SELECT * FROM uv_BookReviewRollup WHERE recordnum = 95 The Extremes, by Christopher Priest Book Review | SFReader.com

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The Extremes, by Christopher Priest
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Warner Books
Published: 1999
Review Posted: 4/1/2002
Reviewer Rating:
Reader Rating: Not Rated

The Extremes, by Christopher Priest

Book Review by Paul S. Jenkins

Have you read this book?

Teresa Simons is a 43-year-old FBI agent who has lost her husband (also FBI) in a Texas shooting. She has come to England on vacation, but also to investigate -- in her own time -- a similar shooting that took place in the quiet Sussex seaside town of Bulverton, on the same day her husband was killed. By this means she hopes to ascribe some meaning to her husband's senseless death.

Teresa's FBI training immersed her in the use of virtual reality scenarios, or 'extreme experience.' In these sessions she assumed the roles of different people present at shootings of innocent members of the public. By repeated participation in the scenarios, from various points of view, she eventually learned how to deal with such situations in real life.

Set a little into the future, when completely involving VR has been developed -- though how it is accomplished isn't more than hand-waved -- The Extremes is an exploration of how our personal realities impinge on the realities of others, and how others' perceptions can be changed by our own.

The commercial version of extreme experience is known as ExEx, managed by the GunHo Corporation. Teresa is surprised to find a branch of ExEx in Bulverton, and decides to make use of it. Gradually she spends more and more time there, and begins to lose track of what's real and what's virtual.

Priest uses a relaxed, open style, with a transparency that lets the reader into the minds of the point-of-view characters. Although the point of view shifts about a lot, it's rigorously logical.

There's a metaphysical aspect to the novel, when Teresa seems to be experiencing things in real life that couldn't possibly happen. Of course, this could be the approach of mental breakdown, and not metaphysical at all.

The Extremes is an engaging and readable novel that raises several questions, not least about the wisdom of creating virtual realities that could ultimately permeate the real world.

Read more of Paul's book, movie, and TV reviews at his web site.

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Comments on The Extremes, by Christopher Priest
Posted by Ioannis on 1/2/2004
The novel takes a theme that we are used to seeing in the works of Philip K. Dick, that is, what is real and what is not real.
It is about mass murderers armed with automatic weapons. The 'stories' of these murderers are turned into virtual reality computer games, where the individual can participate as the murderer himself or as a bystander or police officer present in the scene of the crime. This "game" is also used by the FBI in order to train agents.
I have not read all the book yet, but a large part of it is about the impact of this "game" on the individuals who participate in it. THe individual who is "examined" in the novel is a female FBI agent whose husband (also an FBI agent) is killed by a gunman.
It is also interesting that some insight in the violent criminal's emotions and thoughts is provided, as well as some (little) insight in the social factors that create a mass murderer.
The local setting is England (for the most part) and the temporal setting is the near future.