Those Who Walk in Darkness: *Signed*

Soledad "Bullet" O'Roark writes her own rules. Usually it gets her in trouble. On her first day with the L.A.P.D's elite MTAC squad, Soledad takes down an outlawed super-powered freak with a weapon she designed herself – a definite violation. Her love life is no less chaotic. It's hard to find an decent guy with nothing to hide. But there's not much room in Soledad's life for romance when a cop-killer is on the loose. The "baddest" freak of all, this one can control people and make them commit anything he wants...including murder.

When a supervillain wastes San Francisco in this high-octane futuristic thriller from screenwriter Ridley (The Drift), the U.S. decides to expel all "metanormals" within its borders. Those who choose to remain are hunted down by MTacs, police units who only have one job-kill the freaks. It isn't a terribly original premise-Batman fans will recognize the influence of Frank Miller's seminal graphic novel, The Dark Knight Returns-but that's fine, because a premise is all it is, and Ridley knows it. Soledad O'Roark, a 26-year-old MTac and an engineering genius, has a virulent hatred of metanormals. Her tale is one of unremitting darkness, and from early on it's easy to tell it won't have a happy ending. For all the bleakness, though, Ridley makes it hard not to pull for Soledad. Readers will find themselves torn between sympathy, empathy, pity and disgust, often on the same page. With its lavish fight scenes, the book was clearly written with an eye on film adaptation. Yet Ridley, whose Hollywood credits include work on Three Kings and Undercover Brother, knows how to make his story work both as a novel and as a proto-screenplay. And as a novel, it works very well indeed.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In the near future, real superheroes pop up and start saving people from crime and disaster. But then superbaddies show up, too, and eventually, San Francisco is toast. Declaring no tolerance toward all supers, the president opens season on those who won't leave the country. Big-city police create MTacs--special units to hunt the "muties," as the supers are popularly called--and L.A. cop Soledad O'Roark, 26, has just joined one. On her first mission, she literally pulls her unit out of the fire but gets in trouble because she uses an as-yet-unapproved gun. Banished to a desk, she stews until an ambitious lawyer bulldozes her into going counteroffensive. Lucky she hires the shark, since no sooner is she on the street again, as a patrolling uniform, than she drops another mutie and is back in dutch for attracting attention during an internal investigation. Of course, she is back with an MTac for a showdown with the bereaved husband of her second mutie kill; meanwhile, she has developed a love interest that leads to a second showdown and a moral: Never forgive your chosen enemies, even if one of them loves you, saves your life, and saves another life when you can't. Some moral. Violent crime specialist Ridley's foray into sf reads like a glorified screenplay, all tough talk and action waiting for a director and bodies to give it any life. Since Matrix producer Joel Silver has made a deal, admirers of Love Is a Racket (1997) and The Drift (2002) could wait for the movie. Ray Olson
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