Although I’m certainly interested in the now-defunct cable TV series THE 4400, I never got a chance to watch it. For the most part, that unfamiliarity proves not to be a detriment in enjoying Greg Cox’s THE 4400: WELCOME TO PROMISE CITY, the show’s third original tie-in novel.
Taking place after the series finale, PROMISE CITY refers to Seattle, which now has been commandeered and quarantined in a sense by Jordan Collier, a businessman who now fronts a cult of people with superpowers. These powers were gained by an injection of promicin, an illegal drug that kills half of those who dare try it, earning it the street name of “fifty/fifty.”
Collier offers promicin to anyone who wants it, and much to the dismay of Tom Baldwin, an agent of Homeland Security’s National Threat Assessment Command, that already includes Baldwin’s son Kyle. More family drama: The remains of Tom’s nephew Danny have been jacked with, and when he and partner Diana Skouris unearth the coffin, they find the body within belongs to someone else.
They eventually find Danny’s real body in the morgue … along with three other duplicates, all dead from an overdose of promicin. Thus begins a mystery with its roots burrowed in the ever-growing cult and its messianic leader.
Cox’s story is breezy enough to stand on its own, although there is potential left for future sequels. And, yes, references are made to characters and events from the series’ four seasons, but not so much that the narrative is off-putting to newcomers. Still, I benefited greatly from an early-on consulting of the show’s Wikipedia page to be brought up to speed, easing my way into a sci-fi-tinged take on the ol’ reliable procedural.
If PROMISE CITY has a downside, it’s too many characters, but that may not be a problem with fans of the show eager to see how things turned out after they no longer had an opportunity to tune in. —Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• 52 by Greg Cox
• GHOST RIDER by Greg Cox
• INFINITE CRISIS by Greg Cox
Related posts:
- The City & the City
- Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein: Book Two – City of Night
- Trigger City
- Chronic City
- City Slab #11
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the nice review. You should definitely check out the tv show at some point, not to mention Dave Mack’s new 4400 novel, PROMISES BROKEN, which winds up the whole saga in a grand fashion.
I’m not sure what you have access to where you are, but in Toronto, I have access to a fantastic website called (letmewatchthis.com), you can watch all four seasons of “THE 4400″, I’m off to the bookstore to buy “Welcome to promise City”, good luck with the episodes.