The latest book in the VIRALS series, CODE, has been receiving great reviews! The book will be published and available in early March 2013. Check them out:
KIRKUS
Click here to read on the Kirkus Reviews website.
In this third Virals thriller, the focus is on Tory Brennan (niece of Temperance Brennan, hero of Reichs’ Bones books for adults) and her friends as they continue to explore their special wolf powers, acquired by accident but growing stronger every day.
Tory would like nothing better than to spend time with her friends prowling the barrier islands of Charleston,S.C. It’s too bad her dad’s irritating, socially conscious girlfriend insists on having Tory make her debut at this year’s cotillion, an event that holds no interest for this 14-year-old tomboy. Escaping to participate in a new game with her friends seems like a lark, as they uncover their first cache in what appears to be a treasure hunt. But things turn serious when each successive discovered cache turns more and more dangerous, putting not just Tory and her friends at risk, but their families as well. It’s a race against time to find the self-proclaimed Gamemaster and put a stop to this deadly game before an oncoming hurricane strikes Charleston, wiping out his tracks forever and setting him free to play his fatal game again…and again. More than just a Bones Jr., more than just an exploration of heightened natural abilities, this series mixes thrills with timeless coming-of-age themes, teasing the intellect with well-drawn characters and keeping the pages turning with a well-tuned pace.
Another successful adventure.
BOOKLIST
Red herrings and complex codes abound in the latest book in the Virals series, featuring Tory Brennan, the niece of Reichs’ character Temperance Brennan, of the Bones forensic mystery series and TV show. Tory and her pack of fellow Virals, three guy pals who all share wolf DNA due to an experiment gone awry, learn new ways to pool their powers as they draw together to foil a nemesis known as the Gamemaster. The baddie plants elaborate clues for his victims to find—and disarm—before leading them into ever more complex danger. There is never a dull moment for fans of the series, which promises to be long running.
VOYA
Tory Brennan, teenage niece of the forensic anthropologist (and star of Kathy Reichs’s adult fiction novels) Temperance Brennan, and her pack of friends were exposed to an experimental canine virus that gave them special powers: heightened senses, increased physical abilities, even mind-reading abilities. As Code opens, the friends find a geocache placed by someone calling himself the Gamemaster, a madman who has set up an elaborate, violent game. The Gamemaster sets off a bomb in their hometown just to show them what will happen should they not play. The teens begin solving puzzles, cracking codes, and trying to stay one step ahead in the game.
The book is told mainly from Tory’s point of view, with just a few, short chapters told from the villain’s, and the reading experience can be a bit jarring when the perspective changes. The Reichs’ writing style is very descriptive and super fast-paced. Tory’s father runs a research lab, so the teens’ lives are packed with technology and science. Whether or not it is believable that a group of teens would be able to perform surveillance, hide a dead body, delve into forensics, and carry off wild escapes does not matter if readers have already bought into the very DNA of the teens having been altered with wolf genes, giving them powers beyond the ken of mankind. With characters juggling school, romance, mystery, murder, and family drama, this book should appeal to readers mourning the end of James Patterson’s Maximum Ride series.—G. Diorio.
