Review of Pulse by B.A. Bellec

B.A. Bellec’s Pulse immerses readers in a gripping dystopian future, offering a tantalizing premise with its blend of sci-fi and horror elements. Set in 2040, the novel envisions a world dominated by Pulse, a tech conglomerate with its tendrils entrenched in every facet of daily life. When PulseFest, a grand music festival orchestrated by the company, is marred by a horrifying outbreak, the narrative spirals into a chaotic and intense exploration of technology gone awry.

The strength of Pulse lies in its inventive concept and the dark, eerie atmosphere that Bellec crafts. The dystopian setting, coupled with the terrifying transformation of festival-goers into violent mutants, creates a chilling backdrop for the story. The horror elements are effectively unsettling, and the depiction of a future where technology has monopolized every aspect of human existence feels both plausible and alarming.

However, while the overarching plot is engaging, the execution presents some challenges. The novel suffers from a pacing issue, with the build-up to the central conflict feeling prolonged. The narrative takes its time to establish the myriad characters and plot threads, which can lead to a sense of dragging, particularly in the first half of the book. This slow progression can make the story feel somewhat cumbersome and might deter readers from fully immersing themselves in the unfolding chaos.

The character development is another area where Pulse could have benefited from more refinement. The large ensemble cast, while diverse and intriguing, can be overwhelming. With multiple perspectives and storylines vying for attention, it’s easy to lose track of who’s who, which may detract from the reader’s connection to the characters. The screenplay-like writing style adds to this sense of detachment, as it sometimes prioritizes action and dialogue over deeper character exploration.

Despite these issues, the latter half of the novel picks up pace and delivers a satisfying conclusion, albeit with an open-ended finish that hints at future installments. The book’s intriguing premise and the unsettling portrayal of a future under technological hegemony are compelling enough to warrant a sequel.

In summary, Pulse offers an imaginative and darkly fascinating glimpse into a future shaped by tech giants and their impact on society. While it may struggle with pacing and character depth, its innovative ideas and eerie atmosphere make it a worthwhile read for fans of dystopian and horror fiction.

Interesting premise, but the story seemed to drag to the point I had to DNF. There is a lot of potential, I just don't think this one was for me.

Pulse has a lot going for it. It starts out following a variety of characters in the not all that distant future in which a tech company is taking over the entire economy and culture. OK, that isn’t exactly a fresh look. But there are also monsters and the lead up to a big event by said company that you know will bring all of these threads together. Sometimes it seemed to meander, but it would pull me back in after a short time. There is a lot to love here in the dystopian technophobe future. However, the execution took something away from the reading experience. This didn’t read like a book. It read vaguely like a screenplay. I think the format was much more suited to a series. The characters fell a little flat; a little one dimensional. They needed the right person to bring them to life because the way the action and especially the dialogue was written was not doing that.

Pulse has a really interesting and compelling plot, but its development lacks something special. Most of the story has such a dragged and is so slow that it makes you simply consider giving it up.

The first thing one notices is the length of the chapters. Medium and long chapters don't usually work for dystopian fiction, most of the time turning a good story into a regular one.

Bellec seems to have something really good on his mind, but it doesn't seem like what's on his mind effectively transfers to the page. A few more editing and improvements in the story pace would make Pulse a top-notch dystopian novel.

A hard to put down thriller. This dystopian horror was written in such a way I had a movie playing in my head as I read it. Can they make it into a series or movie please? For fans of creepy tv shows like the X Files and Black Mirror.

Thanks to Netgalley and the author for this eARC!

This is one of those books that I think would be excellent in TV show form or as a book series, but didn’t quite work for me as one book. The premise is great! Pulse is a company that has its hands in pretty much every technology (and society as a whole relies a lot on technology in this book, which takes place in 2040). It reminded me a lot of Google or Apple. When The Greatest Music Festival Ever aka PulseFest begins just outside of New York, some sort of outbreak occurs that turns people…violent.

While the story really centered around what happened at PulseFest and the aftermath, it took a long time to get there. There was a lot of groundwork to lay here; a ton of characters, plus their storylines, plus how they were all connected. It made the first half of the book difficult for me. Things picked up after PulseFest and I enjoyed the rest of the novel, but this could easily have been split into two books (and it really would make a great TV show!). It does seem like maybe there's more coming, a second book perhaps? But it was just too much going on for one book.

I love a good outbreak. Whether it’s a parasite that burrows in your stomach to a disease that turns you into a flesh eating monster, I’m fully onboard to see how people get taken down. Given the popularity of the genre, it’s sometimes hard to find a book or movie that doesn’t feel like it’s subscribing to a predicable, if enjoyable, formula. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised by Pulse, a unique blend of sci-fi and horror that tests your senses before bringing you on a wild ride.

The year is 2040 and tech companies have finally succeeded in dominating the human race, commanding their lives and interests while the world literally burns to the ground around them. Still untouched by natural disasters, New York hosts Pulsefest, a music festival that serves as the backdrop to an outbreak that rips through the ground. Pulse follows several events and characters after the outbreak turns people into violent mutants.

Which leads me to my biggest critique: Pulse can feel very claustrophobic and muddled in the beginning. Multiple characters are thrown at you in the ensuing chaos of the outbreak and you’re forced to keep pace or get lost in the stampede. While the POVs can feel overwhelming, they establish how Pulse has integrated into the lives of its citizens and the factions that were created because of it. It’s worth pushing through the jarring beginning and blend of screen-play-esq writing because the almost too real take on a near dystopian future is well worth the payoff.

Pulse is a little bit jarring, a little bit chaotic, but it’s fun, action packed, and throws your expectations out the window to create a unique take on an outbreak story.

Thank you to the author and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Pulse is a near-future science fiction horror story loaded with pop culture and present day analogies. It is mostly set in and around New York 2040 which has become even more of the beating heart of America after the west coast was rendered obsolete by mass wildfires some ten to fifteen years earlier.
The first part of this sophomore novel introduces us to a wide ensemble cast of very diverse characters. We have out of work clowns, rebellious teens, under-appreciated programmers, creepy and nefarious ‘men in black’, weathered cops and tech billionaires just to name a few. I found each of their perspectives and stories different enough and each interesting but we meet them all at such a breakneck pace I did struggle to remember who exactly was who when we do get back to them later on. Until I had read a few chapters of each that is, then they all became clear and distinct from one another.
That first third or so of the story is laying the groundwork for each of these converging mysteries and they all seem centred around the mega conglomerate ‘Pulse’ and the festival they are hosting imminently.


The description of Pulse immediately brings together images of Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon with all the positives and negatives that go with them. This isn’t a fictional world in which those companies never existed though, conveniently rolled into one for storytelling purposes. In this version of our near future those companies were hit hard when California burned and in the turmoil Pulse rose up and swallowed them all, becoming all powerful and synonymous with every aspect of day to day life.
The company are so powerful they not only have their fingers all over at least the American political landscape but in the food chain too. Love them or hate them, you cannot escape Pulse.


The main thrust of the novel is centred around ‘PulseFest’ an epic music festival that would make Woodstock, Burning Man and Glastonbury all green with envy. The descriptions of the free party, touted as an appreciation festival from the mega-corp to its loyal users, is being hosted just outside New York City and screams of FyreFest from our real world recent history.
And while that tropical island debacle was an unmitigated disaster the death toll was at least very low if anything at all.
Without going into too much detail, the same cannot be said here.
While the events of PulseFest itself take place just over hallways through the book it is the narrative focal point and the aftermath is just as intriguing as the build up. I was wondering how everything was going to get wrapped up with my rapidly dwindling page count and while this story does have a conclusion it is left open for a direct sequel in the future.


I enjoyed Pulse. It went in a direction I was not expecting and that was a pleasant surprise. With the reliance on present day pop culture references I was expecting something a sci-fi adventure akin to Ready Player One, with our modern day being the throwback time period instead of the 1980’s. What I ended up reading felt a lot closer to a David Cronenberg sci-if horror, ironically, from the 80’s.
Before the parasites in the water started turning people into monsters I was beginning to feel like the use of modern analogies such as battle royale video games and even COVID-19 would quickly date this novel and I chocked it up to a relatively new author still finding their feet.
By the end of the book though the message and statement on consumerism felt apparent enough without being overbearing or detracting from a pulpy, and sometimes spooky, good time.

I would recommend this book to fans of films like Alien, for the creeping dread and dark confined spaces, 28 Days/Weeks Later, for the way the story ramps up and gets way more intense as it progresses, the video game The Last Of Us, for the monster horror and even X-Men comic books, for the diverse ensemble cast each bringing a different element to the story.
Pulse by B.A. Bellec is due out in December 2021.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author B.A. Bellec for this ARC “pulse”.

I would say this book as a mix between mystery, fantasy and sci-fi. This book takes place in the future and is about a new technology that is taking over the world, with robots in every home and taking over the majority of jobs, leaving people jobless and struggling to make ends meet. The storyline also has current events scattered throughout. The story is told through multiple POV’s and all becomes connected throughout.

This book took me awhile to get it to because of how many POVs there was, I found myself confused at times, with so many different characters being introduced I was forgetting who was who and what their part of the story was. I think with slightly less characters it would have kept my attention better but I found myself more interested in the characters who were more present throughout the story, rather than small bits and pieces of some of the characters.

The writing was more script like than most novels which I actually ended up liking, and the characters were well developed for the most part. I have this book 3/5 and will definitely read the next part to come and would try author works by this author. After about halfway through the book I did have a hard time putting it down, just wanting to figure out what exactly was going on. Thanks again to the author and netgalley!

My thanks to the author and Netgalley for a complimentary copy of this book. The concept is cleverly presented and entirely believable. Unfortunately, the writing style is much like a screenplay and it took me three attempts to get through its length making it a difficult assignment. I still cannot tell if we are dealing with alien tech or a maniac's creation. It could be accidents in a lab. Sound familiar in 2021? There are so many characters to remember, so many incidents of horror during the music festival that I lost interest. I felt all along as if the author had a movie or miniseries in mind. It would be perfect for that kind of visual development. That might cure the slow motion lag I felt. It ends with a cliffhanger and we are promised a future volume.

Amazing premise, but it takes a very long time to get into the plot of the book. Was hoping for so much more when I was reading it. Once we get into the meat of the plot it's very scattered and busy.

Pulse has an interesting storyline. It hooked me from the start. The mystery surrounding the Pulsers still gets me. It makes me want to read the sequel. What makes it difficult however, is that I find there are too many characters. I understand a lot of events are happening, but I don't think it was necessary to involve that many characters. To be honest, I don't remember half of them. Having less characters, but having them be memorable is better. I'm still unsure if there is a main character to the story as this is confusing.

There are a also too many events happening. What could have been done better would have been to focus on a prequel (before the festival), The Festival, and a Sequel (after the Festival), perhaps? This doesn't make it a bad book. I still enjoyed the story very much, however it just makes the whole thing just very chaotic to read. It took me a few days to write a review for this specific reason - I had to let the book sink in and think how I wanted to approach the book, how I felt about it. And the more I thought about it, the more I think separating it in 3 books (before, during and after) would have made more sense. Each book could have had a bit more details, less characters, less back & forth and made it less confusing.

I would have liked to have read more about what went on behind the scenes on the Pulse side of things, as well as during the Festival. The book gives you hype about the Festival, only for it to be very short in the book itself. That's also why I say the book should have been separated into 3 books.

I did enjoy the book, and if/when the sequel comes out, I will definitely read it as I'm curious about what happened out there in the desert. I just hope there can be less back and forth of characters and less of them as it's really difficult to keep track and remember who is who.

What I liked:
- The overarching plot: This was dynamic and constantly changing. It kept me on my toes and came together in a way I could not have imagined.
- The Characters: The characters were all very different and interesting. The story came from MANY different perspectives with characters of different age groups and demographics. I also really enjoyed how each character's story line came together in the end.
- The genre: This was a really unique combination of the horror and sci-fi genre. It reminded me of more than one already existing story, in a really positive way; stories I truly enjoy and revere.

What could have been better:
- In my opinion, there were too many characters. Each chapter was told through a new perspective and I constantly found myself asking "who was this again?"
- The writing style including A LOT of explanation that felt very forced. Very little was explained in this story in a way that was organic. In the beginning, before I was engaged in the plot, I almost DNF'd this. I'm glad I didn't though, it's worth it to push through.
- This story has a lot of 2020 references that I don't think are going to hold up over time. COVID-19 and president Trump are mentioned quite a few times.

Pulse is set in 2040, where everyone is basically a slave to their technology. Pulse is a company that has taken over everything and has a say in what people drink, eat, do, say and like. They are organizing the music festival that will make all other music festivals irrelevant but then tragedy occurs: an outbreak. Suddenly people become some sort of mutants that only care about feeding. Some of the characters, however, are unaffected by this outbreak and nobody knows why or how.

I love the world building in this one and the book definitely has a lot of current issues and events woven into the story, which I thought was very well done. I love the dystopian, fantasy vibe, and am a huge fan of the horror aspects! The way certain descriptions made my skin crawl is just a big yes for me!

The thing I struggled with a little was the writing style. Sometimes it felt a bit like I was reading a (screen)play, which took some adjusting for me but I got used to it eventually.

The character development was amazing, and the way each character has their individual stories play out before it all being connected in the end was very enjoyable to read! Well done, I look forward to reading more!

Pulse is a company that has its finger in most of what is going on in technology. They are the OS that runs everything, Internet, communication, schools and with their P 7500 personal assistant robots in every home pulse has the money to crush competition, control the government, and make problems disappear.
Being such a large company pulse has its detractors that are trying to bring the company down. To bring up the company image they plan a huge party weekend of concerts called Pulsefest however something evil lurks on the grounds of the festival. Your transformation into one of the creatures will be quick if they don’t rip your throat out first.
This is a good plot for a book but it didn’t work for me. There were monsters, gory scenes and parts that had me on edge but it was hard to keep track of the timeline. It seem to jump all over the place. There was no real main character so I never knew who to keep track of, Pulse was the only common thread.
There was too much going on lab grown kids, a person that jumps through walls, and monsters that can quickly multiply.
Nothing is explained. By the time I got toward the end of the book I felt like it was just an outline and not fleshed out at all. It started to feel like a parody of a superhero movie when you went in to see horror.

I requested this book recently and got approved for it. But I was a little busy with my dayjob. This book got archived before I could download it. This is rather disappointing. But I wish the author success and hope to buy the book when it comes out.

I was pleased to be given an ARC of Pulse. After reading the description it sounded intriguing and I was excited to have the opportunity to read it. If you are looking for a good, captivating, relatable, scary, sci-fi book, this is for you! I really enjoyed this dystopian, thrilling, sci-fi novel. I will say that the writing style took a little getting used to. It read almost like a screenplay. The majority of the book was written almost as a spoken narration from each character. That being said, after adjusting to this, I found myself envisioning this story as a movie. Because there was such good character development, I was able to appropriately "cast" each person in the book with the actor who would play them in real life. The imagery was so complete that I was able to see how special effects would pull off different scenes and I had a very clear picture of the story as it would play on a big screen. This made it super cool and fun to read throughout. In my head it was like Ready Player One meets Alien and has 1984 and Dreamcatcher as love children. This specific dystopia was such an accurate depiction of a possible future we could see if we continue down our current path and pace of life that it was frightening. I absolutely loved the inclusion of CURRENT events that are happening right now and how they played out for this society in its future. This made it so close to home that it was almost terrifying to read for that alone. Add in the obvious horror of the creatures and their evolution, I found myself only reading during the daytime. Trying to resist the urge to pick it up when I crawled into bed at night, like I typically would. (Not always successfully resisting by the way) There were so many common elements in this to other sci-fi movies and books yet I still considered it fresh and original. I am not sure if I am disappointed or impressed with the ending. I am definitely disappointed to be left hanging. I am disappointed that I will have to wait who-knows-how-long for the next installment to get the answers I am craving. Yet, I find it impressive that I was so hooked that I didn't even realized I was at the end, it totally snuck up on me. It is a great ploy and strategy for the author to build excitement for the sequel and guarantee his audience stays tuned. Bellec definitely has my attention now!

B.A. Bellec's second novel, Pulse, has a number of descriptors; sci fi, horror, thriller, dystopian, mystery, just to name a few. This really does have a bit of everything in it. Pulse follows a number of perspectives to weave a story that keeps readers intrigued and turning the pages. Pulse takes place in 2040, 19 years from today, the story follows a number of persons that all are involved in the company and the events that take place during the music festival, PulseFest. The company Pulse has taken over everything. As a giant all encompassing company, it has reaches in what people do, eat, drink, wear and all their technology. B.A. Bellec writes a convincing warning of the potential outcomes of a tech giant monopoly in our near future. The novel goes through a number of events that happen when a mysterious outbreak is causes people to become violent mutants. No one knows how the outbreak began or why, but each have connected it to Pulse somehow.

Pulse is fast-paced and although it has 400 pages, you don't get the feeling that it's a large book. The novel is divided into 4 sections. The world building is exceptional. You get the feel for how our world evolved into this new world easily. I also loved how the characters were diverse and from every walk of life, so you really get a feel for what life is like from every tier of society. Not just the upper class, or lower-class. There is also a lot of aspects woven into the story. These political, environmental, social and economical aspect that would conceivably be present in the future that B.A. Bellec creates.

B.A. Bellec has a unique way of writing. It feels like a mix between a screenplay and a novel. The events of the novel are described in a normal fiction novel way, however dialogue in the book is written like a screenplay. This threw me off initially by the end of the novel, I loved the way it helped me keep track of who is who and all the connections these people have with each other while also connecting past and present. If anyone is looking for a dystopian read that has a serious page-turning plot line, I would recommend this novel. I am not usually a fan of horror books, but I ate this book up! This is a MUST READ if only just to see the path that our present world has a very likely chance of going down. I cannot wait for the second one to find out what happens next and more about Pulse, the creature and the characters that survived the events of PulseFest.

Pulse

[Blurb goes hear]

For this review, I'm going to set aside the obvious formatting and gramatical errors in this advanced copy.

I had a lot of fun reading Pulse. At first, I was a little put down with what I felt where preachy arguments, but soon I discover I couldn't be more wrong. These arguments seemed preachy but where in reality the basis in which the story's setting was supported. Pulse describes in it's first half, a not to distant but entirely believable and frightening future, letting the reader delve into the no-so-secret side of politics and the power of the wealthy. For those who believe either Democrats or Republicans hold the solutions to the problems faced by the U.S., this book gives you a glimpse into how wrong you really are. Politicians and corporations don't care about you; I've always been aware of this, I consider myself to be well informed, still, I found the lack of ethics and greed to be truly alarming.

Then comes the second part of the book, where all hell breaks loose. Fracking the Earth for natural gas and other resources, contaminate entire ecosystems. An economic crisis force people to turn to Gig economy. Food is scarce, so people have to eat paste and cubes, it becomes apparent that obesity is in an all time high. All of these factors trigger an outbreak. The infected turn into mutants, and all the mutants want is food, in the form of non infected humans.

There are a lot of genres mixed in this first book of what will be a series, but don't let that distract you, the blending of genres is completely natural and not forced at all.

Give Pulse a try, you'll be glad you did.

Thank you for the advanced copy.

Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read "pulse"
The description of the book pulled me right away nothing I like more than a really good dystopian story.
Really fun read that kept me interested till the last page, would make an amazing film or TV series also. Hope to read more from this author