The Eternal Prison (Avery Cates) Paperback – Import, 1 July 2010

Jeff Somers never fails to disappoint. His Avery Cates series is a fabulous piece of future noir - a cyberpunk take on the class pulp detective fiction.

Why do I like it so much?It's cyberpunk, it's violent, it's fast and dangerous, it's exciting and dark.Read it, love it.

The titular phrase of this review leaves the reader with a sense of foreboding, yet curiosity, about what is yet to come for Avery Cates, and for the world (and society) as a whole.There are enough reviews about the plot that I won't repeat them here but rather add my thoughts about Avery Cates, and Jeff Somers, and the series as a whole.Jeff Somers is not afraid to damage his character. Avery Cates, the anti-hero human, has been through his own personal hell and changes as a result. His wounds from one story aren't "magically healed" in the next. The start of each installment isn't with Somers hitting "the big reset button" for his characters but rather builds on what's transpired up to that point, while at the same time revealing layers of complexity for his characters, and not just Cates. Some of the recurring characters, like Marko (the techie) have some added depth in the latest installment (The Eternal Prison). Even some of the "bad" guys, e.g., Dick Marin, show to have some depth and elements of humanity (such as it is) as well.The Digital Plague was set up as the a transition between The Electric Church and The Eternal Prison and as one other reviewer commented, there was a lot of exposition. But after reading The Eternal Prison it can be seen that exposition was necessary. Jeff Somers has shown no fear in destroying the world he built in The Electric Church. The Digital Plague served as first warning that the status quo will be shredded in this new world, and one can almost picture Jeff Somers doing so with a slight knowing smirk on his face - and his protagonist, the aforementioned anti-hero Avery Cates is all the better for it. Avery Cates has a tendency to do things "the hard way" and Jeff Somers sits back and rather than dictate the story, he lets the characters dictate the story.Stephen King wrote in his book "On Writing" to (paraphrasing here) "write what you know" and "build the story, add your characters, and see how they respond to your world". Jeff Somers has done both quite well and he has demonstrated he is not afraid to take chances and we have what could have been just a good story become a great story as a result.

Whilst i do like the Avery Cates books it can get a bit repetative.That said I like the Clint Eastwoodesque character and the apocalyptic setting of the story.

My brother purchased the Electric Church when Borders was closing down here in Indianapolis and he read it and then went out and purchased the other books from Amazon. I picked up this book and was hooked on Avery Cates.I enjoyed this series enough to purchase it on my Kindle on my way to New York so I could read something on a business trip.The worlds of Avery Cate are a desolate distopia future where the system has been over run with corrupt cops and a new mysterious church. Avery is just a working stiff of a criminal. And it shows through all these series that Avery is very much a normal Joe. The amount of damage Avery takes in each book is both humorous and refreshing after seeing so many heroes go through unscathed.The pacing of this book is a little off setting compared to the others but it's all clear once you get halfway through the book. Though to be honest I would have liked if the new character who was introduced had continued on in the series.I recommend this series and book to anyone who likes Shadowrun, Cyberpunk or Escape from New York style stories.