Chill Factor

December 13, 2004
Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin hasn't had it easy. In the previous two books in Caine's sharply written series, she "had a really bad week, died, got reborn as a Djinn, had an even worse week, and saved the world, sort of" and "died again, sort of" before waking up human. Normally, Weather Wardens must simply protect the rest of the human race from deadly weather, but Joanne, who's deeply tough, resolutely moral and highly fond of fast cars and "bitchin' shoes," keeps getting tasked with saving the world. This time, a surly teenager named Kevin has holed up in Las Vegas with the world's most powerful Djinn and is wreaking utter havoc. In order to stop him, she'll have to surrender her own Djinn and lover David, die yet again, get resuscitated, interrogated and electrocuted by members of a powerful secret society, and experience countless other injuries and indignities, all the while trying to figure out who—among the detectives, Wardens, Djinns, Ikrits (a dark, undead Djinn), former bosses and former lovers—is really on her side. It's all a bit confusing, for Joanne and readers alike, especially those who haven't followed her through Ill Wind
and Heat Stroke
, but it's a rollicking good ride. Caine's prose crackles with energy, as does her fierce and lovable heroine. Agent, Lucienne Diver of the Spectrum Literary Agency.

December 1, 2004
Having averted the near disasters of the preceding Weather Warden volumes, Joanne is en route to Vegas with her djinn lover, David, making very little progress because teenager Kevin is leeching powers from former warden and occasional rogue Lewis, and playing fast and loose with them. The Wardens want Joanne to stop trying to get to Vegas because it's making Kevin nervous. Another group, however, wants Jo in Vegas to stop Kevin and is at work to get her there. The Ma'at believe in a laissez-faire attitude toward weather control and that the Wardens' organization is hopelessly corrupt. Jo eventually gets to try to save the world, with a little occasional help from unlikely quarters, and figure out what the factions really want. The issue of the free djinn is coming to the fore in this installment of Caine's saga, and it may well figure prominently in subsequent volumes. The Weather Warden series is fun reading, not intellectually challenging but certainly more engaging than most TV.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)