Gauntlet Book Review

Gauntlet, written by Richard Aaron and published by Glass House Press is a story centered around International intrigue. I was asked to review this book because one of the leading characters is written as having the diagnosis of high functioning autism. This is not the type of book that I usually read. I will admit that when it comes to reading fiction, I enjoy authors like Sandra Brown and Nora Roberts.

I sat down and started reading this book solely because of the character, Hamilton Turbee. The following quote is a description of this character (the character Dan is his boss and is a jerk):

“Hamilton Turbee, on the other hand, was a (comparatively speaking) simple mathematician and programmer. He and Dan were destined for conflict from the start. He had no Intelligence background, didn’t have secret wishes to climb to high governmental positions, and was clueless about the internal workings of the CIA (most people thought this was a positive attribute). He was totally lacking in social graces and skills. He had been categorized, many years ago, by the pediatric psychiatrists at Georgetown University Hospital as a “highly functioning autistic.” He was born with repetitive motion problems in his right arm. He couldn’t tolerate loud or obtrusive noises, and hated being “outside.” He avoided all eye contact, needed a maid to keep he and his small apartment clean, and was able to make himself tolerable to others only through a rich cocktail of anti-depressants, mood stabilizers, and stimulants. Without the medicinal support, his mother claimed, he would have spent his time “bouncing off the walls.”

The author goes on and describes Hamilton’s socialization issues and his amazing mathematical and computer skills. He works because he loves computers and the organization he is working for has one of the biggest and fastest computers in the world. Independently, he has made enough money with the programs he has designed and sold to never have to work a day in his life. Plus, his father is wealthy. The sobering fact put forward in this book, is that not even a wealthy individual diagnosed with autism is immune to the many challenges and hardships faced by those who are just eking out a living.

The author spends a lot of time developing each character and laying out the pieces of the puzzle for this story. There is a lot that is going on in this book and it isn’t until the very end that you see the whole picture. I thought that the beginning was a little slow, with the introduction of the main characters. As I continued to read, I was grateful that the author did take the time to give the reader information on each character, and slowly incorporated the storyline around the characters. If this was a movie, you would not want to miss a minute of it, because if you did, you would be lost.

This book is well written, with layers upon layers of material. There are a several graphic descriptions of violence in this story. I had to skip over a couple, because I just don’t have the stomach to read about people being mutilated. I understand why the author incorporated this violence into the book. It is a fact of life when dealing with the subject matter of this story. This book is centered on terrorist activities and a plot against the United States.

I would like to finish up by going back to the character of Hamilton Turbee. I found myself connecting to this character. One character trait discussed in this book is his quirky sense of humor. I see the same sense of humor in my son. Hamilton sees humor in situations that his colleagues do not. Because of my son, I saw the humor in the situations too. I also appreciated that the author was able to write this book from the viewpoint of the different characters in the story. The readers are given the honor of reading and “seeing” how the characters that work with Hamilton change and adjust their feelings for this young man. I don’t want to tell you too much, because I think it is important that you read the book and discover this wondrous thing yourself.

I think that it is great that such a good book is made so because one of it’s leading characters has autism. I don’t think I would have enjoyed this book as much without him. Hamilton is an important part of the story and he is the one character that I can relate to on an emotional level. To me, that is the difference between an ok book and a really good book. You have to have to be able to connect and root for at least one character. I would like to thank the author for this wonderful story. This book is scheduled for official release on March 2, 2009, but is now available for purchase on Amazon. Come back next week and enter my giveaway for a chance to win a copy. There will be five winners. Only one copy to a winner.