Are the Virals About to Jump the Shark? Exposure: A Virals Novel
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Author: Kathy Reichs and Brendan Reichs
Title: Exposure Genre: young adult mystery Life has always been filled with complications for teenage girls. If, like Victoria “Tory” Brennan you’re a bit… abnormal, the complications multiply. Exponentially, even. Tory’s life seems even more complicated than usual, however. It’s not that she’s just the star witness in a murder trial, she’s also the object of affection for not one but two hot guys – dark and moody Ben and bright and sunny (and rich) Jason. But her deepest secret is that she’s a Viral… and the pack seems to be in danger, both from within and without. As always, the pack of four humans and a wolfdog are nosing around where adults don’t think they belong. This time, it’s the disappearance of two of Tory’s classmates, the Gable twins – gone without a trace, except for a cryptic playing card left on one’s pillow. Even as the four teens steal evidence and hack computer systems to “help” the police, they’re also hot on the trail of more information about the experiment that gave them their lupine powers. Meanwhile, the kids’ unpredictable viral abilities continue to ebb and wane, even as Tory begins to sense a distant “disturbance in the force.” Something is decidedly awry, and it’s not just the usual teenage angst over crushes and puppy love. It doesn’t help that Ben “betrayed” his compatriots in the Gamekeeper case and has thus been separated from them. Will the bonds of viraldom prove stronger than the pain of betrayal? Count on it – and count on the Virals to save the day. Duh In the fourth book of the Virals saga, Exposure, the kids are still having a rollicking good time and continue to carve a swathe through the incompetent authorities of hapless Charleston, South Carolina. Expect the usual lengthy history lesson combined with travelogue (the tourist agency for Charleston would love this series if adults read it, but…) as the kids search for their missing classmates on a local antebellum plantation. You can also expect the usual array of nasty, stupid, mean, or just plain evil adults. Almost everyone the kids meet treats them like children (duh! They are!) or tattles on them. Fully half their interactions conclude with the adult they’ve been “interviewing” making a clandestine phone call as the four close the door behind them. Of all the adults in the book, only a geology professor at a local college seems to have half a brain. With an even weaker plot than prior installments in the series and an endless string cascading disasters, author Brendan Reichs (firmly planted on mom Kathy’s literary coattails) seems determined to drive the Virals series, already weak, into the ground. Except for somehow getting an early jump on the "Opiuchus" bandwagon, Exposure simply doesn’t have much going for it. It certainly doesn't set much of an example for the Young Adults it's supposedly intended to entertain. And it doesn't help that the authors seem compelled to increase sales of the previous book in the series with constant "advertisements" for Code, though I have to admit I skipped that one after being disappointed by Seizure. |