THE REGIoNAL oFFICE IS UNDER ATTACk!

released OuT NOW! 402 pages | Paperback/ebook

Author Manuel Gonzales Publisher del rey

While this book may win the award for most original title of 2017, you won’t find a similarly original story attached to it. To call it a Buffy homage is a gigantic understatement: it’s the story of a group of superpowered young women who are trained to be deadly fighters by a shady organisation (the Watchers Council, anyone?). The organisation may be evil (the Initiative). It’s hidden in a bunker and staffed by secretaries and pen-pushers; now we’re in The Cabin In The Woods territory. The base is infiltrated in an assault which riffs on Die Hard. Oh, and there are Oracles who float in liquid goo, à la Minority Report.

The list goes on. It’s not necessarily theft – they’re all well-worn tropes, of course – and Manuel Gonzales handles them with skill and a deft lightness of touch, creating superb backstories for his female leads. But because you’re familiar with so many aspects of the world he’s built, it’s difficult to stop thinking about Slayers or X-Men mutants. This isn’t a novel, it’s a magpie’s nest of concepts.

How much you connect with this book, then, depends on whether you’re willing to pretend it’s fresh. If you can, it’s a complex, pacey, adrenalinefuelled thriller. If you can’t? Stick on a Buffy/Die Hard double bill. Jayne Nelson