Nest Hardcover – November 15, 2016

Back in the 80s, I read a non-fiction book by Dean Koontz (who, at the time, went by Dean R. Koontz) about how to write a Best Seller. It was an insightful book and altered the way that I read from that point forward. It created a checklist of sorts that I mentally use as a read any type of fiction. Well, while Terry Goodkind's new novel, NEST, is sure to be a Best Seller, there aren't many boxes to check off. NEST starts out strong but then slows to a glacial pace as Goodkind resorts to his endless explanations about what is going on and why. It's something that appeared about half-way through the Sword of Truth books and only served to slow them down and cause me to skip whole passages. The characters in NEST are a little flat, but serviceable. While I never really feared for them, there were some moments that were tense and chilling. The premise is a stretch but it's fiction, so poetic license with pseudo-science is fair game. The climax of the novel felt very rushed and came out of Left Field. Goodkind is a very good writer IMHO, and the premise had a lot of promise, I just think it fell very short of where it could have been. Hopefully Mr. Goodkind will gain new fans but I fear, without the knowledge of how well he can tell a story when he wants to, his new fans may not stick around for another installment.

Terry Goodkind uses 428 pages and basically 2 characters to theorize about predators, super-predators, and deadly guardian angels. There is barely a plot to frame one long lecture about how the killer instincts of mankind has evolved. I skip-read this book, meaning I skipped the long theory sections and moved to the action. Even that was a waste of my time. No world building. No character development, nothing to make you care about the people or the story. His Wizards First Rule fantasy series started off great, but somehow devolved to the kind of social lectures that fill this story. I wish Goodkind or his editors would learn how to reel him in when he does this, it ruins what could be great stories.

As a Terry Goodkind fan I was stoked to see he was writing a book away from his norm but also a little nervous. This book was by far one of his most unique pieces he has ever done and in some ways better than his Sword of Truth books. He does a great job at establishing a modern day setting that makes you feel like the story is happening in the here and now. The characters are unique and feel so real. Actionwise the book sucks you right into it and spits you out wanting more. I highly recommend this book even if you have never read any of Terry Goodkinds books before. Simply amazing!

Much like a top notch marathon runner NEST keeps a fast pace without over extending itself and then, at the end, it gives that extra little push to finish stronger than you thought possible. This suspenseful thriller is full of thoughtful and provocative theory while staying frightfully close to the world in which we live; a perfect blend of the fictional and the realistic. If you love Koontz, Morrell, Highsmith, or Coben then I am sure you will love Goodkind.

I’m only giving this 2 stars instead of 1 because it’s Terry Goodkind. I have read, and loved, all of his other books and stories. But, this is just a preachy monologue of his pessimistic and cynical view of society wrapped up in a thin veneer of a story. He would have been better off just publishing it for what it is. He is entitled to his opinions and I do not even disagree with a lot of what he espouses. But that doesn’t mean I want to struggle through it when I paid for and expected a Goodkind story! While I did finish it, it was a chore and a bore.

If you've read books by Terry good kind before you might have a certain expectation . This book is, as many of the other reviews have said, a departure from what he has traditionally done. I want to review the book enough that you will read the book but not give anything away so here goes: this book is about murder as you might expect from the title and description, but there's much more to it than that. I haven't really read anything from good kind since the sword of truth series and I like those except I was getting tired by the end of them. What I found in this book were hints of the character dinner from the sword of truth series and then some of the other style cues that you see from good kind books but there's a lot more to this this is more of a traditional page turner fiction thriller however there's enough reality in this book to make you wonder. He's even included a lot of things that have sometimes crossed my mind but I was never able to put together as eloquently as he did in this book. My advice is to try reading the first third of the book and if you aren't hooked by then then it's probably not your type of book but I seriously doubt you're gonna get that far in and then not want to see what happens because it keeps building.