Gemini Cell is Myke Cole’s fourth novel and is set in the same milieu as his previous three Shadow OPS novels, but is completely separate from those novels in terms of characters, timeframe, and storyline. In other words, this is the perfect entry point for new readers. In it, Myke introduces readers to Jim Schweitzer, a Navy SEAL, husband, and father. Like many soldiers/operators, he is torn between his military life and his family life. His wife Sarah is an artist and her career is beginning to flourish. As the novel starts, Sarah is having a major exhibition of her work and unfortunately, Jim is called away in the middle of the exhibition by the Navy for an emergency mission.
Jim’s unit sees something that makes no sense, a cargo of dead bodies, but they do complete the mission as good Navy SEALS do. Jim returns home and is ready to settle into civilian life with his wife and child but that hope is soon dashed when Jim’s home is invaded by a military unit. Although he makes a valiant effort at defending his family, Jim is ultimately killed. In a non-spoiler, death is just the beginning of Jim’s story in Gemini Cell.
Jim wakes up or rather he is brought back from the dead by a sorcerer and learns he is not alone in his own head and body. His unlife in his undead body share space with an ancient jinn named Ninip. Jim is informed that death has not severed his service to the Navy and he is “transferred” into Gemini Cell with Gemini referring, of course, to the twin souls of Jim and Ninip inhabiting Jim’s zombie body. As Jim soon learns, sharing a body with an angry jinn is a challenging task on top of adjusting to being undead and having been told his wife and son were murdered when he was killed. Jim’s spirit and Ninip’s spirit constantly struggle for control of Jim’s body, when in stasis, training or one of the missions he is sent to accomplish. Ninip is angry, seeks blood death and vengeance while Jim tries to calm the spirit.
Much of the novel deals with Jim’s internal struggles for sanity and control with Ninip. So yeah, Gemini Cell is definitely Myke’s PTSD novel. Gemini Cell is much more than a metaphor because Myke is a superb storyteller. He weighs the character, plot, and world-building in equal parts in what is his best novel yet. What makes that qualification so remarkable is how engaging and terrific I found each of Myke’s previous novels, but this one, Gemini Cell Myke raises the bar a few more levels.
Through Jim’s eyes, we see the Supernatural Operations Corps in its formative days shortly after the Great Reawakening; in other words, the military adjusting to a world where magic has returned and their efforts to weaponize magic. One thing that I forgot from time to time while reading the novel is that with Gemini Cell, Myke also wrote a zombie novel, just not exactly your typical zombie novel. Jim’s body is dead, part of him craves bloodshed and violence.
Jim isn’t the only character depicted in the novel; we see the effects of a soldier’s life on Jim’s best friend as well as the impact on a military family, specifically Jim’s wife and child. Through much of the novel, one of Jim’s biggest driving forces is the strength of his wife; both her strength as an individual and the strength she provided to him. She was his life line and his rock, tethering him to sanity and life outside the military. I know Myke is a big Captain America fan and has noted Mark Waid’s tenure on the character as a high point. I wonder if Myke also read Mark Waid’s time on The Flash because there is a great parallel between Jim and Sarah and Wally West (The Flash) and his girlfriend Linda. Many times throughout Mark Waid’s time writing The Flash (incidentally, my favorite extended run of comics), Wally made it very clear that Linda was his tether to life, whether he traveled through time or dimension, his focus on her always helped to bring him back. So Sarah is Jim’s strength and Myke works that magic very well between Sarah and Jim and how each character sees the other in their internal dialogues with themselves.
Gemini Cell is rewarding for both new readers interested in sampling Myke’s novels and readers who have followed the exploits of the Supernatural Operations Corps through the first three Shadow OPS novels. A glimpse into the early days is a fascinating thing as the military is barely understanding the magic they are trying to exploit as part of its toolset. New readers can see things at the foundation of the milieu while readers like myself can see that beginning and realize how relatively far the military has come in exploiting magic.
With Gemini Cell Myke has given readers perhaps the most brutally honest and naked look in (fantasy) fiction at the effect of a life of war on an individual and those he loves. Gemini Cell is a fantasy novel of imagined truths and is all the more potent and honest because of it; a powerful and engaging novel that will very easily rank as one of the best books I read this year.
Highly, highly recommended.
© 2015 Rob H. Bedford
Published by Del Rey / Mass Market Paperback ISBN 978-0-425-26964-7
January 2015 / 384 Pages
http://mykecole.com
Electronic review copy courtesy of the publisher, physical copy purchased
