Soft! Paperback – January 25, 2000

This turned out to live up to the jacket blurbs perfectly. It really was a hypnotic literary thriller that "pulls you in by the ankes", as one reviewer put it. Thomson is an intriguing writer with an unusual style that seems both very conventional and avant-garde at the same time. As he tells his story, he mesmerizes the reader with odd, poetic little descriptions of fairly ordinary things.Soft! tells the tale of a secret, psychological advertising campaign gone awry, but it does not begin that way. It begins as a gritty bit of contemporary English working class realism, as bouncer Barker Dodds, heads for London for a fresh start. A strong, tough, laconic guy, he is no stranger to violence, but does not particularly enjoy it. The story then shifts to an artistic lass named Glade Spencer. She works as a waitress and carries on a long distance affair with a well-off American named Tom. She seems a bit adrift, a bit melancholy. A third major character is then brought into the story - Jimmy, a slick, ambitious, young advertiser. He works with an American boss - Raleigh Conner, another one of Thomson's polished and opaque characters. Jimmy hatches a scheme to try to promote a new, orange soft drink named Soft! by using some highly unorthodox and unethical psychological techniques. These characters eventually find themselves on a collision course.Thomson writes in a cool, detached manner that is nonetheless never boring or lifeless. His characters speak in short snippets of dialogue that advance the plot, and go about their lives in a kind of mysterious fog. The story almost seems to be an excuse for Thomson to present his fascinating little observations and details to the reader. As I read, I often felt that I was watching a hip, artsy European thriller or existential neo-noir, featuring blank-faced actors playing characters whose inner lives would never be revealed to the audience. There is humor here too, but it is a darkly shaded humor, a little painful. This was an addictive and unique read.

Three unlikely characters interact in this social satire-- Glade, a passive girl with an American boyfriend; Barker, a bouncer who reads medieval history; and Jimmy, an eager young marketeer. A scheme to sell soda pop via subliminal viral marketing brings these three characters into contact and eventually conflict with evil American corporate men presiding like Mephisto over the whole debacle.Thomson is an extremely good writer. Soft!, unfortunately, was missing something (particularly compared to his other novels-- Five Gates of Hell or The Insult) and I'm not really sure what it was. Glade may be a little too passive for us to care about, or perhaps it's that we get the feeling that he didn't care about the ending as much as he should, or maybe the satire isn't clear enough and we really can't take these characters straight. It's still better than most current novels and certainly not something I regret reading. I don't know-- I'll read it again in a month or two and see if I feel better about it.

Despite the intriguing premise that it is possible to plant subliminal messages in the mind as a means of marketing a new product, I found "Soft" an irritating read. The plot was interesting, and yes, I did finish the book (because I always hate to admit I've wasted money) but as a long-time reader of all genre, I found the novel lacking in character development, believability, and suspense, as well as being technically flawed.Only one of the three main characters, Barker, is really fleshed out. The other two are minimally structured, and therefore difficult to identify with, either pro or con. Consequently, the absurdly rapid deterioration of the victim, Glade, is non-believable.But, the real problem with "Soft" is the author's overuse of the simile. As a writing tool, the simile is indispensable as a way of enlightening a reader. When one is unclear of a reader's recognition of a description or action, the simile provides a clarification. Thomson's first simile appears in the first paragraph where he describes a drop of rain landing on the bridge of Barker's nose and rolling into the corner of his eye "like a tear." Good, but we've just started. Near the end of the book, however, we read this: " . . . there was a movement in the corner of his eye, a slow, blind movement, like some great creature turning in his sleep." Yuk. In between these two examples there are dozens and dozens of similes, some admittedly excellent, some ridiculous, but either way there were just too many "like" and "as if" and "seemingly" additions that I found myself wishing I had started underlining them from the beginning so that I could determine just how many there were! This counting of annoying flaws only serves to diminish the enjoyment of a story. If you need endless clarification of a character's thoughts and actions, you will love this book, but I do not recommend it to anyone who appreciates an author's ability to convey his meaning without hammering it home with countless similes.

Creepy. I had never read this author before so I didn't know his style/genre. Once into it I couldn't put it down but I was embarrassed for wanting to know what happened.

This is a fine addition to the Rupert Thomson collection of novels. The interwoven tales of seemingly unconnected characters come together in an enevitable but intrigueing climax. This is a wonderful storyteller, and one book that should be read just on the merit of the writer. You will be amused and consider the dark humor of the novel a fine read.