If you are reading this, then you must have somehow managed to survive the Plague Year. You learned how to scavenge what little food could be found (and made some creative choices about what you were now willing to identify as “food”). You managed to fashion a shelter, and learned how high to climb to avoid having the machine plague slowly eat you alive. Life has been anything except easy, and now, it is about to get a whole lot more difficult. The Plague War has arrived!

I never had nightmares about ants until after I read Plague War. For days, I found myself trying to wipe off the ants I believed were crawling on my arms, only to discover that the ants did not actually exist. Only Jeff Carlson could take something as innocent as a tiny little ant, and make it into something that haunts you days after you have finished reading his book!

Plague War picks up where Plague Year ended, with the few surviving characters struggling to do what they can to put an end to the machine plague. The nanotechnology described in this book is terrifyingly real. Maybe it doesn’t exist like in Carlson’s books, but, then again, it just might! As I was reading, I kept having to remind myself that this was a Sci-Fi book, and not reality. Plague War is a mind fuck you will love every second of.

Check out this fantastic video:

Wicked good!

Jeff Carlson was kind enough to do a second interview with me for Book Sandwich.

Jen Thorpe: Hello once again, Jeff! Welcome back!

Jeff Carlson:Hi, Jen, and thank you for bringing me back for another feast at Book Sandwich!

Jen Thorpe: In our previous interview, you mentioned that you were working on the third novel in the Plague Year trilogy. I love it when I find a book that excites me, and then discover that it is part of a series! What can you tell me and my readers about the third book? When will it appear in stores?

Jeff Carlson: One of the challenges I faced with the second book, and especially now as I’m developing the third, is the incredible potential of nanotechnology. The first novel, Plague Year, is based on the idea that we’ve made some breakthroughs in the field and developed a high-level nanobot capable of operating within the human body, although it needs fine-tuning. The microscopic machine is still a prototype when it get loose and, you know, chaos ensues.

Even before the first book is done, various factions around the planet are using the machine plague itself to develop weaponized nanotech, advancing the gains of its original designers. That trend continues in the second novel, Plague War. Before that book is over, much less by the time we reach the third novel, it would have been easy to unleash the dogs of our imaginations and say, well, what if we actually had smart nanobots?

As a writer, it’s important to keep ratcheting up the stakes, not only for the world at large but for the hearts and souls of my characters. With each book — heck, with each chapter — I wanted to lay more on the line. But I didn’t want to lose sight of what’s real and important to normal people like you and me.

If we imagine nanotech in its ultimate expression, the ability to control matter precisely at the molecular level, we could use it to create invulnerable super beings who never need to eat or sleep… or to love or fear or hate. What if your skin was impervious to fire or bullets? What if you could turn invisible to the naked eye? What if you could fly?

That wasn’t a book that I wanted to write.

I like to think Plague Year reads like a mainstream thriller just like says on the cover… “part Michael Crichton.” I enjoy far-out sci fi with ray guns and aliens, but I’m always more spooked by stories that seem like they could really happen, so I made a point to keep the technology moving in the small, plausible increments like you would expect in the real world, not miraculous gains that altered the very nature of the characters.

The third novel has the working title Mind Plague, or, alternately, Plague Messiah, and, well, what can I say without giving too much away? In this ruined world, there are many desperate people who have been developing their own nanotech based on the superior archetype of the machine plague… There’s a new bad guy, and some old heroes, and the fan favorites are at it again with everything that’s dear to them on the line.

Mind Plague will be out in 2009.

JT: What was it like to turn one book into a series? I imagine that would be difficult. Did you use an outline or just wing it? What inspired you to write a sequel and then make it into a series?

JC: Hee hee. I just “wing it” mostly, but there are really only so many directions for the story to go. For me, the puzzle builds itself, which is huge part of my fascination with writing.

I like to think that everyone in my stories is doing the best they can. They’re smart and genuine, no matter what side they’re on, black hat, white hat — we all think we’re the good guys from our own perspective. It’s only in the movies and poorly written books where people do stupid things just to further the plot.

Yes, people make mistakes that lead them into trouble. More often they’re working at a disadvantage compared to their rivals. Whether that’s a disparity in resources, knowledge, or inner strength is all of a matter of what makes the world so interesting, from the vast scale of geopolitics to the very intimate personal history that we all carry inside us.

I like smart bad guys. I hate stupid heroes. I work very hard to make sure that everyone in my books is darn well trying their hardest, especially when it’s the end of the world, to get what they’re after. So the characters really do take over.

From there, it was easy to expand the scope of the first book into a trilogy.

JT: I’ve watched the video on Youtube for your books several times, and I still find myself shocked by the way it ends. It’s that good! There are a bunch of “book trailers” on Youtube these days, but yours is the best I’ve ever seen. It’s way better than just pointing a camera at the author as he or she sits in a chair and blathers on! What was it like to shoot the video? Where was it filmed? And… who exactly is that guy at the end?

JC: Thank you. I’m very lucky that one of my friends, Adad Warda, is a professional cinematographer and a freakin’ genius! He has his own camera, sound, and editing equipment. Would you believe that 4 Minutes Above 10,000 Feet only cost me a tank of gas, several sandwiches, a twelve-pack of Pepsi, and some licensing fees for the soundtrack? Adad and I both live in the San Francisco Bay Area. We drove into the Sierras one day, shot the whole thing from sun up to sun down, and shazam — I must have run and hiked over a mile to get those two hundred and forty seconds right, but it was totally worth it.

Acting out scenes from the books was great fun, from playing Blair Witch in the freaky opening sequence to ducking the space shuttle as it came roaring out of the sky. Ha!

Editing the footage turned out to be the bigger challenge. Much like writing, assembling the shots required a lot of patience and hard choices. I thought it was intriguing as hell, because the process was all new to me, whereas Adad simply buckled down and ground through the work with remarkable diligence. I can’t give him enough praise.

The poor bastard at the end of the film is Chuck Keen, another friend who joined us for the day. He’s in the credits as “Special thanks to Charles Keen,” and no wonder!!!!

JT: What other projects do you have going on right now that your fans would want to know about?

JC: Top secret! I’d have to sell you all on eBay to keep you quiet!

All I can say is that I’m a very busy duck. Not only am I about halfway done with Mind Plague to wrap up the nanotech trilogy, I’m also nearly finished with a collaboration with New York Times bestselling author David Brin, an adventure novel called Colony High that taps all of David’s fearsome intellect and my own taste for mayhem. We’re hoping it’ll be out in 2010.

In the meantime, I’m also shin-deep in a new stand-alone thriller whose title is Eyes Only Burn After Reading . The most I can say is that it’s another high concept novel that I think will blow the doors off of the Plague trilogy.

The only safe places on Earth are above 10,000 feet elevation?

Well, you haven’t seen anything yet!

JT: Podcasts are quickly becoming a popular way to generate interest in a book, especially for Sci Fi novels. Have you been on any podcasts lately as a guest to talk about the Plague Year series? Can fans look forward to a podcast about the books? What can you tell us about your books in audio format?

JC: I’ve had several short stories picked up lately by podcasters such as Starship Sofa, Escape Pod, Pseudopod, Horror Addicts, and The Dunesteef. I heartily recommend Starship Sofa and Pseudopod, Pseudopod in particular, and I recorded where-do-your-ideas-come-from clips for Starship Sofa and Dunesteef, in which I talk a little about my books and my brain as well as the individual story itself.

As for the novels themselves, Plague Year is now available on CD from ,Recorded Books, narrated by stage actor Richard Ferrone, who also does John Sanford’s Prey series. I’m very excited about that, and I urge anyone with a thirst for audiobooks to check it out. He’s excellent!

Readers can find more about Jeff Carlson and his books on his website, which is just packed with cool stuff to check out!

http://www.recordedbooks.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=rb.show_prod&book_id=78957&prod_id=DF002

This book was handed to me by a friend of mine, who remembered when I used to dye my hair blue. I could immediately tell that the book came from the Sci-Fi section, but was somewhat hesitant about reading it. I mean, it just about screamed out “cheesy”.

Once I opened the book, I realized that it had way more potential than I’d first guessed. Here we have a really silly and fun book, that combines classic Sci-Fi concepts with both sarcastic and goofy humor. It had me interested at the first scene, where the main characters are attacked by plants (and the plants look to be winning). As a highly allergic person, I find myself “attacked by plants” all the time! This was the book for me, after all.

I get the feeling that this book might be the third part of a series, but, I had no trouble following along despite never having read the first two books. (I will have to track those down sometime). The main character is Zachary Nixon Johnson, who mostly goes by “Zach”. He’s a private detective, and the last freelance PI working on Earth. And so, he gets some rather strange cases.

This time, Zach is trying to figure out who killed off three of the World Council Members. It seems the suspects are from the Moon. It sounds less odd when you realize that in “the world” inside this book, the Moon has been colonized years ago, and like many colonies, the Moon people feel much animosity towards Earth. The politics here are interesting, without becoming so complex as to become tedious. The Moon is tired of receiving all of the Earth’s garbage. Literally! The Council Members are voted in, and, as a result, are often popular celebrities. (One of these characters reminds me of Brittany Spears). People on both planets are constantly connected to something like the internet on crack by little devices they wear, called PIHI-pods, and news travels at the speed of wireless data. It’s an interesting world to visit as a reader.

Zach heads to the Moon, armed with a sentient gun, GUS, (that just wants to please him), and a holographic assistant, HARV,(who is sarcastic, and often acts like he is Zach’s mom). Both of these wonders of technology are provided to Zach by his friend, Dr. Randy, whose lab and ideas are better than anything seen in a James Bond movie. Zach also brings along his niece, Carol, who is one of the most powerful psychics on earth. But on the Moon, there are tons of women, (all with blue hair), who are even more powerful than Carol is. Most of these Moon women are either related to, or are the wives of, the most powerful diplomat on the planet. I found it interesting that in this Sci-Fi book that reads something like a “pulp” mystery, in a book with the word “Bombshell” in the title, that all the women in the book turn out to be super strong, independent, and powerful characters. There are even appearances by a few deities, all of whom are female. So, anyway, armed to the teeth, off Zach and company go to the Moon, to do some investigating. Trouble and hijinks ensue.

There are plenty of “geek” inside jokes in this book as well. They substitute the swear word “shit” with the word “DOS”. It made me giggle every time I read it. There are gorillas working on the Moon, which brings to mind “Planet of the Apes” in some ways. The list goes on. This is a book to just have fun with. Sci-Fi geeks who enjoy the humor of Douglas Adams will enjoy Zakour’s writing.

The word “Pharmakon” is Greek, and it means both “cure” and “poison” at the same time. I’m not sure it’s possible to see that word, “Pharmakon”, without immediately thinking about Big Pharma, and and all the drugs that people are prescribed for everything and nothing at all. That is a good place for your head to be at when you read this book.

The first sentence is: “I was born because a man came to kill my father.” Right away, you know that this book will be heartbreaking, and the story will take it’s time explaining itself, and will not take the straight path to get from question to answer. You know right away that this book will take you on a long, strange, trip to an unknown destination. Kind of like the experience of a person on a newly prescribed “mood altering” drug.

This book is about a great many things, but, is mostly the story of how and why the youngest child in a family came to be, and what happened after that. His father, Will Friedrich, was a psychologist who was working on a drug that would make people happy. He and another psychologist work together to synthesize the drug, test it on lab rats, and finally test it on human volunteers. So much hope is pinned on the success of this wonder drug. It makes it all the harder when things go tragically wrong.

This book starts out taking place in suburban America, in the 1950’s. Everyone believes that certain things will make them happy. Work hard in school, so you can get a job that pays well. Get married, buy a house, and have a bunch of kids. Keep up with the Jones’s. Then they find out that they are not happy, despite doing everything “right”, and are trying to keep that failure a secret. Wittenborn does a great job of capturing the way it feels to be depressed, and in denial about it. It comes through loud and clear in the marriage between Will and his wife. There is something profoundly sad about a man who is in a depression, who works on a miracle drug for happiness, who fails. What does he do after that? Fall apart slowly, as each disappointment builds up.

It’s also clear that the children of these parents are not unaffected. All of them are unhappy as well, in different ways. Each one takes their own path, trying to find happiness, which remains largely elusive throughout their entire lives. I tend to relate well to books about screwed up families, (having come from one), and I found the Friedrich family to be fascinating.

Themes in this book are very relevant today, despite the fact that the story takes place in the 1950’s and 1960’s. People are still searching for drugs to “fix” everything that is wrong with their moods. Many marriages still fail, and people have children as a way to “fix” the relationship. People still “go postal”. And, let’s not forget, there are still big pharmaceutical companies who are more than willing to make a buck off someone else’s misery, (possibly via nefarious means).

This book can be found in the Fiction Section of bookstores, but, it reads like a memoir. As I was reading, I knew it was fiction, but I couldn’t help but wonder how much was based on real events. Then I saw this video, where Wittenborn talks about the book…

….and, I’m still not entirely sure.

There is a scene where a bunch of parrots spontaneously arrive to camp out in a tree in the Friedrich’s front yard. Suddenly, there they are, in great variety, from out of nowhere. All the people come, interested in the bright new attractions. Everyone feels a different emotion. To me, this mirrors how people watch those commercials on television about a new drug on the market. You need to read that scene to get the full affect, but I think you get the idea.

Readers who enjoy the skewed family dynamics found in books by Douglas Coupland, and the dramatic plot twists found in books by John Irving, will not want to miss out on this book. This is not a light, happy, little read about being on drugs. It’s also not a psychological text about depression, or a diatribe about the evils of companies who manufacture drugs. In some ways, however, it is about all those things.

Finally, the much anticipated book, the fourth in the “Twilight Saga”, Breaking Dawn, is out! It’s taken me about a week to read the entire book. I’d have to check to see just how much longer this book is than the other three in the Twilight Saga, but, one thing I know for sure is that this book was a whole lot heavier than the other ones, and didn’t fit into the bag I carry to and from work nearly as well as the others did. Now that I’m done reading, I’ve decided it was worth the extra effort required to lug this tome around with me.

If you are reading this review hoping to find some “spoilers”, well, then, you will be awfully disappointed. No spoilers here. I greatly enjoyed this series, (or “Saga” as I hear it being refered to as now), and part of that enjoyment came from the fun of not knowing what would happen next. I cannot, in good conscious, destroy that fun for another reader by giving away all the juicy details in a book review. You will just have to pick up a copy, and read it yourself. It’s worth it, I promise!

I will say a few things, though, that will cause no harm. First of all, it is absolutely imperative that you read Twilight, and then go read New Moon , and after that read Eclipse before you crack open Breaking Dawn. This is not a series you can read out of order, at all. Another thing worth mentioning is that although these four books all are part of one big story, and have the same characters in them, they are not all the same. Twilight is, among other things, a love story. New Moon felt like more of a drama to me. Eclipse reads like a thriller, but also has some components of drama and romance.

Breaking Dawn, however, is a book that I feel fits squarely into the Horror genre. True, there’s still a lot of romance, and other parts are full of anticipation, and action, but, this book kind of jumps the hazy line between “Teen/ Young Adult” books, and “Adult” Fiction. There is more blood and gore in this one than the other three combined, and there are many scenes that are incredibly intense and scary. From my viewpoint, as an adult who loves vampire books, and has been reading the work of Stephen King since I was nine, Breaking Dawn is awesome! On the other hand, this is not a book I would readily hand to a twelve year old. There are some concepts in this book that, in my opinion, might be too much for a twelve year old to deal with, especially a particularly innocent, or impressionable one. I’m not saying that only people of high school age or older should read it, just that parents need to know that this one is quite a bit darker than the rest of the books in the saga. Read it before you just hand it off to your kids, and decide for yourselves.

Here is what the author, Stephenie Meyer had to say about Breaking Dawn :

Fans of this Saga have been going nuts, waiting for this last book to come out, so they could find out how it all ends up. A quick browse through YouTube will show more videos of people’s experiences attending the Midnight Parties for Breaking Dawn than I would have expected. Most fans either dressed in costume for these parties, as their favorite character, or, decorated a T-Shirt to show the world what “team” they were on. “Team Edward” is the group that wanted Bella to end up with Edward, and those shirts were often black or white. “Team Jacob”, (vastly outnumbered by “Team Edward”), was the group who wanted Bella to end up with Jacob. There were a lot of creative designs and sayings displayed. (A few people from my store went with the slogan “Bite Me”). The excitement level at these Midnight Parties matched the excitement of the crowds at the Harry Potter Midnight Party last summer, which I didn’t think was possible.

I found a few of the more watch-able videos of these parties to share with my readers here, to give you a little view into what this was all about.

Team Jacob:

Team Edward:

Midnight Release Party Madness: (This store had a band play, and did a “Bella’s Prom” theme.)

Overall, I loved the “Twilight Saga”! This is one of the few “Teen/ Young Adult” books that will appeal to adults as well as teens. I would hesitate to hand this series to anyone younger than fourteen, but that’s just my own, personal, opinion. It’s been a week since the book came out, and every day, I go to work at the bookstore I am employed at, and find a few people who not only love the Twilight Saga, but who are super excited about finally being able to read Breaking Dawn. All of them want to gush over their favorite characters, and discuss what they hope will happen in this last book. Oh, and based on the popularity of this series, we can be sure to see a lot of vampires and werewolves running around on Halloween this year. I may even dress up as one of the characters myself. Few series are as capativating as the Twilight Saga is, and I am so glad I decided to go ahead and “try” this “teen vampire book”.

Sam Roy is a broken man. But what caused him to break? Was it his time as a soldier in the Iraq War? Or was that experience just the last straw in a life full of trauma? Mark B. Pickering’s book, Story Of The Sand, chronicles the events of Roy’s post-war life, while looking back on the things that brought him to his current place. And that place is by no means a good one. The book’s opening finds Sam living in solemn desperation, in a tent in the wilderness. He only ventures out into the world when it’s absolutely necessary. Usually, to get the alcoholic comfort he needs to calm his frazzled nerves. During one of these excursions, he winds up robbing a store after the store’s owner (a man who proudly displays an autographed photo of George W. Bush, and has no idea that Sam is a war veteran) tries to shortchange Sam, saying he’s charging Sam for the privilege of patronizing his establishment. Sam snaps, robs the place, and on his way out, he takes a knife to a Hummer belonging to the store owner’s son. He knows he’s done something wrong, but he can’t help himself. That’s just the beginning of the roller coaster that becomes Sam’s life in the coming months. Story Of The Sand follows Sam through abusive sexual relationships, failing V.A. treatment centers, fractured families and at least one near-death experience. Things do cheer up, if only a little, towards the story’s end. But even those good times are stifled by Sam’s inescapable bad luck.

Story Of The Sand is a study in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. And in spite of the book’s title, its characters are suffering from more than just war wounds. Sam, and nearly everyone he encounters, are struggling with unresolved issues due to sexual abuse, familial conflicts and other life tensions. I found myself finishing several chapters in this book thinking, “How could things get any worse?” And the following chapters would show exactly how. Overall, Story Of The Sand is an entertaining read. I even found myself caring about some of the book’s damaged characters. But it can be difficult to get through at points. In the end, if you like your stories full of gritty reality, you’ll probably enjoy this book. If you’re looking for a story that wraps itself up in a neat, happy ending, you’ll want to look elsewhere.

This is the third book in the incredibly popular Twilight Series. Before you start reading this book, I highly recommend that you go back and start from the beginning. Immerse yourself in Twilight, angst your way through New Moon. Only then will you be able to fully appreciate Eclipse, the third book in a four book series.

Where to begin in describing a book that has so much? How about this video of Meyer talking about the books, which was released right around when Eclipse came out :

Most of the adults who were reading this series at the same time I was told me that they felt that Eclipse was the best book in the series. They amended that statement with the phrase: “so far”, already anticipating that the fourth book, Breaking Dawn, would just blow everything else right out of the water. Now that I have read Eclipse, I have to agree with them. This book, as the author says in the video, takes place in a short span of time, but is just packed full of action, and suspense, anticipation, and mixed emotions. I started to hope that there would, someday, be a movie made based on this book.

It has taken me a little while to be able to write this review, because I could not figure out how to write it without giving out too many “spoilers”. The last thing I would want to do is ruin a book this wonderful, for readers who have not read this far. It just wouldn’t be fair, or right, in my opinion. I finally decided to not list any of the plot at all, and instead give my own personal impressions of the book.

This series has an amazingly high number of “superfans”. I have met quite a few at the bookstore I work at, in the past few weeks, as we were building up to the release of Breaking Dawn. It is important to me to encourage literacy, and what better way to do that then to suggest a book this good to a teen that is just starting to find reading fun? So, out of respect for the superfans, who seem to find everything on the internet that has anything at all to do with the Twilight Series eons before I can find it, I will not give any “spoilers” in this review.

One thing that is no surprise at this point in the series is the existence of a love triangle (of sorts) between Edward, Bella, and Jacob. From the very first book, Edward and Bella are clearly head over heals in love with each other, and most definately an established couple. But then, in the second book, Bella starts to become close to Jacob, while Edward is gone. By the end of that book, readers can see that Jacob loves Bella, and that Bella has very strong feelings for Jacob. Are those feelings love? Jacob seems to think so, but Bella is oblivious to this possibility. In fact, for the most part, she is in denial that Jacob likes her “as more than a friend”, to use a very teenage phrase.

Here is where the battle begins, as Edward and Jacob “fight” for Bella’s love. I liked how Meyer had one of them appearing to come out on top in one minute, only to have that suddenly go the other way, all too quickly. Neither one intends to get into a “fight to the death”, (because killing their rival would ultimately hurt Bella). Instead, each guy announces that he will not be “fighting fair”, and both proceed to win Bella’s heart.

I am impressed by how polarized fans are when it comes to the following question : “Who do you think Bella should end up with, Edward, or Jacob?” Despite my expectations, (and my jaded view of romance novels, in general), I found myself not only choosing a side, but cheering for one character over the other. What can I say? Meyer is a great writer. Her books sucked me in, (pun not intended in reference to this series about vampires).

In the video above Meyer mentions that the overwhelming majority of readers want to see Bella end up with Edward. In my own investigations, which I conducted by cornering people who walked through my bookstore with a copy of Eclipse in their hand, and asking them tons of questions, it was clear that most readers prefer Edward. They don’t just like Edward better, they feel very strongly about him, and cannot be swayed in their viewpoint. Same with the few people who wanted to see Bella end up with Jacob. Neither side is going to change their mind, and each is happy to try and talk people who are “undecided” into “voting” their way. With any luck, this enthusiasm will spill over into the election process, when the majority of the readers get a little older, and can vote for president. That would be something!

So, Edward is who the majority want to see “win”. Why? Lots of reasons. The biggest reason seems to be that Edward loves Bella, and has eyes only for her. Bella also loves Edward, so much that I, personally, find it unhealthy. (Bella may be codependant, in my opinion, at least when it comes to Edward). In any case, the two spend lots of time together, and say “I love you” all the time. Add to this how many times Edward saved Bella’s life, (and ignore how often that Bella was in danger because of Edward), and he looks even better. It also doesn’t hurt that Edward is absolutely gorgous, which gives Bella “butterflies” all the time, and the chemistry between the two of them is just fantastic. Edward is the dictionary definition of the perfect boyfriend, if you are between the ages of twelve and seventeen.

Fans of Jacob have just as many reasons, but they are different. From my own informal investigating, it seems that it’s the adult readers who strongly prefer Jacob. Why? In a lot of ways, Jacob is good for Bella. He is much better than Edward could ever be. Jacob was there for her when she was falling apart, because Edward dumped her. He’s a great friend, and Bella is actually really happy when she spends time with Jacob. The two have intense feelings for each other, which Bella defines as “best friend”, and Jacob defines as “love”. He saves Bella’s life, (but isn’t the cause behind why Bella needed saving). The two of them start… let’s say a hobby… together, and have a great time. It also doesn’t hurt that Jacob is stunningly handsome, but in a completely different way than Edward. Jacob is the dictionary definition of the perfect boyfriend if you are over the age of twenty five or so.

In short, adult readers are mature enough to see what the teens aren’t seeing. Adults see Edward’s overprotectiveness of Bella as “he’s a control freak”, while the teens see it as “he really loves her”. Adults see how much Bella will lose if she ends up sticking with her decision to become a vampire, despite the threats she faces if she stays human. Teens seem to see the threats against Bella’s life as bigger than what she will have to give up. I also think that adults are noticing that the relationships (or marriages) that work out the best are the ones between two people who are best friends. Most teens haven’t had enough life experience to realize that the chemistry doesn’t stay that hot forever and ever. It’s been an interesting little sociological experiment for me to find out which character people favored, and the reasons behind them. I don’t think a person can read this far into the series without having a favorite. I started prefering Bella with Jacob as I was reading New Moon, and stuck to my choice all the way through Eclipse. Certainly, there were other readers, the majority of readers, in fact, who prefered Bella with Edward the whole way through.

In addition to the whole love triangle, readers get detailed information about the background of many of the other characters, and it’s all fascinating. There is a build up to a dramatic and tense fight scene, (which entwines with the “battle for Bella’s heart”), that made me reluctant to put the book down and be interrupted by things like the end of my break time at work, or the lateness of the hour before I went to sleep for the night. Readers will get an insight into what it really is like to be a newborn vampire, at the same time Bella learns these things, which is exciting. Will she change her mind about becoming a vampire? Or will she stick with her original intent? This was a very quick read, despite how fat the book is. It’s just packed full of stuff, but I still found it incredibly easy to “digest” all the new information. The moment I read the last sentence on the last page, I found myself hungry for the final book in the series, Breaking Dawn. I am completely impressed with the Twilight Series, and Meyer’s ability as a writer.

New Moon is the second book in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Series. You absolutely have to read Twilight before you begin reading New Moon, or you are going to get a bit lost, and you will miss out on why certain things that happen are so incredibly important. New Moon is a good book, but it simply does not stand alone. (Click here to read my review of Twilight. )

There is no choice but to read the Twilight Series in order. In my experience working as someone who sells books all day, I have found that for the most part, series that require readers to read them in order don’t sell as well as the ones that allow you to jump around. There is the risk that readers will finish one book, and need the next one, but not be able to find it at their local bookstores, and so, will drop the entire series in frustration. What is saving the Twilight Series is the incredible fan base that has amassed around it. Perhaps it is “the next Harry Potter” after all?

Some of what I am about to write may be considered a “spoiler”, so, if you are one of those fans who has not read New Moon yet, and desperately wants to shield yourself from any and all mentions of what happens in this book, then… proceed with caution. Fear not, however, I won’t give away the best stuff.

When I think of the book New Moon, in my head, it’s really called “Bella goes Emo”. As I was reading this book, I found that there were a lot of other adults who, to my complete surprise, were not only reading this series, but loving it as much as I was. And, for the vast majority of them, New Moon was their least favorite of the three. The adults had not been teenagers for many years, and so, just couldn’t relate to how Bella reacts to the stressful event that takes place at the beginning of the book. (more on that later). Their main reaction was : “Oh, Please! Get over it, already!” I didn’t have quite the same response, because, for whatever reason, I can think of events in my own life where I reacted in the same overly dramatic way that Bella is doing. I realize that I am in the minority on this view, at least when it comes to readers who are over age… twenty five, or so.

For the most part, New Moon seems to have an “expiration date”, much like the book The Catcher In the Rye does. Read The Catcher In The Rye when you are in high school, and you think Holden Caufield is a genius, and can’t believe that right here in print, is a person who “gets” you, (even if his slang is archaic). Read that same book when you are in college, or older, and you fight the urge to just smack Holden upside the head, he’s so damned annoying! In New Moon, most adult readers just want to grab Bella, and shake her, and scream “Just snap out of it already!” I think teen readers, however, will find a kindred soul in what Bella is thinking.

Why does Bella go “emo”? Lots of reasons, actually. She has a birthday, and is now eighteen years old. This makes her “older” than Edward, (who stays seventeen forever), and starts Bella having nightmares of someday looking like Edward’s Grandmother, instead of his girlfriend. Bella become determined that she will become a vampire, but, Edward is not sure this is the best choice, and is making Bella wait before she is changed into one. The two lovers want to spend the rest of their lives together, but there is much tension, arguments, and negotiation about when Bella can become a vampire. She wants to do it right now. Edward doesn’t want her to lose out on “human experiences”, and is putting things off. Later on, you find the deeper reason why Edward is so hesitant.

So, at the beginning of the book, the irrepressible Alice, who is not only Edward’s “sister”, but also now Bella’s closest female friend, throws Bella a birthday party. This is despite Bella’s protests, because she doesn’t want to celebrate being older, and also is uncomfortable being the center of attention. The party is held at Edward’s house, and his entire vampire family are in attendance, giving presents. Tragedy strikes when Bella, klutz that she is, accidently gives herself a paper cut while opening a gift. This one small drop of blood throws one of Edward’s siblings into a frenzy. Bella nearly gets attacked and eaten by a vampire, more blood spills as she falls over the table, bad things happen.

What becomes crystal clear is that there is danger in being the only human around all these vampires, despite everyone’s good intentions. Without going into too many details… let’s just say that in one dramatic and devastating conversation… Edward leaves Bella. He doesn’t do much explaining about his reasons, and Bella thinks the worst. She believes he doesn’t love her after all, and basically curls up into a ball, and becomes nearly catatonic for about three months. Yeah, three months of Bella just going through the motions, but not really living, convinced that her life really is over.

Meyer, fortunately, spares the readers three months of this new moody, emo, Bella, and instead gives us three blank chapters in between when she freaks out, and when she starts to come back. Not expecting this, I was convinced I had picked up a damaged copy of New Moon. I even went to the bookstore I work at, and flipped through several other copies of the book, both in paperback and hard cover, trying to figure that out. All of the copies had the same three blank chapters, which should have clued me in that the book was supposed to be printed that way. However, it took me asking several other book sellers who had already read the book to convince me that yes, all copies should have three blank chapters. I found this to be confusing and frustrating, because I spent all this time trying to figure out what was wrong with my copy of New Moon, when all I wanted to do was sit down and read what happened next.

It’s hard to explain how devastated Bella is by Edward leaving her. This fan video does a pretty good job of setting the mood. It shows the actor that will be playing Jacob in the Twilight movie.

Eventually, Bella’s dad, Charlie, is beyond frustrated with Bella, who won’t snap out of it. He starts hating Edward. He threatens to send Bella back to live with her mother, not knowing what else to do, unless she starts hanging out with her school friends again, and, well, basically gets a life. He suggests she go see Jacob, knowing that the two are good friends. Bella agrees, but only because she is holding on to a tiny little hope that someday, Edward will come back to her. If she moves away, will he be able to find her? So, Bella fakes it for a while, and appeases her father.

This is where Bella starts going crazy. She finds, quite by accident, that when she does something dangerous, she can hear Edward’s voice in her head. She starts doing crazier and crazier things, just to hear that voice, even though later on, it makes her feel so much pain. Most of this book, Bella is both figuratively and literally “holding herself together”. One day, Bella comes across some free motorcycles, and she decides to bring them to Jacob, who she knows can fix them up and also teach her to ride.

She and Jacob spend nearly all their time together, becoming closer and closer. It’s clear that Jacob likes Bella as “more than a friend”, but Bella just isn’t over Edward yet. Jacob knows this, and is patiently waiting, being everything Bella needs right now. She finds herself becoming happy again, when she is around Jacob, and thinks of him as her own, personal, “sun”. They seem to be on the path to romance, eventually. It was at this point in the series that I started to like Jacob with Bella better than Edward with Bella. Jacob is warm, and happy, truly does want the best for Bella, and, now that he has hit this amazing growth spirt, is also a very strikingly handsome guy. What’s not to like?

Of course, this is when tragedy strikes, once again. Bella does something incredibly stupid, that should have gotten her killed, because she’s still broken, and somewhat suicidal, without Edward. This time, Jacob becomes her Knight in Shining Armor, and saves her life. Considering that Bella first fell for Edward when he saved her life, this should be enough for Bella to finally fall for Jacob. It might have worked if the vampires didn’t decide to come back, at that moment.

Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! What happens is that Alice, who sees the future, has a vision of Bella nearly dying, but doesn’t see the result of that action. Why not? Because Jacob saved her, and, it turns out Jacob is a Werewolf, and Alice can’t “see” anything that has to do with the werewolves. Remember that tribal story Jacob told Bella in the first book? This is what it all meant. There is a whole pack of werewolves in his tribe, and, of course, werewolves and vampires are enemies, so… more tension to come. Meyer gives the reader lots of back story on all of that, and it’s fascinating.

So, Alice “sees” Bella nearly die, and nothing more, and this leads Edward to believe that Bella is, in fact, dead. In true overly dramatic emo-teen fashion, Edward has run off to Italy to provoke the group of the oldest and and most powerful vampires in existance, in the hopes that they will kill him. He doesn’t want to exist in a world if Bella is not there. It’s Romeo and Juliet for the modern age, um, if Romeo was a vampire.

Bella immediately drops Jacob, and rushes off with Alice, in the hopes of saving Edward. She breaks Jacob’s heart in the process, and I think that sucks. What follows is a really high speed and intense chase, followed by a very suspenseful outcome. Does Bella get there in time to save Edward? You have to read the book to find out. (However, unless you are living under a rock, you already know that two more books follow this one… so there’s a clue). By the end, Bella is in more danger than she started out the book in, which can only lead to more problems in the next book.

New Moon is not my favorite book in the Twilight Series, but I did enjoy it enough to want to get a copy of the next book, Eclipse. Despite the heaping pile of teenage angst, I really want to find out who Bella ends up with. Does she stick with Edward, her first love, despite the constant drama? Or go with Jacob, who makes her happy and makes life easier, but whom she doesn’t love the way she loves Edward? I know who I want her to pick.

Unless you have been living under a rock, you must have heard some of the hype about the Twilight Series, by Stephenie Meyer. There is talk of this series being “the next Harry Potter”, believe it or not. There are even midnight parties set to happen in just a few days time, at bookstores across the country, to celebrate the release of the fourth, and final, book in the series.

It’s not too surprising that there is a movie about the first book, Twilight, coming in December of this year. Type “Twilight” into YouTube, and you can watch trailers for the movie, and dozens of handmade fan videos, celebrating everything from the choice of cast, to the love between Edward and Bella, to just plain excitement about the series itself. Here are a few examples:

This is an official trailer:

Here is one of the less “OMG! OMG! OMG!” style videos of the cast:

And there are more videos than I can stand to look at that are lovely photos of Bella and Edward, looking all dreamy, while insipid music plays. You’re on your own searching those out on YouTube, because I find myself getting nauseous after viewing more than a couple of them. Most are sickly sweet, and overly emotional, and all that is teenage passion and idealism. Bleah!

From all of this, you can gather that the Twilight Series is, in fact, a huge deal right now. But is this book any good? I decided to jump in with both feet, read the book myself, and see if the writing lived up to the hype. Here are my discoveries, insights, and opinions about this super popular book.

In short, Twilight is a romance/horror/suspense book that can be found in the “Teen”, or “Young Adult” section of bookstores everywhere. Many books aimed at teens are a mixture of genres, and this one is no exception. I knew before I picked up the book that somewhere, somehow, there would be vampires involved, and my hope was that this fact alone would make the book interesting enough for me to read the whole thing, even if I hated it. I’m thirty-five, and I wasn’t at all sure I would be able to relate to a Teen “Romance” book. I don’t even read much regular Romance, and when I do, I’m usually greatly disappointed. It’s just not my thing at all.

When I first picked it up, I didn’t know of anyone who was reading this book who wasn’t (A) a teenager, or (B) the parent of a teenager, who got talked into reading it because their teenager loved the book so much, or (C) someone who works with or teaches teens. I am none of the above. Who else was reading Twilight? People who work at bookstores. I now had a handy excuse, in case the book sucked. “Oh, this? Yeah, I have to read it, for work.”

Bella is a seventeen year old girl, who moves from living with her mom, (someplace sunny, I forget exactly where. California?) to living with her dad in… Washington, I believe, where it’s cold and rainy, and sometimes snowy, much to Bella’s disapointment. Her dad, Charlie, is the police chief in the small town of Forks, where everyone knows everyone else. Bella becomes something like a minor celebrity when she starts her new school, and lots of boys have obvious crushes on her, but Bella isn’t the least bit interested.

Sitting away from all the other students in the lunch room are a small group of beautiful people. Amazingly, they are not the popular crowd. Quite the opposite, actually. These are the adopted children of the doctor in town, and most of the teens see them as just plain strange, and want nothing to do with them. Among this group is Edward, a boy with a beautiful face, golden eyes, and a crooked smile. Bella becomes instantly fascinated with him.

Then, of course, is the whole “does he like me, or does he hate me, or what?” scenario, as Edward runs hot and cold. Some days he glares at her, and refuses to talk to her, and other days he smiles and is friendly. But mostly, Edward is a mystery, and what could be more intriguing than that? He doesn’t seem to eat anything. He is absent from school on sunny days. His hands are always cold. Even readers who have managed to shield themselves from all information about this series will figure out pretty quickly that Edward, (and his “siblings”) are vampires. It takes Bella a pretty long time to piece it all together, however.

Bella has a friend that she knew before she moved to Forks, who goes to a different school. Jacob lives with his father, Billy, on the nearby Native American Reservation. Bella’s dad and Jacob’s dad have been friends forever, and Jacob and Bella have spent lots of time hanging out when they were little kids. For this book, Jacob is mostly a minor character, who relays some tribal stories that he only half believes in. (Jacob doesn’t really come into the story until the second book in the series). Later on, this particular conversation between Bella and Jacob turns out to hold more meaning than it seemed.

Ok.. so… eventually, Edward and Bella start talking. Then one day, he invites her to sit with him, just him, at lunch, and Bella does. The two quickly become enamored with each other, in the intense and amazingly fast way that high school aged people do. After Edward saves Bella’s life from a… let’s say “traffic accident”, Edward confirms that yes, he is a vampire, and Bella decides this does not scare her, which scares Edward. In a lot of ways, the emotions these two feel are exactly what most people feel when they date their first “real” boyfriend/ girlfriend. I was impressed how well Meyer captured the essence of what it is like to be that young.

The difference is that with these two young lovers, when Edward says it may be “too dangerous” for Bella to be around him, he’s not exaggerating. The scent of Bella’s blood intoxicates Edward, so much that he is terrified that he will lose control, and, well… kill her and drink her blood. Even Edward’s “sister”, Alice (who is a fascinating, quirky, pint sized vampire), notes how great Bella smells. Big foreshadowing, here, of danger to come.

Meyer has created the perfect boyfriend in Edward. Here is an impossibly beautiful boy, who only has eyes for one girl, and is hopelessly devoted. He is a knight in shining armor, who actually can and will save your life from certain doom. He is patient, and a perfect gentleman, who never goes farther than kissing with closed lips (for fear of accidently turning Bella into a vampire). By the end of the book, I wanted an Edward. Teenage girls everywhere will just adore him, of this I am certain.

The main problem these two star crossed lovers have is that Edward is a vampire, (and so is the rest of his family), and Bella is not. This is a new twist on dating “the boy from the wrong side of the tracks”. Humans are not allowed to know that vampires exist, and this forces Bella to keep a big, fat, secret from her parents, her school friends, and her good friend, Jacob. Bella wants to become a vampire herself, but Edward refuses to allow this. Tension, tension, dramarama… but in a good way.

One quick note about the vampires in this book. Yes, they drink blood. But, it doesn’t have to be human blood. They are faster than humans, and some of them have special powers, not shared by all vampires. Religion and crosses are not really a factor in this book. What about the sun? Meyer has created the absolute best interpretation of the reason why vampires stay out of the sun that I have ever seen. No other book includes this particular factor. You will just have to read it to see what happens. (Or, wait until December when the movie is supposed to come out).

The book ends with a chase scene. Bella is in danger, from vampires, but not Edward or his family. I found myself taking a few extra minutes of break time at work, and staying up for just one more chapter before I went to sleep at night, to find out just how this all got resolved. Even if you simply cannot stand anything resembling a romance novel, you will love the ending. Tons of action, very suspenseful, and all the loose ends are tied up when the book closes.

So, to my great surprise, I found that I enjoyed Twilight much more than I ever though possible. Meyer is a fantastic writer. I could see the scenes she described, and the faces of her diverse characters, without feeling slowed down by too much description. She captures exactly what it is to be teenage, and involved with a first love, and also the “no, you can’t date that boy, (and now you want him more)” concept. Very real characters, and a plot where the reader is mostly blind-sided by what comes next.

I rushed to get my hands on the second book in the series, New Moon, to find out what happened after the first book was over. But, that’s a review for another day.

This may not be “the next Harry Potter”, because I don’t see the Twilight Series appealing to young children like the Harry Potter books do. However, I do feel that a ten year old could read Twilight without too many problems. There is no sexuality, other than some sweet and tame kisses. There is some violence, but no worse than some of what happens in the later books in the Harry Potter Series. I will be interested to see how long the books stay popular, after the movie comes out, and after we all read the fourth book, and find out the ending.

If you are like me, you read the book In the Woods, also by Tana French, and loved it. Maybe, like me, you got to the end of that book, read the last page, closed the book, and then looked around for more of French’s writing. If so, then here is your wish come true. The Likeness is the next book in what I hope is just the beginning of a series. It does stand alone really well. You don’t absolutely have to read In the Woods before you pick up The Likeness, but, readers who skip the first one will miss out on some background information.

The main character in this book is Cassie Maddox, who was one of the detectives in the last book, working on Operation Vestal, with her partner, Ryan. Now, it’s six months later, and Cassie has left the Murder Squad, to work in a department that mostly handles domestic disturbances. She and Sam, (who also worked on Operation Vestal), are very clearly a couple, and all seems to be going well. Except, of course, that Maddox is rather bored working with domestic disturbances, and her head is still full of thoughts about what happened in the last book.

Out of the blue, a murder happens, and Cassie is called to view the body, despite the fact that she isn’t working murder cases any longer. A young woman, (who might be anywhere from twenty three, to twenty six or so), has been found in an abandoned home, in the middle of nowhere. It’s clear the woman has been stabbed, and it is also obvious that someone moved the body, and took the time to lay her out, and completely disturbed the crime scene in the process.

There are two remarkable things about this dead woman. One, she is the “spitting image” of Cassie. It’s freaky how much they look alike, despite the fact that this woman is not a relative of Cassie. The other bizarre coincidence is that the ID the woman was carrying identifies her as “Alexandra Madison”, the same name Cassie used back when she was working undercover. The name Cassie was using when she, herself, got stabbed.

Much debate goes on from here. Cassie’s boss, Frank, (who got her into working undercover in the first place), wants Cassie to go back undercover, as “Lexie”, to find who the killer is. What could be more perfect, than to have the double of the murder victim return to the crime? And Cassie and “Lexie” are darn near identical. Sam, of course, is terrified that Cassie will get hurt, or even, killed, and is set against her going undercover again. Cassie takes a lot of time, weighing the odds, fighting with both Frank and Sam about her options. But, as a reader, it’s no surprise that she eventually gives in to her own curiosity, and becomes “Lexie”.

There are few suspects in this case. The best suspects are the four college students who Lexie lived with. Daniel is calm, controlled, and the one who inherited the house they all live in. Abby is cute, and brilliant. Justin is sweet, and nervous, and gentle. And Rafe is the life of the party, and stunningly handsome. The five of them, (including Lexie), are tighter than most friendships ever become. They are intimate in ways that even most families are not. They all spend nearly every waking moment together, in shared activities. They all lean their heads on each other’s shoulders, and prop their feet in each other’s laps. They even share drinking glasses. There is no television in the house, and they all read books together, or play cards, or fix up the house. They seem incredibly content, and mostly ignore the rest of the college, (and the town it resides in), who strongly dislike the odd quintet.

French has made each member of this little family absolutely fascinating. I found myself thinking about this group when I was at work, or driving, or otherwise not able to read the rest of the book. What would they be doing, right now, if they were real? How much do they really know about Lexie’s death? What would make them do that, when they seem so happy together? I wondered what it would be like to be a part of that idyllic, self-created, family unit. It seemed peaceful. I wanted to go explore the huge house with them, and see what treasures could be uncovered. One of the marks of a truly great book, in my opinion, is if I find myself thinking about “the world” inside the book long after I stop reading. This book captured more of my attention than most books do, and, with how much I read, that is no easy feat to accomplish.

Cassie starts off her undercover work simply hoping that no one finds out that she isn’t really “Lexie”. Slowly, and without her even realizing it, Cassie finds herself actually becoming Lexie. She craves the serenity, the security, and the stability the small group brings to each other. She also starts wondering about just who “Lexie” really was, and what she would want Cassie to do. Was Lexie trying to tell her something? Could she give Lexie some peace, if she finds out what she wants? Before she knows it, Cassie has lost her objectivity on this case, which Frank is more than happy to point out. But, Cassie doesn’t think so, and continues on. Things become more complex from here, both within the case, and outside it. Lines are crossed, motives are muddied. The books builds up to a superbly intense ending, that leaves the reader wondering, right up until the last second, what will happen next. By the end, most questions are answered, and the reader gets a little of the “what happened next?” that I know I was wondering about. I look forward to more books by Tana French.

The front cover of this book says “A novel of Bangkok”, which immediately makes me think of a previous book I read by Hallinan, A Nail Through the Heart. Check out my review of that book here. This book is clearly a sequel to the first one, but, does stand up well on it’s own. Hallinan explains just enough so new readers can follow along, without rewriting the previous book, and boring those who had read it. For me, it was a nice review, and I didn’t feel the need to go back to the first book and refresh my memory.

Bangkok is hot, humid, full of bright colors, and packed with people. I read this book during a freak but vivid heat wave, and felt like I was there, in Bangkok, following around the characters. Hallinan’s writing is quick and dirty, with bite sized chapters that always seem to end with me wanting more, and making me dive into the next chapter, (and then the next). Hallinan also has a gift for creating some really interesting turns of phrase, that had me laughing, despite the context.

A bad perfume is described as “Like if a flower threw up.” Chapters are given titles such as ” Karma is a Soft Drink”, and “Carrots were the Last Straw”, and “It Starts Ugly, and Gets Worse”.

The story is, once again, about Poke Rafferty, an American who went to Bangkok to write travel books about the darker side of life. He never left. He is still with his girlfriend, Rose, who is continuing to run a cleaning business with her friend Peachy. Miaow, his adopted daughter, is becoming a “normal” little girl. She adores the color pink, and loves to send text messages on her cell phone. Rafferty is finally part of a happy family. Naturally, this is when all hell breaks loose.

Rafferty has paid an ex spy to teach him how to do illegal things. He wants to experience some things for himself, so he can accurately write about it in his next book. When the book starts, he is being followed by three guys who he has spotted. Thinking back to one of his lessons, he realizes that there must be a “fourth watcher”, the one you don’t see. Neither Rose nor Miaow are happy about what he is doing.

This book has many complex things going on all at once. Peachy has a problem with counterfit money, and the government has become involved. Rafferty’s father has re-emerged, and wants to talk to him, despite the fact that Rafferty wants nothing to do with him. There are several layers of “family” involved. Then, someone kidnaps Rose, Miaow, and the wife of Rafferty’s friend, (who is a police officer). They want something nearly impossible, and a large portion of this book involves watching Rafferty try and figure out what to do to get them back. This is one intricate plan, and I kept going back and forth on my guess about if he would manage to pull it off or not. Most of the story takes place in just a few days time, and the book is a fast, exciting read.