As I mentioned the other week, I read the first book in the Frost Files back in 2019. I loved it then, and this latest outing maintains something of the wacky, chaotic pace I remember. Here’s a taster of what you can expect:
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Teagan Frost’s life is finally back on track. Her role working for the government as a telekinetic operative is going well and she might even be on course for convincing her crush to go out with her. But, little does she know, that sh*t is about to hit the fan . . .
A young boy with the ability to cause earthquakes has come to Los Angeles – home to the San Andreas, one of the most lethal fault lines in the world. If Teagan can’t stop him, the entire city – and the rest of California – could be wiped off the map.
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Now, one thing you have to understand about Jackson Ford is that he likes to approach a marathon from the perspective of a champion sprinter. Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air is just over five hundred pages long, and yet, it leaves the block flat-out running and maintains that pace throughout. A saving grace, really, given that Teagan Frost herself is something of a pain in the . . . aspidistra this time out.
What do I mean?
The team is tasked with recovering information, vital to the safety and security of the United States. Everything is going swimmingly. The target is easy to get to; everyone is on the ball; and Teagan’s powers are growing. What could go wrong?
The mother of all earthquakes, that’s what!
That earthquake throws their plans into chaos as much as the country’s, especially once its discovered this act of nature was, in fact, an act of one very ‘anti-social’ little boy with psychopathic tendencies.
Thank goodness for Teagan, I hear you say. She’ll help everyone sort it all out. Except. . .
She doesn’t and ends up acting so irresponsibly that people die. Now, once you can forgive, because, after all, everyone makes mistakes. But in this story, Teagan keeps on acting so carelessly, so immaturely, that it drags the storyline down.
And it really is that irritating. You, as the reader, can see what needs to be done. And sure enough, the team she works with comes to the same realization? But Teagan Frost, our main character? It’s as if she sets out to deliberately sabotage any chance of success they have. And considering her talents, it gets tedious.
The saving grace is the action. It really is a hell-for-leather manic ride. But not once do you lose sight of what’s going on. That’s good writing – and as I say, it redeems the story arc from a self-destruct tendency I didn’t expect.
So would I recommend Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air?
Yes. If you can overlook the spanner in the works – and remember, that’s only my personal opinion – then you still get a punk-rocker of a tale that mixes elements of Deadpool, the X-Men and Alphas into a zany mix of furious, frantic fun.
- Publisher : Orbit (March 26, 2020)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 480 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0356510468
- ISBN-13 : 978-0356510460
- $13.38 paperback
