Weekly Reader: Outsourced (Book 1 of the Outsourced Series) by Eric J. Gates; Destiny Laden Fantasy Proves That The Pen Really Is Deadlier Than The Sword

 

Weekly Reader: Outsourced (Book 1 of the Outsourced Series) by Eric J. Gates; Destiny Laden Fantasy Proves That The Pen Really Is Deadlier Than The Sword

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Eric J. Gates' Outsourced reads like a book length Twilight Zone episode where something odd, mysterious, and paranormal happens and changes the life of the person that experiences it for better but usually for worse.

In this book, the strange object is a fountain pen ("the ugliest fountain pen" the one of the characters had ever seen in their life), originally a quill pen, inside a wooden box with a strange Tibetan inscription. The pen passes through the hands of three people who learn that the pen has the power to control destiny.

The first character to wield the pen is Robert Polanski, a sociopath just acquitted for multiple murders and is ready to go on the run.

The next recipient is Nic Stiles, a writer who needs privacy to put down the writing thoughts in his head. After a few chance encounters, Nic is fascinated and drawn by what the pen can do.

The third person that the pen has affected is Grayson Fallon, another writer and Stiles' frequent rival. He shares important information to Stiles about what the pen does and the true consequences. Oh he also brings a conspiracy of people in higher positions who want the pen for their own gain.

It's interesting to see what choices that the characters make when they receive the pen and then learn about the consequences of what such power can bring. For Polanski, it fills all of his most lustful dangerous thoughts. He uses it during a long path of violence and bloodshed. He represents the worst things that someone can do with that kind of power.

While we don't get the full picture of what exactly Fallon did with the pen, he represents the higher goals connected to it. He doesn't fully understand what he has been given so he seeks to study it, getting information from scientists and spiritualists. He seeks to master the pen through knowledge and to assist others who have been given the same choice that he had.

Stiles represents the average person, the mistakes that we would all make if given the chance. After receiving the pen he does some fun things like causing a boat on a nearby lake to catch fire and a crocodile to swim in the middle of the Thames. It's all harmless mischievous fun. He is also drawn by what an awesome power that he has been given. It isn't until the pen causes the death of someone close to him, that Stiles realizes the full implications of what he has and what it truly means to alter one's destiny.

There are some missteps with Outsourced partly because the book runs longer than the concept needs to be stretched. The government conspiracy is thrown in halfway through perhaps to stretch the book to novel length when the idea would work just as well as a three character study with a fascinating gift. It also continues to another book that could threaten to stretch this plot much longer than is needed or necessary.

Despite the flaws regarding the book's length, Outsourced reveals that sometimes the pen is not only mightier than the sword, it can be deadlier too.