Official Review: Sustainability by Tyler Helm

[Jgideon]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Sustainability" by Tyler Helm.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Neom is Saudi Arabia's next big city. To make it functional, Saudi princes have to look for a suitable firm to provide clean energy. Four clean energy firms are shortlisted for the big project. The heads of the four firms, Jim Dunsmuir, George Anderson, Peter Fairchild, and Chris Buchannan are busy preparing for their final interview with the Saudi princes. However, one of them is used to acquiring projects by intimidating and scaring his competitors in every manner possible. Sustainability by Tyler Helm unveils the evil that one greedy entrepreneur can wield against his competitors, even against a billionaire whose intention is to promote global peace, trade, and unity through sustainable clean energy. Who among the four is the villain?

Sustainability takes off in a very pleasant way. The reader is ushered into the life of the down-to-earth billionaire as he goes around pulling the strings together to make the final presentation of his clean energy plan to the Saudi princes. However, the plot thickens when a myriad of other characters come into play. The villain in the novel, along with his team of willing accomplices, take up a considerable percentage of the novel as they plan and execute their evil plans against the other bidders. Jim and Garcia were my favorite characters.

I did not like how the villain’s plan unfolded. For instance, Richard whose company was executing the villain’s plans would hold meetings with his employees and discuss the actions they were to take against a certain character. Later on, they would execute their plans without any flaws whatsoever. It would have been better if the author had omitted the discussions about what they planned to do. That way, the reader cannot see what is coming, thus, giving the novel the much-needed adrenaline punch that kicks away any boredom.

Another aspect that I did not like is that a good chunk of the novel is written in report form, call it more of ‘telling than showing’, including scenes where employees would be giving reports to their bosses. At some point, I felt like I was reading minutes. This would have been a fluid action-packed novel if the author had done more of 'showing' rather than 'telling'.

I really liked the themes in this book. They include an in-depth look at sustainable clean energy, corporate espionage, capitalism, and politics. This would be a great read for clean energy enthusiasts. Despite its downside, which made me give it a 2 out of 4 rating, it would be very useful for such an audience. It may not be appealing to readers who do not like novels with cuss words and those who enjoy adrenaline-filled action-packed thrillers. The novel needs a thorough round of editing to eliminate several errors therein.

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Sustainability
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[Drianie]

It's really disheartening to continue reading when authors discuss the events that are about to unfold between the characters and then having the events unfold exactly as discussed. I will have to pass on this one since I don't think this book is for me. Thanks for the insightful review! Well done!

[NetMassimo]

This novel was potentially very intriguing considering its premises with the important subjects covered, a shame for the flaws you pointed out. Thank you for your honest review!

[Sararob06]

It's a shame that the author spoiled the events for the reader. I find books that "show" instead of "tell" to be very frustrating so I think I'll pass on this. Thank you for your thoughtful review.