Fox’s Emmy-winning series 24 starring Kiefer Sutherland is my definition of “appointment television.” It sits atop the list of Season Passes on my trusty TiVo. I’ve loved it since it debuted four years ago.
So how in the hell did this news skip me by?
I was at the bookstore this morning and happened upon the brand-new paperback 24 DECLASSIFIED: OPERATION HELL GATE by Marc Cerasini. Of course I had to buy it. I’ve already started reading it, so check back next week for a full review.
This is the first of an original series of novels (not novelizations) which will begin rolling out in fairly quick succession. Here’s the schedule thus far:
• 24 DECLASSIFIED: VETO POWER by John Whitman – Nov. 2005
• 24 DECLASSIFIED: TROJAN HORSE by Marc Cerasini – Feb. 2006
• 24 DECLASSIFIED: CAT’S CLAW by John Whitman – March 2006
• 24 DECLASSIFIED #5 by Author to Be Named Later – April 2006
Pop quiz, hotshot: Does THE PYTHAGOREAN SOLUTION sound like: (a) a math textbook, (b) a DA VINCI CODE-esque thriller, or (c) a little of both? Probably (c), although in reality, it’s merely (b). It basically says so right there on the cover.
New in paperback, this Grecian-set thriller begins in 1945 with the sinking of a boat smuggling Nazi goods. Flash-forward to present day, when the downed ship is discovered by a local fisherman, who is then murdered because he Knows Too Much. Just before he dies, his body is found by newly divorced, visiting American John Hammond, to whom the old man gives a map. This map – which the bad guys will do anything to retrieve, naturally – presumably leads to the sunken treasure. Problem is, it’s coded with the Pythagorean Theorem.
And if that gimmick prompts your interest, join the club. But unlike DA VINCI CODE, where the code is woven through the length of the book, the whole deciphering in this SOLUTION comprises maybe three or four pages. But since this was first published two months after DA VINCI CODE, it can’t be a knockoff; I suspect the comparison has been emphasized by the marketing guys, who also likely retitled it to cash in on Dan Brown’s blockbuster.
So don’t look going for the next DA VINCI CODE. Instead, look for a mildly enjoyable action-filled read in which all the characters are cardboard and do exactly what you expect them to. (Will Hammond fall in love with the daughter of the dead man? Check!) Though I wouldn’t exactly classify it as compelling, SOLUTION is entertaining enough for those looking for cheap paperback thrills.
In the early ’90s, Dark Horse published four separate comics adapting the classic Universal films of DRACULA, FRANKENSTEIN, THE MUMMY and CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. They’ve been long out of print, but now Dark Horse is collecting the four tales for a trade paperback.
Due in January of 2006, UNIVERSAL MONSTERS: CAVALCADE OF HORROR features work by Dan Jolley, Den Beauvais, Dan Vado, Steve Moncuse, Tony Harris, Arthur Adams, Jonathan D. Smith and Terry Austin. Since I never got to read the originals, I look foward to this; it’s up for pre-order here.
Many movies have been made surrounding the legend of Bigfoot, but I can’t think of a single one that is genuinely good. Leave it to the comics to absolutely nail the hairy monster.
BIGFOOT was a four-issue miniseries from 2004 co-written by 30 DAYS OF NIGHT creator Steve Niles and HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES director Rob Zombie, and drawn by HEAVY METAL’s Richard Corben. The inevitable trade paperback edition collecting the full run was just released yesterday. As someone who doesn’t read comics in single-issue format anymore, I must say the wait was totally worth it.
The first issue begins in 1973, when a family camping trip to a national park in an unnamed state turns deadly. The parents experience a jarring case of coitus interruptus as Bigfoot bursts through their cabin unexpectedly and makes mincemeat of them. The only survivor is little Billy, who – setting the pace for the remainder of the story – grows up and plots his revenge, a full two decades later. Ironically, Billy’s only ally in his hunt for Bigfoot is the park sheriff, who covered up the parental slaughter all those years ago, blaming it on a bear.
BIGFOOT would only work as a straight-up horror tale, and this delivers in spades. The attacks are sudden, brutal and gory, with Corben’s colorful style just over-the-top enough to feed the frenzy. I’ve never read any of Niles’ work before, but I’m a fan of Zombie (as a filmmaker, not a musician), and his influence is palpable (just try and tell me that sheriff doesn’t look like Sid Haig). There’s sex. There’s violence. And none of the mayhem shies away from the hardcore bloody horror. This is both written and drawn cinematically, and would make one kick-ass movie. Until then, this’ll do just fine.
Though I’m a little late in mentioning it, we’re right smack toward the end of the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week. Needless to say, we at BOOKGASM are all for freedom of speech and all down on censorship, so why not crack open a little Holden Caulfield and celebrate what it means to be an American?
For a list of the ALA’s 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000, it’s after the jump. And remember, kids, if you absolutely, positively must burn a book, make it a LEFT BEHIND.
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