Dark Origins

July 20, 2009
You get a movie with the book.
Level 26
Anthony Zuiker
with Duane Swierczynski. Dutton
, $26.95 (416p) ISBN 978-0-525-95125-4

CSI creator Zuiker teams with Swierczynski (Severance Package
) to create what's billed as the world's first “digi-novel,” involving a seriously weird serial killer and the tortured FBI investigator who's forced to hunt him down. There's nothing really new about the basic concept, but Swierczynski handles the writing with assurance and verve. The killer, known as Sqweegel, is “a psychopath who has shot, raped, maimed, poisoned, burned, strangled, and tortured upwards of fifty people in six countries over a span of more than twenty years.” The investigator, Steve Dark, lives a quiet life with his beloved, pregnant wife, in Malibu, Calif. The digital concept kicks in every 20 pages or so when the reader is referred to a Web site containing 20 two- to three-minute professionally made film clips that bridge the action from one section to another. It's a bit like watching the extras on a DVD—fun, but not really necessary to the main event. 200,000 first printing.

January 15, 2010
In this brutal thriller by "CSI" creator Zuiker, billed by the publisher as "the world's first Digi-Novel[," listeners are periodically prompted to pause the audio and go online (www.level26.com) to view "cyber-bridges," i.e., short video clips designed to enhance the story. "Level 26ers" are encouraged to join an online social community and participate in a contest to win an appearance in the cyberbridges for the next "Level 26" novel; further, an accompanying DVD contains Marc Ecko's artwork for the Dutton hardcover and ebook. Somewhere beneath all these extras and gimmicks lies the story: serial killer Sqweegel rapes, dismembers, burns, strangles, and tortures his way through 50 victims before the one man who's ever come close to catching him is dragged back into the hunt when his pregnant wife becomes Sqweegel's target. Actor/narrator John Glover's performance is sublime, and coauthor Swierczynski ("The Wheel Man") creates some really suspenseful moments, but the narrative's shifting points of view, combined with the need to stop and view the 20 video clips, result in a rather disjointed listening experience. For hardcore serial killer/horror fiction fans. ["This experimental crossover novel," predicted the review of the Dutton hc, "will attract a diverse following and could change the future of publishing," "LJ" 8/09; see also Audio NewsBriefs, "LJ" 10/15/09.Ed.]Beth Farrell, Portage Cty. Dist. Lib., Garrettsville, OH

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 26, 2009
Law enforcement categorizes killers on a scale of one to 25, with 25 being the sadistic psychopath. However, one brutal serial killer, code-named “Sqweegel,” has earned his own special designation of Level 26. Only one man—federal agent Steve Dark—has ever gotten close to catching him, but the effort cost Dark the lives of his foster family and drove him into self-imposed retirement. Now the agency wants him back on the case and, it would seem, so does Sqweegel. John Glover has a wonderful time narrating Zuiker's debut thriller; his committed delivery runs the gambit from serious to lighthearted, maniacal to deadly serious. Even if the story leans toward the cliché and the breaks directing listeners to webisodes are intrusive and irritating, the delivery is engrossing. It should be noted that some sections of the book are disturbing, and Glover's performance only makes them doubly so. Not for the fainthearted. A Dutton hardcover.