Spoilers about the first book will abound, so I'd suggest skipping this entire post if you're planning to read Wake. So go and read that book and then come back. It's short, I'll wait.
Ready? Okay.
High school seniors Janie and Cabel are now both working undercover for the police department -- Cabe noses around, gets people to trust him and winnows information out of them, while Janie uses her talent/curse to pull clues out of the minds of nearby dreamers. They need to keep their romance a secret until the drug case that brought them together is over and done with -- otherwise, their narc status could be blown.
Now Captain Fran Komisky has them working on a new case -- one that could be especially dangerous for Janie, as they're trying to identify a teacher who may be a sexual predator. As one might expect, the very protective Cabe has an extremely hard time staying on the sidelines. Meanwhile, Janie is learning more and more about her power -- and hardly any of the knowledge is good news.
I enjoyed Fade more than its predecessor, though I'm still in the minority in that I'm not in love with the series. I still feel that there's loads more tell than show in the text, I don't feel that there's much in the way of character development, and I still find key parts of the premise hard to believe. (It's not Janie's ability. It's that the police department has Janie, a minor, on the payroll. Without parental permission, even.)
That said, I appreciate the spareness of the prose, and McMann's style -- lots of sentence fragments and the present tense -- is very effective in ramping up the suspense. I totally see why these are such a hit. Highly recommended for the reluctant reader crowd, especially those who want gritty stories with lots of heavy issues, action and mystery. Not recommended for people looking for gentle books with no sex, drugs, swearing, etc., etc., etc.
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Previously:
I know it's totally lame to comment saying "Yes, I agree," but really, YES, I totally agree with everything you said here.
Posted by: Janssen | 28 April 2009 at 08:26 PM