C.G. Hill of Dustbury.com reviews John Donnelly’s Gold.
This really should not have worked as a novel: technical descriptions tend toward the mundane, and most of the techies I know are decidedly short on drama. What makes this worth your time is Noggle’s attention to detail: J. Random Noob will appreciate the extra exposition, and your local expert will nod, “Yeah, that’s exactly the way I’d do that. If I were going to do that, which of course I’m not.” There might be a hair too much geographical exposition — by the time you’re finished you should be able to hire on as a cab driver in St. Louis County — but no matter about that. The plot is more than sufficiently twisty; I’m pleased to report that I did not even come close to predicting the way it ended. And if the dialogue meanders a bit, hey, that’s the way these people talk. I’ve heard them, and so have you.
Yes, I didn’t predict the ending either. Or the ending before the ending before the ending. But the plot wasn’t twisted with chaos, but reasonable problems.
One of the nice treats in the story was how Michele was composing her novel own in her head. This could only be improved if her novel included a character named “Brian”.