A few years have passed since “Variants,” people exhibiting abilities similar to comic book superheroes, became an integral part of the world of espionage in the waning days of World War II. The year is 1949 and global tensions have simply shifted, the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union is quite alive, as is the conflict in the Middle East, specifically Syria. So begins MJ-12: Shadows, the second installment of Michael J. Martinez’s Super Spy saga, Majestic 12.
It’s 1949, and the Cold War is heating up across the world. Operating in the shadows, the Variants–once ordinary US citizens, but now imbued with strange paranormal abilities and corralled into covert service by the government’s top secret MAJESTIC-12 program–find themselves on the front lines of an international crisis.
In Syria, Variant agents have been sent to support a coup by a pro-American army officer. In Washington, a shocking suicide has them fighting for their very freedom. And at Area 51, the operation’s headquarters, the strange interspatial phenomenon which originally granted Variants their abilities has yielded disturbing discoveries.
All the while, dangerous figures flit among the shadows, and it’s unclear whether they are threatening to expose the Variants for what they are . . . or completely destroy them. Are they working for the Soviet Union, or something far worse?
Martinez wastes no time getting to business, the novel more or less begins in media res in post-World War II Austria as the Majestic 12 program (the code name for the US’s super-powered “assets”) is hoping to bolster their ranks. They are pursuing a potential new member: a thief (Julia) with unique abilities (she can phase through solid objects, much like the X-Men’s Kitty Pride) into their ranks. What makes this a nice scene is how well Martinez, with just the right amount of detail, smoothly reintroduces some of the heroes of the first novel: Cal, the man who can heal and Maggie; the manipulator of emotions. Martinez paced everything so nicely, I was immediately drawn into the story.
With the Nazi threat to the US (and the world) vanquished, of course new threats arise in their place. As the US has gained one of the glowing spheres found at the conclusion of World War II, the Soviet Union has another and the full extent of their properties are still not completely known.
One of the two major plot threads sound familiar; a special team is sent to the Middle East by the U.S. Government in order to help usher a change of regimes. This was a real event that predated what the US did in Iraq with Hussein by over fifty years and the Syrian conflict is in full focus through much of the.
The other is the long-standing Cold War enemy of the US, the Soviet Union. Much like the nuclear arms race was a major factor of the growing tensions between the US and USSR, the human arms race fuels much of the power of each country.
I’ve said this often enough in reviews, but that’s because it is a truthful axiom about good books. This is a book that was a great deal of fun to read and while being as historically accurate as possible must have been a bear for poor old Mike, I could feel the fun he had in writing the book. I hope the fun of the story outweighed the beary parts for him.
I think the strongest positive characteristic of the novel is how well-balanced it is. All the parts – the characterization, the parallel plot threads, the action, the tension – work perfectly together as a singular organic thing. Characterization isn’t sacrificed for action, the villains don’t get a short-shrift to bolster the heroes, and details don’t overburden the pacing. With MJ-12: Shadows, Michael J. Martinez avoids one of the more common writerly traps – the dreaded second book syndrome. In the best sense of the concept, Martinez is able to build on the foundation of the first novel while also adding new complications and characters that inevitably lead to a very anticipated finale.
Recommended
© 2018 Rob H. Bedford
September 2017 | Night Shade Books
Mass Market Paperback | 357 Pages
https://michaeljmartinez.net/
Sample: https://michaeljmartinez.net/writing/majestic/mj-12-shadows
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
