Rating: 
Summary: 'Our Town' Under Siege
Review: Collier, Georgia is a quiet little town, typical of rural America in composition and attitudes. Although it is populated mostly by plain, simple folk, it still has its share of colorful characters and bad apples. There is, however, very little about the town to distinguish it from its neighbors. At least that is the case until the Fourth of July, when an enormous alien spacecraft crashes in a local lake, vaporizing its contents and killing dozens of locals. That's the day the lives of the citizens of Collier change forever, in ways you might not expect.
This is not a novel of alien conquest, or even of alien contact. Eschewing predictable plot lines, Moore instead poses two simple questions, namely, "How would the federal government react in such a situation?" and, "Given that reaction, how would it affect the lives of the local populace?" Moore provides a suitably chilling answer to these queries, positing a special branch of the armed forces created to handle just such a task, a grim cadre of soldiers dressed in high-tech body armor, their faces concealed by black visors. Immediately after the crash landing, these soldiers descend on Collier, cutting it off from the rest of the world under the pretext of battling terrorist activity. Their main objective: to secure the apparently inert craft. Their secondary objective: to maintain secrecy, even if it means killing everyone in the town. This then is the focus of Moore's narrative, as he chronicles the reactions of everyday people to the invasion of their town by their own country. Although at first they are cooperative, the townspeople come to realize that they are in fact prisoners. Their resentment and anger grow by the day, building to a surprising crescendo. Moore populates his book with living, breathing characters, human beings on both sides of the conflict who, despite their fears, are only doing their best to cope with a stressful situation. Moore is more in control of this narrative than he was of his prior effort, the flawed but highly readable Under the Overtree. The writing here is crisp and clear, the pacing is almost flawless, and, with the exception of the appearance of the spacecraft which triggers these events (its origins and purpose remain a mystery throughout), the subject matter is utterly believable and involving. Moore effectively milks the situation for all it's worth, filling the novel with telling incidents and detail, forcing readers to confront the brutal reality that true horror may lie in something as simple as losing the simple freedoms that Americans take for granted. A twisted combination of Sinclair Lewis' It Can't Happen Here and Thornton Wilder's Our Town, Fireworks is a great read, a book that merits your attention.
Rating: 
Summary: Kept me enthralled
Review: Excellent. Reading the blurb on the back of the book (at my local library), I had anticipated seeing the military as the bad guy, but you might be surprised how your loyalties get divided. Excellent book that kept me wanting to stay up late to finish it.
Rating:
Summary: A Cracking Good Tale
Review: I already owned James Moore's "Under the Overtree" when I picked up his latest title, the aptly named "Fireworks." While I haven't read "Under the Overtree" as of yet, something told me to dig into "Fireworks" right away. After a few initial worries in the first dozen pages, I am glad I decided to read this story about an eerie encounter with an alien spacecraft and the subsequent nightmare its arrival on earth brings to the citizens of the small town of Collier, Georgia. On the acknowledgements page, Moore offers his profound thanks to Stephen King and Dean Koontz for writing books about alien visitors. He writes that books like "The Tommyknockers" and "Strangers" provided the impetus to explore such an encounter from a perspective these two authors only slightly touched upon. While Moore is certainly no Stephen King or Dean Koontz, his novel does ultimately satisfy a reader interested in these sorts of things. It is the Fourth of July in Collier, Georgia as the entire town buzzes with excitement over the annual fireworks display that takes place at Oldman's Lake, an event that also draws a significant number of tourists loaded with money to spend in town. The 1995 display promises to be extra special this year, although the crowds clogging the shoreline aren't aware of the added festivities until it's too late. In fact, many of these spectators won't live long enough to enjoy the memory of what they see arcing through the sky over Collier. Right in the middle of the display, a giant UFO smashes into the center of the lake, sending out a heat and shock wave that kills over one hundred people in the most gruesome ways imaginable. Many who survive will wish they hadn't as they deal with massive burns over their entire bodies and the repercussions of possible exposure to radiation from the spacecraft. Even worse, this extraterrestrial disaster brings in an even more sinister danger in the form of ONYX, a top-secret black government agency assigned to deal with alien visitors. Within an hour these black suited, armed to the teeth government goons move into town, establishing a quarantine throughout the area and constructing a bogus story about a Palestinian terrorist armed with biological weapons in order to keep the media at bay. Collier gradually slides from confusion into outright hostility as the soldiers under the command of Colonel Mark Anderson implement increasingly totalitarian measures to insure secrecy regarding the crashed saucer. Secondary casualties start to mount as disaffected townspeople resort to violence after suffering through a declaration of martial law, confiscation of firearms, restricted access to their places of business and their injured family members, and a total media blackout in the town which includes restricted use of telephone service. As ONYX members turn up dead, the military fights back against the town by killing or arresting troublemakers. "Fireworks" is a carefully crafted account of the slow descent into anarchy by one town faced with an unthinkable situation. Throughout it all, the huge saucer looms in the lakebed: a silent, metallic behemoth unwilling to give up its secrets to either the townspeople or the ONYX agents. "Fireworks" is more a character study than a story about extraterrestrial visitation. For most of the story, the saucer simply fades into the background as the various characters attempt to cope with meddlesome government interference in their daily lives. How would you act if the government declared martial law in your town? How would you cope with food shortages and stony-faced silence from government agents nervously fondling automatic assault rifles? Would you suffer a similar fear if government agents wearing detox suits entered your house in search of firearms? Moore walks his readers through the reactions of certain individuals in Collier by employing shifting perspectives concerning the calamity. The first part views the disaster in Collier through the eyes of police chief Frank Osborn, a man who tries to keep the peace between the townspeople and the soldiers even though he often feels rage about what happens in his town. The second section views the deteriorating conditions in town through Karen Donovan, a young divorcee working as a teacher in Collier. The final part of the book finds Moore utilizing one of the soldiers in ONYX to show how the game plays out. There are, of course, numerous other minor characters floating through the pages of "Fireworks," but it is these three people's perceptions about Collier that tell the story. Moore's book suffers from several noticeable problems. First, the author tends to write sentences that frequently hinder the story's flow. For example, and I'm just pulling this off the top of my head, he describes in detail that a "Jurassic Park" cup used to hold a drink came from a convenience store. Why? I don't know, since it has little to do with the situation. Second, there are a lot of errors in this book, editing errors that a little proofreading may have easily prevented. Finally, there are continuity errors in certain situations. Overall, I don't think these problems fatally mark the book, as "Fireworks" delivers with good character development, a healthy dose of violence, and a nifty ending. My opinion about this book definitely inspires me to read "Under the Overtree" soon, and any story that makes you wish to read other stuff from the same author can't be all that bad.
Rating:
Summary: A Cracking Good Tale
Review: I already owned James Moore's "Under the Overtree" when I picked up his latest title, the aptly named "Fireworks." While I haven't read "Under the Overtree" as of yet, something told me to dig into "Fireworks" right away. After a few initial worries in the first dozen pages, I am glad I decided to read this story about an eerie encounter with an alien spacecraft and the subsequent nightmare its arrival on earth brings to the citizens of the small town of Collier, Georgia. On the acknowledgements page, Moore offers his profound thanks to Stephen King and Dean Koontz for writing books about alien visitors. He writes that books like "The Tommyknockers" and "Strangers" provided the impetus to explore such an encounter from a perspective these two authors only slightly touched upon. While Moore is certainly no Stephen King or Dean Koontz, his novel does ultimately satisfy a reader interested in these sorts of things. It is the Fourth of July in Collier, Georgia as the entire town buzzes with excitement over the annual fireworks display that takes place at Oldman's Lake, an event that also draws a significant number of tourists loaded with money to spend in town. The 1995 display promises to be extra special this year, although the crowds clogging the shoreline aren't aware of the added festivities until it's too late. In fact, many of these spectators won't live long enough to enjoy the memory of what they see arcing through the sky over Collier. Right in the middle of the display, a giant UFO smashes into the center of the lake, sending out a heat and shock wave that kills over one hundred people in the most gruesome ways imaginable. Many who survive will wish they hadn't as they deal with massive burns over their entire bodies and the repercussions of possible exposure to radiation from the spacecraft. Even worse, this extraterrestrial disaster brings in an even more sinister danger in the form of ONYX, a top-secret black government agency assigned to deal with alien visitors. Within an hour these black suited, armed to the teeth government goons move into town, establishing a quarantine throughout the area and constructing a bogus story about a Palestinian terrorist armed with biological weapons in order to keep the media at bay. Collier gradually slides from confusion into outright hostility as the soldiers under the command of Colonel Mark Anderson implement increasingly totalitarian measures to insure secrecy regarding the crashed saucer. Secondary casualties start to mount as disaffected townspeople resort to violence after suffering through a declaration of martial law, confiscation of firearms, restricted access to their places of business and their injured family members, and a total media blackout in the town which includes restricted use of telephone service. As ONYX members turn up dead, the military fights back against the town by killing or arresting troublemakers. "Fireworks" is a carefully crafted account of the slow descent into anarchy by one town faced with an unthinkable situation. Throughout it all, the huge saucer looms in the lakebed: a silent, metallic behemoth unwilling to give up its secrets to either the townspeople or the ONYX agents. "Fireworks" is more a character study than a story about extraterrestrial visitation. For most of the story, the saucer simply fades into the background as the various characters attempt to cope with meddlesome government interference in their daily lives. How would you act if the government declared martial law in your town? How would you cope with food shortages and stony-faced silence from government agents nervously fondling automatic assault rifles? Would you suffer a similar fear if government agents wearing detox suits entered your house in search of firearms? Moore walks his readers through the reactions of certain individuals in Collier by employing shifting perspectives concerning the calamity. The first part views the disaster in Collier through the eyes of police chief Frank Osborn, a man who tries to keep the peace between the townspeople and the soldiers even though he often feels rage about what happens in his town. The second section views the deteriorating conditions in town through Karen Donovan, a young divorcee working as a teacher in Collier. The final part of the book finds Moore utilizing one of the soldiers in ONYX to show how the game plays out. There are, of course, numerous other minor characters floating through the pages of "Fireworks," but it is these three people's perceptions about Collier that tell the story. Moore's book suffers from several noticeable problems. First, the author tends to write sentences that frequently hinder the story's flow. For example, and I'm just pulling this off the top of my head, he describes in detail that a "Jurassic Park" cup used to hold a drink came from a convenience store. Why? I don't know, since it has little to do with the situation. Second, there are a lot of errors in this book, editing errors that a little proofreading may have easily prevented. Finally, there are continuity errors in certain situations. Overall, I don't think these problems fatally mark the book, as "Fireworks" delivers with good character development, a healthy dose of violence, and a nifty ending. My opinion about this book definitely inspires me to read "Under the Overtree" soon, and any story that makes you wish to read other stuff from the same author can't be all that bad.
Rating:
Summary: Good Read!
Review: I had never read anything by James Moore before - and wasn't quite sure what I was in for when I started this book, but it was quite the page turner - I think I finished it in just a couple of days. Pick this one up - you won't regret it!
Rating:
Summary: Good Read!
Review: I had never read anything by James Moore before - and wasn't quite sure what I was in for when I started this book, but it was quite the page turner - I think I finished it in just a couple of days. Pick this one up - you won't regret it!
Rating: 
Summary: FIREBURPS
Review: I'm sure you remember as a kid going to fireworks displays and just how many times the supposedly "awesome" ones kind of died in midair. This is what I feel about FIREWORKS, a rambling, incohesive, dull character study. While the idea of letting us get to know characters well is commendable, why write a book about an alien spaceship that crashes into a lake and not explore it any further? Little comes of the spaceship, except the usual government coverup. Most of the characters are stereotyped to the max, and those few you care about bite the dust. And then, the spaceship just goes away, no explanations, and we're given this coy cutesy ending. What a waste of trees.
Rating:
Summary: FIREBURPS
Review: I'm sure you remember as a kid going to fireworks displays and just how many times the supposedly "awesome" ones kind of died in midair. This is what I feel about FIREWORKS, a rambling, incohesive, dull character study. While the idea of letting us get to know characters well is commendable, why write a book about an alien spaceship that crashes into a lake and not explore it any further? Little comes of the spaceship, except the usual government coverup. Most of the characters are stereotyped to the max, and those few you care about bite the dust. And then, the spaceship just goes away, no explanations, and we're given this coy cutesy ending. What a waste of trees.
Rating:
Summary: FIREBURPS
Review: I'm sure you remember as a kid going to fireworks displays and just how many times the supposedly "awesome" ones kind of died in midair. This is what I feel about FIREWORKS, a rambling, incohesive, dull character study. While the idea of letting us get to know characters well is commendable, why write a book about an alien spaceship that crashes into a lake and not explore it any further? Little comes of the spaceship, except the usual government coverup. Most of the characters are stereotyped to the max, and those few you care about bite the dust. And then, the spaceship just goes away, no explanations, and we're given this coy cutesy ending. What a waste of trees.
Rating:
Summary: Rednecks vs the guvmint
Review: If you're a sci-fi fan looking for interesting ideas, skip this book. If you're looking for paranoid fantasies of a UFO crash, a not very plausible secret government cover-up, and the uprising of some hillbillies, this is for you.
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