SciFi Book Review: Fringe: The Burning Man

Fringe: The Burning Man by Christa Faust

SYNOPSIS:
As a child, Olivia Dunham is “Subject 13,” exposed to the experimental drug Cortexiphan. It has strange effects upon her—effects that manifest when her stepfather assaults her mother—with dire consequences.

All of her life, Olivia hides the strange things Cortexiphan has done to her. But the older she gets, the more difficult it becomes to suppress them. And when faced with a life-or-death situation, she can no longer deny her true nature. For if she does, someone close to her will die.

REVIEW:
This second novel in the Fringe series takes us back to Olivia’s teen years. Years ago, her ability caused an accident that left a man bent on revenge. Unfortunately for Olivia, she has no idea that he’s coming for her. There are a lot of discrepancies between this novel and the series. For those who are big fans of the show, this may be a problem if you’re nitpicky about details. One problem was that I believe her abilities from the Cortexiphan trials were blocked after childhood until her breakthrough as an adult during the TV series. Not sure that she would be causing electrical surges as a teen. And Olivia makes some decisions totally out of character that I had a problem with at the end. However, it is an exciting, dark story. Thrilling and full of intrigue, in spite of its problems I look forward to the next in this series.