Brightside - Mark Tullius

   2012; 304 pages.  Book 1 (out of 2) in the “Brightside” series.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres : Dystopian Fiction; Psychic Suspense.  Overall Rating: 7½*/10.

 

    They call us Thought Thieves.

 

    The more common word is “telepaths”.  There’s a fair number of us living quietly among you normal people.  Mostly, we’re just trying to avoid revealing to you that we can read your thoughts.  Because if the authorities find that out, they will immediately take the thought-thief into custody.

 

    My name’s Joe Nolan.  I’m one of those detainees.  My own father turned me in.  Can you believe that?!  The Boots (that’s what we call the thugs that snatch us away) grabbed me and took me to a place called “Brightside”, somewhere way up in the mountains.  The shrinks there will neutralize my thought-thieving brain and gradually reprogram me.   I’ll be a happy resident here.

 

    If I don’t kill myself first.

 

What’s To Like...

    Brightside is a dystopian thriller that imagines a world where a portion of its humans can hear the thoughts of others.  It reminded me of a very old Outer Limits TV episode, set IIRC on an outer-space mining operation, where a mutant suddenly becomes telepathic, much to the chagrin of his fellow miners.  Google-image “Outer Limits” for pictures from this episode.

 

    I liked the limitations that Mark Tullius puts on this “gift”.  Not everyone is blessed/cursed with being able to listen in on others’ thoughts.  The range of telepathy is limited; at one point our protagonist is amazed that a fellow thought-thief can “hear” thoughts from as far as 50 feet away.  Also, there are ways to mask or nullify one’s thoughts so that they can’t be read.  It’s an important resource that even thought-thieves need to survive.

 

    The story is told from the first-person POV: Joe’s.  Two telepaths can use both speech and thoughts to communicate with each other.  Mark Tullius puts all thoughts in italics, which makes it easy for the reader to follow along.  I liked the nod to Dune via the quip “Fear is the Mindkiller”.

 

    The ending is exciting, nail-biting, with several neat plot twists thrown in to keep you on your toes.  The storyline stops at a logical point.  All the plot threads do not get tied up, but I’m certain that Book Two, Beyond Brightside, will pick up and continue the narrative.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 3.8*/5, based on 307 ratings and 122 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.52*/5, based on 350 ratings and 63 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    Brightside required us to work.  It wasn’t for the money.  The government funded most everything.  But Brightside needed us to keep busy, to feel productive.  They started the jobs program after the first month.  Too many Brightsiders had jumped off the mountain, took the easy way out.

    Quotas kept us from living in our heads.

    Busy people don’t kill themselves.  That was the idea, at least.  (loc. 416)

 

    Listen.”  She closed her eyes.  “What am I thinking?”

    I zeroed in, but heard nothing.  No mantra, no hum, just silence, like Danny.

    “You’re too far,” I said.

    Rachel pressed herself against me.  I listened.  Still nothing.

    She stepped back, curtseyed.  “I learned it in The Cabin.  That’s why they let me out.  Nothing but a blank slate.”

    “How?”

    “Something about the pills.  I can just shut it off now.”  (loc. 3567)

 

Kindle Details…

    At present, Brightside sells for $3.99 at Amazon, as does its sequel, Beyond Brightside.  Mark Tullius is also the author of a 20-volume “Interactive Adventure” series called Try Not to Die, with the entries priced at either $3.99 or $5.99.

 

They call our town Brightside because, as they like to remind us, things could be worse.  (loc. 96)

    I counted 62 instances of profanity in the first 20% of Brightside, which extrapolates out to a projected total of 310 cusswords.  There were also three rolls-in-the-hay and a couple references to “adult situations”.  True, any dystopian fiction will inherently be bleak and brutal, but this was excessive.

 

    The typos were few: straightjacket/straitjacket; BMW’s/BMWs; duffle/duffel and girl’s/girls.  I thought barbequing was also misspelled, but it turns our that’s correct.  My biggest gripe, along with the excessive use of profanity, was the lack of page numbers and the lack of “time remaining” for each chapter. 

 

    Some reviewers thought the story’s tone was too dark.  Well, it is, but wouldn’t one expect this when reading dystopian fiction?  Paradoxically, the fact that readers were bothered by that means the author did an effective job of world-building.

 

    I think the main aim of Brightside was to show the reader what a terrifying world it would be if a portion of the population were telepathic.  Both the normal humans and the thought-thieves live in constant fear of being exterminated by the other faction.  Mark Tullius does a great job of creating a frightening world and I am eager to see how the storyline progresses in a second book.

 

    7½ Stars.