Book Review: The Veil

The Veil: A Post Apocalyptic Bio-Punk Survival Thriller by Torstein Beck

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a straight-up dystopian horror survival story. If you're hoping for something new, different or a big twist you won't find it here. I predicted (most of) the ending at about the halfway mark; which is a bit frustrating. However that didn't make me want to put The Veil down.

Action
This high-paced, well written story will keep you on the edge of your seat when the fighting starts. Some writers have a knack for action and some don't. It's clear to me that Torstein Beck has a talent for action. Our characters go from calm to panicked and into flight or fight mode with a fluidity that feels genuine. I'd love to read a sword fight written by Beck because if this is what they can do with guns and monsters I can only imagine how awesome a straight-up sword fight could be.

Writing and Dialogue
I'd definitely read another book by Beck as the writing style and pacing of The Veil is perfect. At times my heart was racing, the gore was as expected, and the dialogue had it's witty moments. The character conversations are part of what really makes this a great book. You gotta appreciate dialogue like this:

"Nothing like a bit of humour to take the edge off impending death.”

You'll have to read The Veil to find out what the joke was. *wink*

Where's the Science
I dunno what bio-punk is supposed to mean exactly but I was expecting more of a scientific read than I got. The science is there but not to any detail level that will satisfy those hoping for Michael Crichton or Blake Crouch level explanations. Our 'past' timeline scientists are messing with gene splicing and (of course) it doesn't turn out quite like they hoped. But don't expect to understand even the basics of gene splicing here. Read Jurassic Park for a better understanding of 'filling in' the genome to create new creatures.
Although geek me really wants to analyse the data collected during all the events of this story (in both timelines). As a data analyst I'm just imagining the possibilities of finding correlations!

Overall
The Veil is worthy of 3.5 stars in my mind. Had the ending been something other than what I, more or less, expected it might have made it all the way to 4 stars. Unfortunately the 'twist' is too predictable and lacks real climax worthiness. To get to 5 stars I would have wanted more of a scientific story that allowed me to learn about gene splicing (even if only theoretical) and had more focus on animalistic senses of our creatures.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via BookSirens. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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