Book Review: Primitive by Mark Nykanen (edited by Deborah Smith)

Aug 23, 2011
Jaclyna Perez

Primitive by Mark Nykanen - Rocksalt International Pty Ltd.

Primitive is a suspense-thriller about a maturing model who gets abducted by extreme environmentalists. This review focuses on character and plot analysis.

Primitive, an environmental-thriller set in the United States and an undisclosed location in Canada, is about a maturing model who gets abducted by extreme environmentalists. Her daughter, even though they don't get along too well, becomes desperate in her search for her mother and resorts to underground networks. The FBI and a bounty hunter become suspicious of the daughter and begin tailing her in hopes of finding the missing model. Mark Nykanen narrates his story in third person, but focuses on the view points of Sonya Adams, Darcy Adams, and Johnny Bracer.

Characters

Sonya Adams:

Overview: Sonya, an aging model, worries about her looks and agonizes over her face. Because job offers are sharply declining, she jumps at the chance when a last minute job opportunity arises. Unfortunately, it's a set up and she is abducted. During her abduction, she makes several attempts to escape, faces down cougars, and saves the lives of children.
Analysis: While most of her character and personality do match (putting up a smile despite how she feels inside and being a pushover), there are few things that seemed a bit far-fetched. She stands up to cougars TWICE; both times she comes out unscathed. She also, conveniently, was a very good figure skater when she was younger AND knows how to sharpen primitive ice skates with primitive tools. There's also a point in the novel where she runs out in the freezing cold naked and her feet are bloodied...but this doesn't cause limping nor is it mentioned again after that sentence.

Darcy Adams:

Overview: Darcy, a vegan with a mean-streak, is out to save her mother and to better their relationship before it's too late. She relies on the help of her friends who are part of an underground network for animal rights. Throughout her journey, her past is revealed: a rape from a trusted family friend, and her relationship with her parents.
Analysis: Darcy's personality and lifestyle choice can be accepted as is, but in this story it seems they are awkwardly forced there to keep a feasible plot. The rape in Darcy's past would certainly be reason enough for the tension between her and her mom, her fairly quick temper, and her lack of trust in men. However, the rape seems to be an excuse for her to carry a gun, which is fairly far-fetched (as she supposedly only wants it to kill the rapist in her past). Also, it would seem that her being a vegan is only to tie her to the underground community of overzealous animal rights activists.

Johnny Bracer:

Overview: When Johnny sees the news broadcast about Sonya's capture, he sees a chance to make some money. He figures his best chance is to follow the daughter. During his pursuit, he tortures/kills people (and an animal) for information.
Analysis: This character is very one-dimensional and appears to lack any emotions. He has a singular objective (find Sonya for reward money), but soon changes from merely following Darcy to a savage pursuit to kill her. It would seem his character's sole purpose is to create the 'thriller' element, but his character is not well developed and his background job history is sketchy at best: hints of being a bounty hunter and also ties to the FBI.

Minor Characters:

Overview: There are several minor characters that help move along the story. At the beginning of the story, Sonya's agent has a scene with Sonya and later with Darcy. There is an FBI agent that follows Johnny's tracks and take advantage of the torture that Johnny has used to obtain even more information. There are a few key people of Terra Firma (the society that captured Sonya): the leader of it, the main guy who captured her, the people who guard/watch her, two children Sonya saves, and a man who physically and sexually threatens Sonya. There are also the people that Darcy meets on her underground journey to Terra Firma.
Analysis: Most of the minor characters in this story are disposable, even those with good personality traits. They are flat, and it's fairly obvious that they are there to fulfill a single role in the plot of the story.

Review

Primitive offers an interesting idea and a very possible circumstance of an oil-independent commune using an advertisement model as a ploy to enlighten the world about the dire situation of the earth. The book is marketed as a thriller; however, it was not much of a thriller due to the lack of suspense. As a novel, the writing style is great: smooth narration, natural conversation, and a fairly good plot. If unrealistic characters, gratuitous violence and animal cruelty, and quasi-preachy speeches about global warming and oil-dependency are not a put-off, then the book is a fairly good and quick read. The story line moves quickly, and although most of the characters are flat and one-sided, they are interestingly unique. The epilogue ties up the endings of the main characters, but not much else.

About the Author

Mark Nykanen's career has primarily been in media and journalism. He has been awarded an Emmy four times for his investigative reporting. He is fairly new as a thriller-novelist with only six books published as of 2011. This book, Primitive, became a Kindle best-seller.