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Boom
You wake up with a tattoo on your arm and don't know how you got it. You try to rub it off but you see the numbers changing on the tattoo. What is happening? As the time counts down,you think it's only a tattoo until 00:00 BOOM!!!! You have become a human bomb and don't know why...the FBI doesn't know why but as more Boom! tattoos appear the the clearer it becomes that there may be a mole in the FBI and life will never be the same for many!
- GenresThriller
527 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2010
3 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Jim Brown
3 books21 followersJim Brown http://www.jimbrownbooks.com/ is a critically acclaimed author and an award-winning journalist. His novels have been published in 26 countries and translated into Russian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, and Bulgarian.
His first two novel’s 24/7 and Black Valley, published by Random House, have been optioned for film.
Jim is also a renowned broadcast journalist. He has worked for NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox. He’s broadcast live for CNN and been featured in a BBC documentary.
As a crime reporter, Jim has covered school shootings and serial killers, including the Stocking Strangler and the Atlanta Child Killer, as well as countless other crimes and criminals. As a result, he has been threatened and shot at . . . twice. But he always gets the story.
Jim is a three-time winner of the Associated Press Best Newscast Award.
His first two novel’s 24/7 and Black Valley, published by Random House, have been optioned for film.
Jim is also a renowned broadcast journalist. He has worked for NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox. He’s broadcast live for CNN and been featured in a BBC documentary.
As a crime reporter, Jim has covered school shootings and serial killers, including the Stocking Strangler and the Atlanta Child Killer, as well as countless other crimes and criminals. As a result, he has been threatened and shot at . . . twice. But he always gets the story.
Jim is a three-time winner of the Associated Press Best Newscast Award.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 14, 2011
This book gets you from the first chapter and keeps you wanting more! The pace of the book moves fast and the thrill just makes you want to keep turning the page to see what happens next. Very suspenseful and intriguing! A tattoo that blows you up and you don't know how you got it?? Wouldn't you wan to read it to see how and why all this is going on...makes you feel like you should check yourself too!
June 2, 2011
Boom starts off pretty well - the concept is intriguing and the characters and situations are believable. That said, and while it is a reasonably enjoyable read, I felt the primary McGuffin, the mysterious bombs, became less believable as the story progressed.
August 25, 2012
Things That Go Boom! in the Day
What would you do if you suddenly learned the exact time of your death, and it was measured in hours and minutes, not years or even days? What if that time was written on your arm in a black tattoo that changed, counting down the minutes till you would die?
Boom! by Jim Brown (www.jimbrownbooks.com) is an exciting, fast-paced thriller that gripped me from the first riveting chapter through to the satisfying conclusion.
A master storyteller, Brown postulates an act of terrorism that looks like magic, yet is slowly revealed to be cutting-edge science. The protagonist, a brilliant forensic psychologist suffering from post traumatic stress disorder after seeing her fiance blown up on a tour of duty in Iran, is fully-developed and likable despite her quirks and frequent abrasive comments.
The story unfolds in a series of short, dramatic scenes which snap into place like a complex puzzle being put together. The plot is full of surprising twists which add suspense and kept me guessing right to the end. Although the scenes are brief, Brown depicts even his minor characters so well I felt I knew them.
The only drawback to this novel is its uniform quick pace. The fascinating "what if?' that Brown postulates is not explored in depth. For example, as the death tattoos become more prevalent and their meaning understood, I would imagine there would be a greater variety of response from the victims. What would I do if my hour of death was approaching? Race to the airport for a long-delayed exotic trip? Make that life-changing phone call I've been delaying? Donate all my wealth to charity? Showing some responses other than unanimous blind panic would have made a more thought-provoking book.
It also would have slowed down the fast-paced plot and building suspense, however, which may be why Brown chose to maintain the breathless speed his short, episodic style imparts.
What would you do if you suddenly learned the exact time of your death, and it was measured in hours and minutes, not years or even days? What if that time was written on your arm in a black tattoo that changed, counting down the minutes till you would die?
Boom! by Jim Brown (www.jimbrownbooks.com) is an exciting, fast-paced thriller that gripped me from the first riveting chapter through to the satisfying conclusion.
A master storyteller, Brown postulates an act of terrorism that looks like magic, yet is slowly revealed to be cutting-edge science. The protagonist, a brilliant forensic psychologist suffering from post traumatic stress disorder after seeing her fiance blown up on a tour of duty in Iran, is fully-developed and likable despite her quirks and frequent abrasive comments.
The story unfolds in a series of short, dramatic scenes which snap into place like a complex puzzle being put together. The plot is full of surprising twists which add suspense and kept me guessing right to the end. Although the scenes are brief, Brown depicts even his minor characters so well I felt I knew them.
The only drawback to this novel is its uniform quick pace. The fascinating "what if?' that Brown postulates is not explored in depth. For example, as the death tattoos become more prevalent and their meaning understood, I would imagine there would be a greater variety of response from the victims. What would I do if my hour of death was approaching? Race to the airport for a long-delayed exotic trip? Make that life-changing phone call I've been delaying? Donate all my wealth to charity? Showing some responses other than unanimous blind panic would have made a more thought-provoking book.
It also would have slowed down the fast-paced plot and building suspense, however, which may be why Brown chose to maintain the breathless speed his short, episodic style imparts.
July 13, 2011
Boom! by Jim Brown is a fast-paced thriller that does a good job of keeping you turning the page. The characters were believable, and protagonists were likable. Overall, it's a good tale, mostly told well. Because the story did keep me reading, and maintained a good level of tension throughout, I'm giving it a four-star rating.
Unfortunately (and perhaps this only applies to the formatting of the Kindle/epub version), the text was loaded with typos, odd punctuation, and homophone mistakes. The sheer number of these mistakes makes it obvious the author relied only on spell-check for the final editing process, without giving the text a good once-over with a human pair of eyes. There were more instances of "too" instead of "to", "you're" instead of "your", and "it's" instead of "its" than I care to count, as well as flat-out wrong words ("fool hearty" in place of "foolhardy" is just one example).
Another thing that kept jarring me out of the story was the overuse of italicized words throughout the story. I can understand italicizing an unfamiliar term the first time it's used, but after that first use, it gets distracting. Throughout this book, almost every instance of the following words was italicized: "the bomber", "boom ink", "night-terrors", and several other words.
One last nit: If you're going to have a character drop the f-bomb, please just commit and spell it out. "f--ing", used in a line of dialog, looks a little silly. ;)
More attention to editing would have elevated the book to an even higher rating, but even with the errors, it stands as an enjoyable, fast read.
Unfortunately (and perhaps this only applies to the formatting of the Kindle/epub version), the text was loaded with typos, odd punctuation, and homophone mistakes. The sheer number of these mistakes makes it obvious the author relied only on spell-check for the final editing process, without giving the text a good once-over with a human pair of eyes. There were more instances of "too" instead of "to", "you're" instead of "your", and "it's" instead of "its" than I care to count, as well as flat-out wrong words ("fool hearty" in place of "foolhardy" is just one example).
Another thing that kept jarring me out of the story was the overuse of italicized words throughout the story. I can understand italicizing an unfamiliar term the first time it's used, but after that first use, it gets distracting. Throughout this book, almost every instance of the following words was italicized: "the bomber", "boom ink", "night-terrors", and several other words.
One last nit: If you're going to have a character drop the f-bomb, please just commit and spell it out. "f--ing", used in a line of dialog, looks a little silly. ;)
More attention to editing would have elevated the book to an even higher rating, but even with the errors, it stands as an enjoyable, fast read.
November 25, 2013
Kept me on the edge of my seat. I read it all night long. Particularly like two of the protagonists, and liked how the heroine used her memories of her father to get her through touch times. Was a bit disappointed at the end because there wasn't enough of a tie up of the heroine's story line, but that didn't stop it from being a good fast read! I would recommend this to those who like thrillers. BOOM!
July 26, 2013
BOOM is an imaginative, action packed thriller that starts off with a Bang! or should I say BOOM. I enjoyed Jim Brown's writing style, a fast-paced story with well developed characters and adrenaline pumping action scenes.
September 1, 2012
For my review of this highly engaging book, please visit my blog: Martin's View: Boom.
October 13, 2012
Great Story. Each characters' personality well written. True suspense throughout!
http://www.jimbrownbooks.com/works.htm
http://www.jimbrownbooks.com/works.htm
March 15, 2013
A very good read and thrill ride.
August 30, 2014
Fast paced and crazy thrilling. I ignored my family for an entire afternoon to read it.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews