Book Review: "Alien in the House" by Gini Koch

This is the seventh book in the Alien series from Gini Koch. I'm desperately trying to catch up on this series, since the books are fairly large in size and she's producing them at two per year. I'm now two books behind, but hope to catch up before the tenth one comes out at the end of the year. This is a fun, action-packed quasi-SF series, with some romance elements thrown in. But in the recent novels, the romance aspects have taken a back seat, which makes the books much more appealing to me. Not that I hate romance, but I'm much more interested in the SF aspects. And of course the fun.





In this book, Kitty Martini and crew host a party for the DC elite, since they're now part of the Diplomatic Corps, and of course one of the newest Representatives in the House (and an Alien sympathizer) is murdered almost immediately. Everyone at the party is a suspect . . . except everyone who's anyone is at the party, so it doesn't narrow down the list much. But as Kitty begins to investigate, they discover that an unhealthy number of Representatives have been "accidentally" killed during the past year, and the deaths are escalating. When Jeff is asked to replace the Representative killed at the party, he becomes one of the targets. Now Kitty must find out who's behind the killings before they have a chance to kill anyone else. But in the process, she finds out that maybe there's really one Mastermind behind not just the deaths in the House, but perhaps all of the conspiracies she's uncovered since she killed her first Superbeing with hairspray and a pen.

Again, this series is really just good old fashioned rollicking fun. It's fast-paced, with conspiracies oozing out of every opening, bad guys (some thought dead) appearing around every corner, assassins on every rooftop, and SF elements that are more along the lines of the 50s B movies than hardcore science. Not that it's all fluff. You have to keep your brain engaged so you can follow all of the unraveling plotlines. For a brief time in this series, those plot threads were far too complicated to follow, but this book and the most recent ones have backed off on the complexity a little, and I think they're better books for it. Focusing in one a few of the ongoing conspiracies, while keeping the others in the background, makes for better reading and gives the reader more focus.

This book has a pretty clear plotline, easy to follow, with only a few side elements that confuse the matter in the beginnings. Basically, those are the red herrings. I enjoyed the murder mystery here, as well as the added thriller aspects introduced because of the plot; it starts to feel like a political suspense novel with the politics, assassins and conspiracies. So it has a slightly different flavor than the previous books, which is good. My biggest issue with the plot is that I felt it took far too long for the characters to figure out the reason why the Representatives were being killed. It seemed obvious to me what the reason would be almost from the start, and yet Kitty and crew don't figure it out until well after the halfway point, and then they take even longer trying to convince others that this is the reason when those other people should have realized it much sooner as well. It was a little hard to believe some of the characters took that much prodding to convince.

But, aside from that, I loved the noir-ish, suspense feel of the book, especially the political assassination aspects. The romance elements in the book were extremely light, which I like, but I know some of you will be disappointed with. I think it's one of the better of the recent books in the series. If you're looking for some action-packed SF with romance on the side, check this series out.

Latest Book Discussion Posted!

I've posted the first of the July book discussions at the DAW Books unofficial blog (dawbooks)! We're looking at Elisha Magus, the second book from E.C. Ambrose in the Dark Apostle series. Swing on by and check it out!

Book Review: "The Lost Fleet: Valiant" by Jack Campbell

This is the fourth book in the Lost Fleet series. It's military SF, which I don't usually read and/or enjoy, but I have to say that this series rocks. So maybe I do like military SF . . . just only the good kind. *grin* In any case, if you like realistic, hardcore, military SF, then you should be reading this series.





In this book, we get the continuation of the battle at Lakota star system, which in the previous book is where Captain John Geary found his fleet trapped and outflanked by the Syndics . . . with the help of the elusive aliens that gave the Alliance and the Syndics the hypernet gates. Geary managed to get the majority of his fleet away from the jaws of the trap, but then immediately turned around and returned to the system, hoping the move would catch the Syndics by surprise. At the same time, the forces within the fleet that don't want Geary to succeed have stepped up their on internal attacks, raising the level by actively killing members of the fleet that could expose them . . . and targeting John Geary himself and those that support him.

Again, the book and the plight of both John Geary and the fleet capture the reader's interest and sympathy and immediately draw you into the story. The key to this series' success (at least for me) is the focus on the characters and the near-impossible situation that they find themselves in. That's what keeps the book riveting, not the realistic space battles. The political intrigue taking place internally also keeps me reading, since Geary's greatest enemy isn't actually the Syndics or the aliens, it's people within his own fleet. To add to all of this, here the relationship that has been developing between Geary and the captain of the Dauntless also comes to the fore--a relationship that neither one of the two can act upon without serious consequences. All of this combines for another great book in the series.

The only reason that I didn't give this book 5 stars was because the book itself is off balance. There are some great scenes in the first half of the book as the fleet re-enters Lakota and is forced to deal with the Syndics forces that remain there and their own internal sabotage. However, after that, the book enters into a lull that pretty much extends all the way to the end of the book. There are some internal struggles in there, and one or two moral issues raised and addressed, but the immediacy of everything is lost when the fleet departs Lakota. Basically, I felt the first half of the book completed the arc started in the previous book, and the second half was simply a transition period getting us to the next book. Yes, some things were developed--necessary things, even--but the main thrust of the book happened in the first half.

So, that simply means readers should immediately move on to the fifth book in the series, which I fully intend to do. *grin* Even with the lull, it was a great book and retained my interest all the way to the end. Definitely interested in seeing what happens next.