Aftermath

December 13, 2010
Brown's scorching sequel to Snapped, about four New York African-American friends, picks up where the first book left off, at Misa Atkinson's beautiful Staten Island home, where she has just shot dead her brother-in-law and frequent babysitter, Steven Bingham, who'd been abusing Shane, her three-year-old son. As Misa prepares to go on trial for Steven's murder, she receives support from three women who each have their own major problems: pregnant Camille Bingham, Misa's sister, appears headed for a messy divorce from her estranged husband, and Steven's brother, wealthy gangster Frankie Bingham; super realtor Latoya Blake copes with an uneasy reunion with her dying father, Nate; and music industry executive Dominique Storms seeks her runaway 14-year-old daughter, Octavia. In the most riveting of the four personal stories, Misa must deal with her feelings of inadequacy as a mother able to protect her child and face a stirring courtroom showdown.

The sequel to SNAPPED, about four African-American women in New York City, brings back the familiar characters the listener has come to care about. After Misa kills the man who molested her son, she realizes she's been an absent mother. Her suicidal thoughts are painful to listen to, but thankfully, her friends see her through her terrible ordeal. Narrator Allyson Johnson portrays the four women, and to a lesser degree the male characters with distinction. Relationships are further enriched by her nuanced delivery. Also notable are the production's sound effects, which add to the intimacy of the listening experience. Brown leaves loose ends that cry out for yet another book on the lives of these feisty friends. S.G.B. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

November 10, 2014
Lee, the famed co-creator of such Marvel superheroes as Spider-Man and the X-Men, presents his first novel. Kicking off the Zodiac Legacy series, this action-driven outing is very much what his fans might expect. Chinese-American 14-year-old Steven Lee, on an educational tour of Hong Kong, stumbles on a secret plot to control the super powers of the Chinese Zodiac, perpetrated by Maxwell, a mercenary general seeking world domination. Steven accidentally gains the power of the Tiger and is immediately drawn into an emerging group of zodiac-powered young heroes dedicated to stopping Maxwell and his band of similarly zodiac-enhanced thugs. As the two sides race around the globe to corral the remaining powers and their wielders, Lee and Moore deliver desperate chases, bombastic banter, and increasing spectacular confrontations, albeit with a tendency toward over-
description (“Maxwell reached out and backhanded her across the face. His hand swept through the air, leaving a trail of Dragon fire in its wake”). This frenetic light adventure should please readers who already love the Marvel universe and nurse their own dreams of superpowered glory. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8–12.