What Fire Cannot Burn by John Ridley

Chalk one up for Ridley - a sequel that far outshines its predecessor (Those Who Walk in Darkness- reviewed here). In this outing, Soledad "Bullet" O'Roark is still recovering from the events that transpired at the end of the first novel, coming to grips with her new role as the top bad-ass on the MTac squad. MTac does what cops and SWAT can't do - hunts down rogue superhumans. And they're all criminals in this America, their very presence outlawed by the government after a disastrous fight in San Francisco between two metanormals leaves half a million people dead.

Soledad is a bigot, a true hater of all mutantkind, a very confolicted and troubled cop. Her partner from the first novel, Eddi Aoki, has issues of her own regarding SF. They're both living life to deal justice to the superhumans. Only this time, the cracks are starting to show. Soledad and Eddi are wearing down, becoming aware of their mortality, and society is starting to question the tactics the cops use to bring metanormals down. Worse still, there's a serial killer loose, possibly the strongest mutant ever seen, who's making it his business to murder every metanormal he can.

Soledad and Eddi must track him down, suss him out, and stop him. It proves difficult. Soledad tries to infiltrate the Intelligence Department to find out if the whole thing is an inside job. What she discovers leads to one of the most shocking twists I've ever read in a series like this.

Take the elements of your favorite crime dramas: The Shield, Law & Order, the Sopranos, turn them up a notch and toss in some superpowers, and you'll have Ridley's amazing near-future Los Angeles sci-fi masterpiece. The characters are all too real. Nobody walks away without scars (or missing limbs, or worse...). These cops are real, raw, exhausted, and fighting for what they believe in.

My Dirty Little Book of Stolen Time by Liz Jensen

This book was a lot of fun, though somewhat predictable. Young Charlotte lives in Copenhagen in the late 19th century. She's a prostitute, a schemer, comically paired with the porcine Fru Schleswig (who may or may not be her mother). The duo struggle to make ends meet, with Charlotte constantly on the lookout for a good grift. When she takes a job with a wealthy widower, she gets more than she could have imagined. Fru Krak is an uppity socialite who's soon to be married to a preacher. Charlotte is brought in to clean the house in preparation for the nuptials. As with any Gothic mansion, there are rooms that Charlotte is told must be strictly avoided...

But of course, with much sneaking and bumbling, Fru Schleswig and Charlotte find themselves behind those locked doors in those forbidden rooms, and discover the secret of Fru Krak's husband's demise. He's invented a time machine and has been happily selling tickets to all Danes interested in traveling into the Great Beyond (which turns out to be present-day London). Charlotte and Fru Schleswig cris-cross time, finding love, food, and vacuum cleaners. Charlotte must make a painful decision: stay in the present with a new found love, or return to the past and her scheming ways in order to keep the time portal open.

In the end, there are few twists or surprises, as this is truly a Gothic novel. There's little in the way of suspense, but much to be found in the historical anachronisms (Charlotte serves as the narrator, and is pitch perfect for turn of the century mysteries). All in all, a fun read that I would recommend to anyone who's a fan of Neil Gaiman.

From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain by Minister Faust

You have to love comics to write a story like this. And in some cases, you have to love comics to read a story like this. Luckily, I do, and I loved this book. Minister Faust (Coyote Kings of the Space Age Bachelor Pad) brings us the tale of the Fantastic Order of Justice, and their battles with the horrifying entity known as... therapy.

The F.O.O.J. is a supergroup not unlike the Justice League of America (okay, it's exactly the archetype of the Justice League of America), who are struggling with their identities in a "post-superhero" society. After the battle to end all battles, there are few supervillains left to fight, and little heroic left to do. Omnipotent Man, The Flying Squirrel, Iron Lass, X-Man, Brotherfly, and Power Grrrl are at each other's throats, and ripping the FOOJ apart at the seams. On top of everything else, the world's greatest hero, Hawk King, has died (or was he murdered?), and the throne to reign over all heroes is abdicated. While the FOOJ struggles to make it through therapy, two of its members also vie for the leadership position. X-Man is a seemingly paranoid black militant Malcolm-X type who can bring words to life, and the Flying Squirrel is what would happen if Batman became a Nazi (or perhaps an ultra-right wing Republican). Power Grrrl wrestles with her sexuality, Omnipotent Man fights his im-Omnipotence, and Iron Lass confronts her type-A tendencies.

The plot is fairly dense, dealing with societal, political, and interpersonal issues. Sometimes the devices can be grating - Dr. Brain (the narrator of this book) tends to coat her prose in many layers of psychobabble. Omnipotent Man is Extra MidWestern. Iron Lass's lines are written in a quasi-Nordic/German dialect. Sometimes these devices are funny, other times grating. There are elements of the plot and story that may be appreciated only by comic book fans, but overall, this book holds enough to appeal to all readers.