Book Review: Origin by Jack Kilborn

1906 - Something is discovered by workers digging the Panama Canal. Something dormant. Sinister. Very much alive.

2009 - Project Samhain. A secret underground government installation begun 103 years ago in New Mexico. The best minds in the world have been recruited to study the most amazing discovery in the history of mankind. But the century of peaceful research is about to end.

Because it just woke up.
When linguist Andrew Dennison is yanked from his bed by the Secret Service and taken to a top secret facility in the desert , he has no idea he's been brought there to translate the words of an ancient demon. He joins pretty but cold veterinarian Sun Jones, eccentric molecular biologist Dr. Frank Belgium, and a hodge-podge of religious, military, and science personnel to try and figure out if the creature is, indeed, Satan. But things quickly go bad, and very soon Andy isn't just fighting for his life, but the lives of everyone on earth... 

My Review:
Workers digging The Panama Canal in 1906 discover a buried capsule that seems to include a sleeping demon inside. President Theodore Roosevelt insists on it being moved to a secure facility for study and there it has stayed under guard. Now the demon has woken up and a linguist is summoned to join the team to try and communicate with it. But 'Bub' has his own agenda and is determined to escape not just his cell but the facility itself and unleash a new kind of Hell on Earth. 

I did really like the character of General Race Murdoch, the man who is currently running the facility. He is there with his wife Helen who took ill and is being treated there. He was recruited because he accidently killed his friend in a fight. He is a man that gets on well with the others, runs the facility well and I liked his personality. When trouble comes to the facility he proves that he is also brave and willing to put his own life on the line to save his people. He is also devoted to his wife, which I liked. I wasn't greatly keen on the others. Obnoxious Dr Julie was recruited to the facility after kidnapping a child and she continues to nurse that obsession. Frank the biologist was a drug addict who blew up a lab with his stupidity and killed people.

I found Andrew, the tax cheat linguist, to be quite an annoying character, that idiot guy who tries to chat you up in a bar with dumb jokes and stupid cringeworthy lines. This is how he behaves from the minute he meets Sun, who killed a human patient once, cracking jokes about her name. When he discovers that she is from Vietnam and is an animal doctor, he thinks he is being clever by joking that she is a Vietnam Vet. To say I wanted to smack him was putting it mildly. He also thinks she will be impressed if he keeps showing off all the languages that he can speak. What the hell she sees in him is a mystery and I found the focus on their sporting competitions and dates to be a distraction that adds nothing to the story. 

There is also the religious debate throughout with the ongoing conflict between Rabbi Shotzen and Father Thrist. They spend most of the book arguing about religion and both believing they are right and the other is wrong. It got really annoying for me. It went on about fallen angels, demons, prophets, fighting over who Jesus was...it was repetitive, irritating and I grew sick of all the bickering. Bub of course sees the opportunity to sow even more seeds of distrust when he starts talking to members of the team. But if I'm being honest, I was bored by the religious conflicts that dominated parts of this book and I switched off every time these guys starting fighting with each other. 

I loved the idea of digging up a demon and studying it, and then trying to stop it from escaping. I was very excited by the ideas in the book. However I found this book to be incredibly boring and it took forever to actually get to where the action started. I went into the book looking for a scary horror tale and it takes a long time to actually get to that happening. It gets better when Bub starts manipulating the characters in exchange for favours from each person which gets him closer to escape. The problem is that most of the book is about studying and then communicating with Bub, religious arguments and a dumb romance with no chemistry. It is page 169 out of 283 before Bub gets his first chance to really harm someone. That was just way too long to wait to keep me fully interested in the plot.

When it gets to the actual meat of the plot when Bub puts his escape plan into operation, things do improve. The battles with the demon and his minions have the tension and horror that I was looking for, and I did like the final section of the book. My issue is that with it taking so long to get to the good bits, I certainly wouldn't want to read it again. I'm also in two minds about going on to read the sequel because if it is really slow again it would be a certain DNF from me. I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet. Overall, I am a bit disappointed by this book.

Read Aug 2019
2.5 stars.