Mute

By Brad Steel

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0973642106
• ISBN13: 9780973642100
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Graphos Books
• Length: 385 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Good fiction, and good fact as well....

I visited this page three times before breaking down and buying the book.... and I am glad I did. It's the first novel I have read since I finished up "The Da Vinci Code" almost a year ago. I enjoyed that particular story, but did not appreciate the way Dan Brown made up his own facts as he went along. It insulted what a lot of people believe in, myself included. "Mute" is similar only in that it presents a huge amount of information as an intriguing story speeds along. The difference is that this time the facts are real. Most reviewers have written on and on about how good the dialogue and characters are, and I don't disagree. What nobody has said a lot about is how much of "Mute" is true. I am out of the business now, but I spent 23 years in the cattle industry and I can now speak my mind. I have believed for some time that there was a link between the cattle mutilations that happen regularly and government surveillance of diseases like mad cow and chronic wasting disease. "Mute" is fiction in story, but what is said about this linkage is true. I will swear it on my deathbed. The way Brad Steel describes mutilated cows is EXACTLY what I have seen, on my own ranch and others. People think it's just a bunch of hoaxes like crop circles, but nobody I know would do stuff like that to his own animals. It makes you sick to see it happen. Even if a rancher had some crazy reason to, he would not have the technology to do the things I have seen. So go ahead and buy, and do enjoy a story well told. Enjoy the characters, and have fun being surprised again and again. All I'm saying is do not comfort yourself by thinking it's all not true....

Powerful characterization and a fresh voice make Mute a silent contender

Mute is divided into three sections, each signaling a transition in the story. In Section I, the prologue introduces a Scottish neuropathologist named Duncan Henderson. He is called away to the lab in the middle of the night, and the reader is left knowing that something very ominous is lurking behind the scenes. Then chapter one begins the narration by veterinarian Kat Francis, who is still stinging from a the successive deaths of two loved ones and her new divorcee status. Kat is thrown literally off her feet when a mysterious envelope containing photos of mutilated cattle appears, addressed to her. She puts this aside to go off on a much needed vacation, cut short by what seems no more than a freak accident. She returns to find her house and clinic in shambles, and the cow photos absent. She vows to get to the bottom of this, and soon finds herself in cattle country, meeting with unexpected opposition from everyone she runs into. In Section II, we reencounter Dr. Henderson, now up to his neck in alligators. We learn he has been recruited by a secret government agency that monitors mad cow disease, carving up cattle by night to analyze the input and output organs in an underground lab and screen for pathogens known as "prions." The reader is treated to a complete autopsy in possibly a bit more detail than I would have liked, complete with the scents and textures of various human tissues. Ew. Henderson discovers that his mad cow research is not being used in the benign way he had been led to believe, to help people dying from Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease. Instead, via mutant pathogens, a plan is underway to halt Islamist terrorism at the expense of many, many innocent lives. Henderson badly wants out, but it seems the only way requires lying on a stainless steel morgue slab. Meanwhile, Kat Francis is busy running away from police and corrupt doctors, and has managed to send stolen human remains to a lab friend for DNA analysis - and sneak into a hospital library to gather medical intelligence. With remarkable efficiency she closes in on a secret that multiple governments have kept hidden from the entire world. Yet this is done in a way that seems quite well thought-out and believable. Kat also has time for an impromptu romance, and seems to fall in love a little too quickly considering all she has been through (and continues to go through!) The villains may be too purely evil, though one in particular is sufficiently quirky and eccentric that I would have liked to know more about him. Overall, this is a very good book. It is timely and unique, joining together topics that are still on the front pages of our newspapers in ways other authors may never have thought of. The story did seem a bit disjointed in parts, though some of these made more sense when I reached the end. At least three of the characters hold spinoff promise for future books, and I can easily see the film potential of Mute. Brad Steel is a talented new writer, who appears

Keeper! You've just GOT to read this one.

I finished reading 'Mute' four days ago, and have since started another. Yet I still can't get it out of my mind. Maybe it's because I simply don't want to. A few things make this book so good: 1) Thematic elements that are current and unique. Mad cow, tsunamis, and terrorism are top of mind, and this story puts a new spin on all of them. There's another even hotter topic I won't mention that's key to the story - but it's a surprise! 2) Characters. I have family in parts of Scotland, and Dr. Duncan Henderson is a true-to-form Glaswegian. Kat Francis and Zaina Marikar are drawn with such realism you could touch them. They sure touched ME. 3) Suspense. This book frayed my nerves to tatters - and I clamped on to it tight. I'd finally put it down, and then pick it back up half a minute later. 4) I learned a lot about prion diseases, Islam, and geography among many other things, and it didn't hurt a bit. This author has a gift for imparting solid info without compromising the action. 5) Brilliant ending. No loose ends. I was shocked right out of my socks, yet oh, so satisfied. How often does that happen? Brad Steel, you rocked my world. Hit me again, baby!

Master Storyteller

It's always a good sign when you finish reading a book and you can't imagine starting the next one. I can't stop thinking about the story and the characters that have left an indelible mark on my life. Brad Steel is the world's newest master storyteller, as "Mute" is full of intrigue, mystery and was obviously intricately researched. I found myself proud to be Canadian as I learned great things about our landscape and people. Mr. Steel has found a unique way of subtlety teaching you something while keeping you engrossed in the story. To say that this is a page-turner is an understatement. I found myself drinking tea late at night to keep reading, and thinking endlessly about the story until the next time I could get back to it. Throughout, he keeps you guessing and the story takes so many twists and turns that you could never imagine how it would turn out. I can honestly say that I can not wait until his next book comes out and I will be the first to line up for it!

An astonishing read - the best I've seen in years

It doesn't take me long to burn through a book, and I don't waste much time on ones that aren't any good. I bought Mute four days ago on a business trip after I spotted legal thriller ace John Lescroart's praise on the front cover, and scanned the flap copy. It sounded compelling and original. I cracked it open on the plane that night, and finished my second full read of it by lunchtime today.Brad Steel is, as Lescroart's words suggest, a master of voice. It appears this is Steel's first novel - I can't find any other titles - yet he has a clipped, no-nonsense style that kicks the guts out of veterans like Tom Clancy. (Especially Clancy's recent books: The Teeth of the Tiger could have benefited immensely from TC having a tete-a-tete with Mr. Steel!) Much of Mute is narrated by Steel's protagonist, a young woman named Kat Francis. Now, I understand women quite well - but I'll admit not as well as Steel does. More than once, I caught myself glancing at the author photo. If not for the stylistic harmony with the rest of the book, I would SWEAR Kat's character to be the creation of a female writer. It's just that solid. I challenge anyone to guess where this storyline is going from one chapter to the next, especially nearing the end. It won't darned well happen. In popular fiction, I can almost always anticipate the ending, and can all too regularly predict many impending plot devices as well. I'm tempted to tell you about a few of the curveballs Steel throws, but I won't. Pick it up, and see for yourself. If you find yourself disappointed, perhaps you ought to give up reading fiction for a while. And if you don't learn a few new and worthwhile things from this, quit reading entirely. You must know too much!This is one hell of a good book. Write on, Mr. Steel...