Unlimited is an interesting battle set in Mexico and partially based on a true story. By battle I mean that it is a human drama about good vs. evil, but much more about finding a personal sense of meaning and responsibility in this life.
Simon Orwell is a man who has made a complete mess of his life:  taking wrong turns at every opportunity. He is a brilliant scientist, although still a student, whose latest wrong turn has gotten him and his favorite professor booted out of MIT. Simon feels so ashamed and remorseful for betraying his professor that he wants to somehow make things right. The two had been working on a project together to create a device that would garner the unused (“wasted”) energy and create unlimited free energy from it. The professor dreams of bringing free energy to Mexico, his home, since the current power company there is very expensive and oppressive. The professor has sent Simon an email saying he has made a breakthrough in their design and needs Simon’s help to finally make their device work.
     Simon takes everything he has including his version of the device in his car and goes to Mexico with the intention to apologize for betraying the professor and  to do everything he can to help him complete his device. The minute Simon crosses the border everything goes wrong. Simon is run off the road and forced to flee with his device from a man with a gun. Simon hides the machine in a drainage ditch and manages to make it into town to meet the professor at the town council meeting to present their device in hopes of receiving funding. When he arrives he is greeted with the news that the professor is dead and the council claims they never offered funding, but would like to buy his device for 1000 bucks. Devastated, not only that his friend is dead, that there is no funding and the lo-ball price the town offered for years of his research, Simon leaves  only to find that someone is still trying to kill him. Simon is rescued by the assistant to the mayor and taken to the orphanage for refuge. There Simon meets Harold Finch, who helps Simon set out to find out who killed the professor and why. He also helps Simon believe in himself (and the love of the heavenly father) and to rebuild the machine and  to make it work. But they must fight against a powerful drug cartel which has other more sinister plans for the device.
It is a wonderful story of redemption and hope! There is even some romance involved. Mostly the reader is exposed to the hardships and terror that living in Mexico can be today. The powerful drug cartels are ruthless and dangerous and make just surviving difficult in an already treacherous environment.
Davis Bunn has created a wonderful novelization of his screenplay for the film “Unlimited” which is also coming to theaters soon. Writing a book based on a movie is difficult because all the dialog and stage directions together have already produced the story; there is no room for embellishment or change. There were a couple of instances in reading the book that the conversations seemed a bit stilted but I’m sure the same conversations flowed in the movie and were necessary to the plot. I am looking forward to the movie!
Link to free preview of Chapters 1-3 of Unlimited (http://on.fb.me/1c5IyCS)
 
Here are links to all of Davis’s online “homes”:
 
Website and Blog: www.davisbunn.com
E-newsletter (to receive subscriber-only giveaways & previews of his upcoming novels):  http://www.davisbunn.com/news.htm
Facebook Author Page: facebook.com/davisbunnauthor
Twitter: @davisbunn - http://twitter.com/davisbunn
I received a complimentary copy of Unlimited from B&H Publishing group in exchange for my honest review.