Feb 28, 2014

Half World by Scott O'Connor

Friday 56 Rules: *Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader  *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. *Post it. *Add your (url) post in Linky at Freda's Voice.

Also Book Beginnings by Rose City Reader.

Title: Half World: A Novel by Scott O'Connor
Published February 18, 2014; Simon and Schuster
Genre: literary thriller

page 56:
Henry couldn't fathom what it would take to walk down into the party. Everyone there assumed he was guilty in some way. This was the organizing principle that he had instilled in the company, that Weir had instilled. Proximity to guilt is still guilt." 
Book beginning:
San Francisco, Spring 1956
The landlady opened the door and led him into the apartment he'd telephoned about, the rooms above the mechanics' garage on Telegraph Hill. She stood to the side while Henry walked to the far end of the living room and looked out the windows through the last of the morning fog. Alcatraz to the north, the bridge and the bay and the black hills to the east. A beautiful corner view. He would need to cover it. 
Book description: "In the 1950s, the CIA began a clandestine operation known as Project MKULTRA, in which American citizens were subjected to drug and mind-control experiments. In the two decades the program ran, a nation’s trust was betrayed and countless lives—and families—were destroyed.

Scott O’Connor has crafted a literary thriller that imagines the devastating emotional legacy of such a program through the eyes of one of its more unexpected victims, CIA analyst Henry March.... Torn between duty and conscience, Henry’s own identity begins to fray, until he... disappears without a trace, taking with him the evidence and becoming the deepest ULTRA mystery of all.

 Twenty years later, another troubled young agent will risk everything to find Henry, protect Hannah, and piece together the staggering aftermath of the crimes before it’s too late."  (publisher)

Would you keep reading based on the excerpts and the book description? 

7 comments:

  1. I love literary thrillers!! I am gonna check it out!

    Here is my Book Beginning post!

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  2. Why cover the windows. Great start to a book. Here is my post: Mixed Book Bag

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  3. This sounds like an excellent book. The beginning definitely grabbed me, and I'm wondering why he would want to cover up such a magnificent San Francisco view. I'll read this one.
    Here's the link to my Friday post: WILD.

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  4. Fabulous "56" and beginning! This does sound like an exciting novel. I hope you enjoy it, Harvee.

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  5. Weird cover, but it makes me think military. Definitely intriguing excerpts.

    Happy weekend!

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  6. Title: At Yellow lake - By: Jane McLoughlin

    Page 56: "They were running away from the police, what could they possibly have done?"

    Brilliant book. Read more about it on my blog: http://lifefromeyelevel.blogspot.co.uk/

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  7. Stories, both non fictional and fictional about the CIA experiments revolving around MKULTRA seem all the rage these days. This one sounds interesting and I would keep reading.

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I appreciate your comments and thoughts...

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