Really?

I recently inherited about 10 books from my Training coordinator, who's former roommate left them at his house. Among them were a few John Saul novels, an author I haven't read since probably 1992.

Darkness was a reminder of why it's been a while.

The story centers around Villejeune, Florida, a village about 50 miles south of Orlando on the cusp of the Everglades. The town is divided into the working class (with a few rich folks who's lives improved by the number of retirees moving in) and the Swamp Rats, living in shacks in the swamps.

With me so far? In Villejeune, we have the local lawyer, who's adoptive son seems to have a preternatural understanding of the swamp, and a complete lack of emotion.

Moving back into town, we have the Anderson family, who's adopted daughter seems to have very few emotions, although she's a bit looney, trying to cut a baby out of herself that doesn't exist.

Both teens have vision of ancient looking men reaching out of mirrors for them.

And the daughter's grandfather, Carl, is getting vitamin shots from the local doctor that keep him hale and healthy.

While out in the Swamp, the Dark Man is sacrificing their children.

It's really kind of silly, since I had most of the major plot twists figured out LONG before any of the characters did. Also, much like Dean R. Koontz, he does his best to make extreme science the culprit, even if there is a touch of supernatural floating around the swamp.

I mean, I guess I get that we're in the old horror trope of sacrificing the young to keep the old alive and healthy, but it's doesn't particularly excuse the resolution of this silliness involving the children eating their elders.

It's easy reading, and it hold attention, and it doesn't delve quite as deeply into the silly levels Richard Laymon did, but it still reads like a contract novel, designed to pull money out of people's pockets for a cardboard display.

Not bad for an advertisement....

So I picked up Urban Enemies (edited by Joseph Nassise) mainly because Kevin Hearne advertised that it contained "The Naughtiest Cherub", which tells the story of Loki meeting Lucifer. (I should mention: the gimmick here is that all the stories in here are told from the point of view of the antagonists of their various series.)

There are other authors and other series in here that I read, so they were a sort of bonus.

We start off strong with Jim Butcher's "Even Hand", told from Marcone's perspective, as he's forced to enforce his part of the Accords. I suppose Marcone is a villain, but the Dresden files is filled with other complex antagonists who would be more qualified as villains. Not that it matters, it mostly has to do with Marcone mediating a rather violent dispute between some Formori and the local White Court of vampires. Using bombs.

"Sixty Six Seconds" by Craig Schaffer (I'm skipping a few here, since a few of the stories weren't particularly of interest to me, so I'm doing highlights) Crosses his Daniel Faust series with his Harmony Black series. It mainly concerns demons collecting bounties on souls. It reads a bit like Simon R. Green, without the cheekiness.

"The Naughtiest Cherub" by Kevin Hearne continues my love/hate of the Iron Druid. I mean, while giving Lucifer quirks of liking Prince and David Bowie, his portrayal of Loki continues to disappoint.

"Down Where the Darkness Dwells" by Joseph Nassise is ok, dealing with a necromancer who manages to form a symbiotic relationship with Asheral, a fallen angel.

"Bellum Romanum" by Carrie Vaughn deals with the origins of the vampire Gauis Albinus who is somehow responsible for Pompeii.

"Make It Snappy" by Faith Hunter concerns the Master Vampire of New Orleans and his brother.

"The Difference Between Deceit and Delusion" by Domino Finn follows Tunji Malu, some kind of African demon who eats people. He also has a very charming tarantula the size of a small car named Ananasi.

"Balance" by Seanan McGuire explains much of the history of the Jhorlac (aka Cuckoos) and how they operate.

There are other stories and authors in here, but these were the ones that actually stuck out to me and made me want to see if the library has their series. Mind you, what it really served to do was make me wish Jim Butcher would write another Dresden File....

Meanwhile, off the coast of Zanzibar....

I'm actually a few days late updating, since I finished the book Friday, but I spent my weekend camping and watching the Perseid, which has nothing to do with Devil's Due, Taylor Anderson's latest in the Destroyermen series.

Now you'll pardon me for saying this, but I'm finding the more recent installments are a color commentator away from being WWE RAW or Smackdown. Because we get a lot of set up, one lesser battle about the midpoint (in south America), followed by the last 1/4 of the book, where th etitle fight happens in Zanzibar as Matthew Ready leads the raid to rescue his wife from Kurokawa and the Jaa-ph clan.

This is not to say it's a bad book, since it's not, it's just that it's becoming a bit formulaic. On the bright side, there's a fairly major development at the end of the book, which should make the next phase a bit more interesting, assuming we don't spend the next book in South America.

So really, here's a breakdown.

The Marines chasing the Dominion through the jungle figure out that they've been chasing a ghost force, leading Shinya to reevaluate how to proceed.

General Esshk and the Chooser of the Grik are busy in deepest Africa readying the Final Swarm to drive the Allies back off of Madagascar.

All the fleet not currently involved in the Eastern Theater or circumnavigating the globe to try to catch up with the New United States, get involved on the raid of Zanzibar, in the hopes of saving the prisoners there as well as well as stopping supplies coming from Zanzibar assisting the Final Swarm.

And our boat headed to Cuba via Africa does arrive after taking out both a Dominion Boat and a League Ship.

We're getting more on the League in this book that previous installments, finding that their arrival in this world was during a Spanish/French/Italian Fascist armada aimed at taking out their world's British Navy.

We briefly get to meet a member of the NUSA.

We see the Republic of Real People (down in South Africa) get their various colonial armies together to march on the Celestial City of the Grik.

By far, though, the biggest surprise comes at the end, and I imagine that those consequences will stretch over a few books.

Not bad for a series that was originally supposed to be a trilogy.