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.

In the near future, superheroes are tolerated in America because they do battle for the humans. However, when "supers" good and bad clash in San Francisco, destroying the city and its human population, the government declares that all "metanormals" must leave the country or face extermination. An elite team is created to enforce the law. Ridley is known for his terse style and apocalyptic settings. This foray into science fiction is definitely on the money. And can Patricia Floyd deliver anything other than a stellar performance? She's perfect for this gritty thriller. P.R. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine