering the aliens’ true aims and getting drawn in to an internal protest movement that spins the two teens, the suddenly-famous number-cruncher (remember him?), and assorted other characters into a breakneck adventure that never lets up for a moment.
Fortunately, it’s a quick read. Just don’t attempt to follow the vagaries of the plot too closely, or question the paper-thin characterizations of most of the players.
