Those Who Walk in Darkness

April 21, 2003
When a supervillain wastes San Francisco in this high-octane futuristic thriller from screenwriter Ridley (The Drift), the U.S. decides to expel all "metanormals" within its borders. Those who choose to remain are hunted down by MTacs, police units who only have one job—kill the freaks. It isn't a terribly original premise—Batman fans will recognize the influence of Frank Miller's seminal graphic novel, The Dark Knight Returns—but that's fine, because a premise is all it is, and Ridley knows it. Soledad O'Roark, a 26-year-old MTac and an engineering genius, has a virulent hatred of metanormals. Her tale is one of unremitting darkness, and from early on it's easy to tell it won't have a happy ending. For all the bleakness, though, Ridley makes it hard not to pull for Soledad. Readers will find themselves torn between sympathy, empathy, pity and disgust, often on the same page. With its lavish fight scenes, the book was clearly written with an eye on film adaptation. Yet Ridley, whose Hollywood credits include work on Three Kings
and Undercover Brother, knows how to make his story work both as a novel and as a proto-screenplay. And as a novel, it works very well indeed. (May 20)Forecast:With film rights sold to Warner Bros. and Joel Silver (The Matrix) already signed up to produce, plus print advertising in African-American periodicals like
Black Issues Book Review and
Quarterly Black Review, as well as in major SF magazines, expect healthy sales.

June 1, 2003
What makes us think superpowers would make only superheroes? Would invulnerability or the ability to fly make humans any more compassionate, reasonable, or sane? Ridley's (The Drift) latest novel questions the nature of heroism in a near future where cops battle mutated "metanormals" with telepathy, pyrokinetics, and other superpowers. Officer Soledad O'Roark is a successful "freak" killer, unquestioning in her belief that they are dangerous and need to be destroyed. She has even invented a better weapon to combat the seemingly unstoppable, but her department won't let her use it. Soledad struggles to find more meaning in her life than just destruction but doubts that she will live to appreciate it as her actions exacerbate the violence. Ridley has produced an animated series of the novel for the Internet, and Warner Bros. has acquired the movie rights. The cinematic writing style, fast plot, and loose dialog construction make for quick, visual reading. Part noir thriller and part sf dystopia, this is a timely entry on the hate and fear that fuel war.-Devon Thomas, Hass MS&L, Ann Arbor, MI

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2003
In the near future, real superheroes pop up and start saving people from crime and disaster. But then superbaddies show up, too, and eventually, San Francisco is toast. Declaring no tolerance toward all supers, the president opens season on those who won't leave the country. Big-city police create MTacs--special units to hunt the "muties," as the supers are popularly called--and L.A. cop Soledad O'Roark, 26, has just joined one. On her first mission, she literally pulls her unit out of the fire but gets in trouble because she uses an as-yet-unapproved gun. Banished to a desk, she stews until an ambitious lawyer bulldozes her into going counteroffensive. Lucky she hires the shark, since no sooner is she on the street again, as a patrolling uniform, than she drops another mutie and is back in dutch for attracting attention during an internal investigation. Of course, she is back with an MTac for a showdown with the bereaved husband of her second mutie kill; meanwhile, she has developed a love interest that leads to a second showdown and a moral: Never forgive your chosen enemies, even if one of them loves you, saves your life, and saves another life when you can't. Some moral. Violent crime specialist Ridley's foray into sf reads like a glorified screenplay, all tough talk and action waiting for a director and bodies to give it any life. Since " Matrix" producer Joel Silver has made a deal, admirers of " Love Is a Racket" (1997) and " The Drift" (2002) could wait for the movie.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)