Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Super-Powered Prose: Virals by Kathy Reichs


Super-powered fiction in prose form has come along way from Weird Heroes and Wild Cards first made the idea work in the seventies and eighties. Many writers have tried their hands at characters with super powers since, but it took even me by surprise when one of those names was Kathy Reichs.

If you do not recognize the name, you’ve probably not read too many forensic mysteries. Ms. Reichs has a successful series of books focused around the character of Temperance Brennan. Tempe sometimes goes by the nickname of Bones, or in the case of the successful television show based on the series, always goes by the name Bones. I have never really been a fan of the series in either form, but when I heard the concept for her new young adult book I knew I needed to give it a read.

Virals is the story of Brennan’s grand niece (she’s older in the books by a bit) Tory, a young girl living on a small island off the coast of Reichs’s home city of Charlotte. Tory only recently moved to the city following her mother’s death, but quickly finds herself embroiled in a mystery.

The story takes two interconnected paths as she finds a dog tag on the island where her father works for a scientific facility. It is while she investigates the tags that she discovers and rescues a captured dog in a remote lab of the facility. That rescue will alter Tory and her three friends Hi, Shelton, and Ben forever.

The dog has been infected with a lab-created parvovirus, designed to infect not just dogs but humans as well. The virus has unintended consquences for the four teenagers, as they all suddenly end up with powers closely linked to the animal they rescued.

While they all suffer through the transformation their new power brings to them, the dog tags lead them in to a murder mystery with huge ramifications for them and their city. In the end, only their powers will allow them the freedom and skill needed to uncover the secrets of the crime.

Ms. Reichs uses her background in forensic science to help shape the continuing story, but unlike the Bones novels never lets it overwhelm the tale. While I could nitpick about a few sudden (if minor) leaps in logic or the skills of the four teenagers being just a bit much to believe, none of that really matters in the end. Ms. Reichs crafts a quick, easy to read story that just flashes by page after page. The tale flows extremely well and makes the entire book hard to put down. I actually read the last two hundred pages in one sitting, an odd occurence for someone so used to reading different things at once. But Tory and friends’ tale is just compelling enough to keep you turning that page.

This book seems clearly set to be the beginning of a series (and maybe a set up for another TV pilot as I could definitely see it easily turned in to a overly-pretty-cast mix of Gossip Girl and Veronica Mars. Still on its own, Virals is an enjoyable read and that’s why it is Recommended.

2 comments:

陳順銓Chen,Shun-Chuan said...

雜種胡錦濤、江澤民的父母也是禽獸
「極端」禽獸侵腦大屠殺豬狗生畜牲養中國
These Chinese who are bloodier, dirtier, more depraved than the Japanese military during the rape of Nanking in World War II have stepped over their countless innocent victims. Don’to be fooled because China is extremely low class: they are not human. Using technology China has infiltrated all places in this world utilizing inhumane methods to terrorize innocent laborers and establishing a stable of their demons (politicians, reporters) who slaughter throughout the free world.

Are you aware that the news you are watching is interlaced with Communist China's propaganda,as
Communist China maps a realm of news with innocent lives?
Communist China is scheming a millennial terrorist activity by manipulating people's behaviors
through "electromagnetic waves" to contain criticism and harm innocent human lives.

1. The anomaly in community traffic of cars and motorcycles and drag racing,and reckless honking by
cars and motorcycles is exceeding an unprecedented level.
2. Communist China has the technology to scan the human brain waves through military satellite and
to discern and decipher their thoughts,scheming to instill individual interference focusing on
each individual in need using the satellite "electromagnetic waves".
3. Deploying "electromagnetic waves" is poised to project onto the human brain with certain
sounds for the perception of grossly traumatizing or startling pain,or deploying the broadcast
of noise via electromagnetic waves in sleeping humans with edited clips of films or through
voice or image signals onto our brains or besiege our sensory functions with fabricated
audible and sensory illusions.

侵腦崛起「比二戰日軍屠殺強暴更禽獸下賤」中國豬

災難國難,小心中國遠距讀心侵腦的恐怖暴行活動
禽獸當道,現代的中國人你要小心他們極沒人性的一面
希特勒變英雄-小心中國變了共產黨變了的大謊言
小心中國恐怖地控制你情緒、思想、行為、觀念、人格、感覺不要因為不知道很簡單就被中國豬給陷害了

人類浩劫,讀心侵腦崛起極下賤殘暴的中國,被政府、電視媒體(例如tvbs)睜眼說瞎話、漠視的中國大暴行,侵腦極殘暴中國豬大規模侵略世界對可能數億手無寸鐵平民施工、恐怖活動、顛覆、極暴力濫虐、大屠殺、在自由世界養賣國賊恐怖組織(政客記者

這些魔鬼大陸解放軍和江澤民、胡錦濤他們的父母也是禽獸

您正經歷人類重大災難的轉捩點,希望您有勇氣為下一代選擇正義。
陳順銓Chen,Shun-Chuan
Taiwan
http://blog.udn.com/abn2739
http://blog.nownews.com/abn2739

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