Scott Sigler is one of the best authors around for that wonderful sci-fi, horror and comedy blend. His style is easy to read, has amazingly well rounded characters and all the science “stuff” is well explained, even if some is a little Alien!
Apparently there is a little room at AT&T that screens the phone lines for key words, such as murder, bomb, kill and Triangles....and so the tracking begins.
Deputy Director of the CIA, Murray Longworth is a great character, with a complex history, just not very likeable but then when you have to do what he has to do, not sure I would be likable either.
Dew & Malcolm pick the short straw of being excellent field agents, again with some really great back stories, IMO this is what makes this an awesome novel and ultimately fantastic trilogy, each character is fleshed out, I truly felt a bond to these characters and missed and grieved for them as their stories played out.
The other main players are an epidemiologist, Margaret and her little sidekick, parasitologist, Amos. They are assigned their own Agent Clarence. Apart from all the betting and banter that goes on these three make a great team, which is seriously needed when you realise what has come to take a peek at Earth.
Are the characters a little cliché? Yes of course, but then wouldn’t bland characters be just that? Boring!
Scary Perry Dawson, what a man to pick for an alien invasion. Perry maybe scary for many reasons but thankfully he has his BFF Bill to keep his temper in check for him, Perry has his reasons for having anger management issues but at 6’ 4” and 268lbs you need discipline.
The first horror scene comes via some cranked up Frank Sinatra, a pair of legs being hacked off, a huge house fire, axes to the guts and the possibility of contamination of an unknown germ – riveting.
The “germination” process of the alien seeds is amazingly described; some complex biology information is neatly and easily explained.
As it becomes clear that Perry is infected with the Magnificent Seven the paranoia kicks in, so does the hunger. However, Perry does his best to make the Magnificent Seven become more manageable. Whilst attempting this he manages to capture The Betrayer (one of the worst torture scenes I have read), do some self-surgery, eat the weirdest food concoctions, talk to little blue triangles, see out of his butt cheek and whittle his way down to the Three Amigos.
On the flip side of the story Dew is trying to play catch up with the other infected as Margaret & Amos try to discover the cause of the rotting bodies and “crazed” victims.
It is now a race against time to get to the Gate; will it be Colonel Ogden and his elite team or the Triangles, and just what is coming through anyway….
The descriptions of the hatching and the showdown between Scary Perry and The Three Amigos was nail biting.
As Showtime arrives it feels like all hell has broken loose, and maybe it has, SS leaves you on a massive cliff, not so much hanging as teetering on the edge trying to hold balance. There is an element of rushed finale but knowing this a trilogy explains this.
Whilst this book can be read as a stand-alone I would recommend you buy the trilogy as you won’t be able to put this down.
A new President gets a doozy of a joke played on him; maybe.
Scary Perry has survived his trial with the Magnificent
Seven but is minus a few body parts, but he does have some enhancements. He can
now sniff out the Triangles which is great advantage in this Alien war, however
the anger management issues are still there with some horrific killing scenes,
SS does not shy away from the horror. Scary Perry maybe on the good side now
but he continues to be a sonofabitch!
Col. Ogden is back on a full time mission, with his elite
team of exterminators, again with SS you always get a great back history to
fill out these characters so that when they die, get maimed, make choices, you
are right there with them, usually wincing.
The sexual frisson between Clarence and Margaret has finally
fruited and the banter love/hate relationship between Clarence and Amos provides
the humour element in this second installment of horror via the blue Triangles.
Margaret really grows as a character in this book and you don’t
get the feeling that she is the token genius female anymore!
We learn more about the source of the infection and discover
The Orbital and its intentions, this only serves to ramp up the potential
terror of the situation. Poor Perry must brave his demons as a new infection
takes hold and The Orbital has changed its strategy. This new infection has a bigger agenda as the
little angel that is Chelsea Jewel finds out.
The insights in to the higher functioning of Government was
no real surprise but it did resonate that they
are human too, but for how long?
The tension in this 2nd part of the trilogy comes
in waves as each team race to discover the transmission vectors, the Gate
sights, infected victims and all the while discovering what new talents that
the Triangles are developing.
Chelsea Jewel is the central character of the newly infected
family and she brings a whole new element to the Triangles attempts at
invasion; a childs greed.
SS has really let his imagination go wild in this book and
all the better for us readers. I loved the fantastical route he has taken, some
really genuine scares and horrors.
There are also some horrific deaths and touching moments in
this book, made my arm hair stand up!
The detailed military element is also there for all the gun
nuts!
Really looking forward to the concluding part in this
fantastic trilogy.
Fantastic prologue shoves
you right back in to the Triangles world of horror.
The complex science (fiction
based in truth is always the best stuff) is very neatly and simply explained
again by SS. He really excels at this element of writing.
Updates are given about
the last five years via flash backs and “chat pages”. I really enjoyed the use
of modern media to convey public opinion and show how Margaret and Clarence
have been existing since the last Triangle showdown.
New and old characters
are updated and fleshed out in true SS style. Even old theories are updated and explained.
The two main story
lines this time are Jeff and Cooper the boat men, with Bo Pan and Steve hiring
their services to locate the Orbital; lots of shady espionage stuff going on
this time too which lends a spooky tense feel to it.
Swift jumps between the
two main stories really build the tension and with the little peaks from the Triangle
perspective give an added bonus of horror.
With all of SS there is
never any skimping on the gore factor.
As mayhem and
destruction occur it’s scarier than a zombie apocalypse as you don’t know who
is infected.
It’s not just
individuals or families that are infected this time, the Triangles are aiming
globally.
The finale is excruciating
to read but I was riveted the whole time, at over 12hrs reading time this is an
epic book and nicely rounds off the Triangle trilogy.
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