The Electric Church

Written by Jeff Somers

Narrated by Todd McLaren

Time is your curse. Lack of time. Everything requires time, and you have so little. This leads me to the fundamental question the Electric Church poses: How can you be saved when you have no time?

Avery Cates is a very bad man. Some might call him a criminal. He might even be a killer-for the right price. But right now, Avery Cates is scared. He's up against the Monks-cyborgs with human brains, enhanced robotic bodies, and a small arsenal of advanced weaponry. Their mission is to convert anyone and everyone to the Electric Church. But there is just one snag: Conversion means death.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Apr 26, 2010
• ISBN: 9781400186747

Jeff Somers

In 1995 Jeff Somers began publishing his own magazine, The Inner Swine (InnerSwine.com). His published novels include the Avery Cates series, the Ustari Cycle, Chum, and The Ruiner. He's also had stories published in many magazines, most of which regret the connection. His story "Ringing the Changes" was chosen for "Best American Mystery Stories 2006" and his story "Sift, Almost Invisible, Through" appeared in Crimes by Moonlight edited by Charlaine Harris in 2010. He currently lives in Hoboken, NJ, with his lovely wife Danette and their plump, imperious cats. In between all this and writing, Jeff plays chess and staves off despair with cocktails.

Reviews for The Electric Church

[calculoid_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a fun read. The good: the main character, Avery Cates, is really well developed and interesting. It has a cool, future-noir, post-war/disaster, police-state setting and a lot of action. Somers' excellent writing style, which is witty, and biting, makes me want to keep reading. Also, cyborgs!The bad: at times, the story made me feel like I was reading a video game, and some of the action scenes would conjure the soundtrack to The Matrix as I read. Both of these criticisms could fit well under 'The good' too, because they aren't necessarily bad things. They just aren't my favourite associations to make with a book.If you follow Jeff Somers' twitter feed and enjoy it, then you will enjoy reading his books too. I generally try to avoid reading series, but I am willing to continue with what is a five book series to get more of Somers' style and more Avery Cates.

[ecw0647 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I haven't read much dystopian fiction, the daily newspaper suffices as an antidote to cheer. I certainly intend to read Margaret Atwood's latest couple of books and read 1984 (talk about dated!) and Brave New World (although some might argue it's more Utopian.) It's also possible to read this book as a nice action yarn in addition to political commentary. Or vice-versa.

Basically, if you are rich, you're OK -- at least until the next riot, and the "electric" church guarantees eternal life but at the expense of any freedom of will. It's fonder, aptly named Dennis Squalor, argues that in order to achieve salvation and understanding, human life is too short so the brain is harnessed to cyborg bodies in order never to die. In the secular realm, power belongs to the Joint Council and corrupt state security forces who utilize vast weaponry and surveillance to control the rabble and protect the wealthy.

After killing a cop, hit-man Avery Cates is enlisted by the head of the SSF to kill the Dennis who's power is becoming increasingly worrisome to the SSF (and presumably the other powers that be.)

As in all such books, a certain suspension of incredulity is required, but I found the elements of church v state in general to be more than possible, if not likely. This book makes noir seem positively white.

[peridotite_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I read the first chapter in the bookstore, and the style drew me in — somewhere between cyberpunk and a hard-boiled detective novel. Unfortunately, as the book unfolded, none of the characters gained any depth, none of the problems became interesting, and the solution was always violence. The book doesn't even follow its own rules; it sets up the System Pigs as so dangerous even assassins don't dare touch them, but by halfway through the book the characters are casually mowing them down. Absent interesting characters or challenges, the book ends up being a pointless exercise in style. Nice style, though.

[frontstreet_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The setting is the world in the future, a future that haas been described in other sci fi or fantasy books before this one. But that is part of the appeal of this debut novel, it takes the familiar, the acceptable and turns it into a terrifying prediction. It is the feeling of reality, the possible changing of our world into the one portrayed in The Electric Church that propels this work. It is easy to create the absurd, the fantastic. It is harder to take the already written and tweak it into new realms.The world has fallen apart, police control the surface and the citizens are cowed by fear and starvation. Avery Cates is surviving but only from his talent as an assassins. While many hold the title it is not an easy job, or one with a long life expectancy. And after he is wanted for killing a policeman his life seems like is done with. But even he is surprised when he is approached by one of the most powerful men in the world and given an impossible task- kill the leader of the Electric Church. The Electric Church is the religion of the Monks, cyborgs with plastic faces, mirrored eyes and eternal life. It is the major religion, one of strength and immortality. The job of killing its leader is impossible but it is Avery's only chance for survival. His journey to undertake this feat is an adventure not to be missed.The plot is well paced, the action is unusually nonstop, and the setting fits both. The book will grab and keep the reader's attention which really is the point of a good book. It is a nice entry into the literary world of contemporary, dark science fiction. But is goes one step into becoming more of a flag ship for a newer genre. It could possibly be called hard boiled sci fi.That step is the characterization. What Sam Spade did for hard-boiled, Avery Cates will do for science fiction. Avery even has his beloved sidekick and an assortment of helpers, each one strongly created by Somers. They are not your traditional good guys which is what adds to the fun of the book. They are your hard boiled heroes, tough with tarnished hearts and souls. The dialogue even matches the bar set by masters of pulp fiction. Somers was able to write characters that can hold their own in a fast moving plot. His creation of The Monks and the story behind their creation is both horrifying and brilliant. It is these two developments in the book, the main characters and The Monks, that show case the talent and potential of Jeff Somers.

[gregandlarry · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting story. Would make a great action movie.

[noblechicken · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Pretty cool 1st novel by Jeff Somers. Excellent energy and a fast moving plot. Cyberpunk meets Chandler, etc etc etc. The problem with it is a lot of the characters' dialog sound the same. They always talk to our protagonist, Avery Cates, like a Bond villain: " Well, Mr. Cates, it seems we have this to do." "Mr. Cates, would you like to tell me more about this situation." "So, Mr. Cates, would you like a hot dog." "F*ck you, Mr. Cates, there is no mustard." At first they seem different from each other in their mannerism and area of expertise, but they all eventually sound the same in tone. I think someone should run a count on how many times "f*ck" and "Mr. Cates" is used in the book, then compare them. You would probably lose a few chapters! (heh) Besides all that, this was a pretty swell book, very cinematic and I look forward to reading the second one, The Digital Plague. Kick butt, Mr. Cates!

[grizzly9anderson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

FrontStreet has a great summary of the book in their review, so I won't belabor the point by repeating that. Instead I'll tell you that in Jeff Somers and The Electric Church I've found one of my favorite things: a new (to me) author with a fantastic voice describing an amazingly rich and detailed world telling an exciting new story.Ok. No story is ever really new. Its cyberpunk, so there is Gibson and Sterling. It is dystopian, echoing classics of HG Wells. It has a gun slinging anti-hero fighting cyborgs (Dick & Blade Runner) and the corrupt cops and government (every Noir Detective novel). But Somers's novel isn't just any one of those things. It takes pinches of each of them to spice up his own recipe. What I can't say is that it is the seed of a new genre of "Hard boiled SF". Just recently Richard Morgan has gone there with Thirteen, and any of the Kovacs books, Warren Hammond with KOP, and David Brin has toyed with the theme. Go back a few years and you'll find more. But it seems there are more and more of them now, so maybe we are seeing the Hard Boiled SF detective's day in the sun.

[freddiefreddie_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not as well-executed as I anticipated. Excessive profanity. Not that excessive profanity offends me (I use it myself), but Somers seems to rely on that to spice up the dialogue. The pace, breakneck and breathless, was also a little too fast for me. I suppose I like a more slowly-paced book.

[stacy_chambers-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Profane, but exciting debut from Jeff Somers. The cursing got a little old toward the end, causing me to slog through the last quarter of the book—definitely not the place you want the reader slogging. Still, I'm willing to give his new book, Digital Plague, a try.