Recently, I was bored and wanted to read a book, so I went to the library (duh) and came across a book called Tattoo Atlas, by Tim Floreen, which I realized I could blog about. The book is science fiction, but is quite realistic and revolves around a research laboratory that is trying to cure a sociopath named Franklin. The book is told from the first person perspective of Rem Braithwaite, the main character whose mom is trying to steady Franklin’s sociopathic brain.
Rem has a relatively normal school life with friends, but constantly relives Franklin’s crime against fellow classmate and friend Pete Lund. Franklin, an outsider to his classmates, harbored and still harbors ill will to Pete and others because of inconsiderate words or actions and feels justified to have killed him. Rem’s mom, concerned for Rem’s well-being and jumping at an opportunity, admits Franklin to her research center and implants a chip into his brain that will allow her to “control” his brain’s feelings. The research and testing seems to be going smoothly and the implanted chip appears to be effective in calming Franklin’s aggressive and unempathetic emotions, but Franklin is savvy and hacks the monitoring system that keeps a watchful eye on him.
To test the effectiveness of the chip, Rem is brought in to have conversations with Franklin because Rem was one of the only people that wasn’t a “jerk” to Franklin. Rem is actually impressed by Franklin’s change and begins to accept him as a friend, listening to him explain and talk. Gradually, Rem begins to accept Franklin back into his life, but second-guesses himself when Franklin shows up at his house in the middle of the night, having hacked the security system to play a loop of him sleeping. The next day, one of his classmates, Callie, is found dead in the school Cafeteria, but Franklin vigorously denies wrongdoing. Franklin continues to visit Rem by breaking out, coming just to play him some music, or talk to him.
Talking to Franklin, Rem finds that he plays Son of War, a game similar to Call of Duty, and takes pride in having some of the best scores. He also uncovers Son of War High, a game created by Nil, a weird-ish classmate who doesn’t have feelings against Franklin. The game, created from one of Franklin’s notebooks, details exactly what Franklin was planning on the day he killed Pete. At the same time, Rem’s mom and her assistants have discovered that Franklin is manipulating his implanted brain chip to allow him to feel aggressive and mean. Rem, desperate to uncover clues, breaks into Nil’s house to read Franklin’s notebook, which is currently in Nil’s possession. However, Nil catches Rem but lets him go, but leaves Rem to wonder about what Nil said.
I’d recommend this book to anybody who enjoys science fiction. The book also touches on subjects such as sexuality and what it means to be a killer. The plot is constantly changing, and not much of the book is dull. I’m sure many people can relate to me when I say that you can often guess the ending of a book before you get there, but I was genuinely unable to formulate a guess while reading Tattoo Atlas because of the way the book is written. Finally, the characters in Tattoo Atlas have complex personalities and the plot really develops the characters so you can understand them. Happy reading!
I think you did a great job providing detailed descriptions of the important moments that occur within this book without spoiling any of it. I think the way you brought up suspenseful themes in the book made me want to read it even more. Science fiction is a relatively newer genre of writing that I think not many people have a lot of experience reading, but you did a great job at encouraging people to read Tattoo Atlas. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI liked your blog post, and especially liked the way you introduced the characters of the book. Rem and Franklin sound like very interesting characters, and the way you clearly described the plot made the book seem very appealing. This post was interesting and clearly written, and Tattoo Atlas seems like a very interesting read.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on this blog post. I liked the way you went into detail about the plot and you made it sound very interesting. You went into detail about the plot but didn't give away anything and left the readers wanting more with the cliffhanger you left us on. Good job on making the book sound interesting and intriguing readers to take a look at Tattoo Atlas.
ReplyDeleteI like how you explained the book very concisely. The detail put into this really helped me get a better understanding about the book. You explained the plot, as well as the main characters in a remarkable manner. I appreciate how your introductory paragraph really gave me an idea of what you were thinking when you decided to write this blog. Exceptional job!
ReplyDeleteThe way that you wrote this blog really goes into detail about the plot and talks about the overview of the personality of the main characters. I find the description of this book intriguing because if I had just been told that the book talks about a psychopathic murderer I might not have been as interested. Instead, mentioning the computer chip planted in his brain and the fact that it is a pseudo-mystery makes the book seem like a good read.
ReplyDeleteThis book seems pretty creepy compared to other books people have read. I am interested in how the story progresses because it seems quite strange and full of risks! I suspect Rem would have many complex feelings throughout the story while being friends with a murderer sociopath who is occasionally friendly and relatable, and that this constant change would lead to different styles of storytelling. I also respect how you didn’t spoil the whole book and you left us wondering what was going to happen. Nice review!
ReplyDeleteBy the way that you described the plot of this book, it sounds very intriguing. You did a very good job in general of describing the plot and I also liked how you chose to describe the personalities of the main characters in this novel.
ReplyDelete