With DARK ANGEL cancelled, it's slightly surprising to find a spin-off novel based on the series (and even more surprising to find that there are a couple more in the pipeline). Even more surprising, it's actually a good read.

The TV series allows for a prequel, and author Max Allan Collins delves into the lives of Max, Logan and the Jam Pony crew before the first episode.

Unsurprisingly, we start in 2009 with the Manticore breakout, and as with the TV series, Max's desire to find the rest of her "family" provides a theme that runs throughout BEFORE THE DAWN. We also see the immediate aftermath of her escape and her first "foster" family.

However, this isn't DARK ANGEL: THE EARLY YEARS as the bulk of the book takes place in 2019, from Max's life as a gang member in Los Angeles before a chance sighting of a television news story leads her to Seattle to find Seth, another Manticore escapee. Of course, Max isn't the only one who's seen the news footage and Lydecker is also on the case.

Riding her bike to Seattle, Max hooks up with Original Cindy, moves in with Kendra and gets a job at Jam Pony. Of course, there's also her other life as a thief which, as with her Manticore past, she keeps secret from her new friends.

Meanwhile, Seth has hooked up with cyberjournalist Logan Cale, who is determined to prevent what's left of America's cultural history from being shipped overseas.

Collins ties together the various plot strands neatly - the gang rivalry, Max's desire to being reunited with her "family", Lydecker's tracking of the escapees, Logan crusading journalism and the theft of precious artworks - and it doesn't feel corny or contrived, even though not all the main characters meet up during the course of the story.

Collins' acknowledgements thank his frequent collaborator and DARK ANGEL fan, Matthew V. Clemens, and continuity with the TV series is well-maintained. There are plenty of references to places and characters we saw on television, but none of them felt like the author showing off and chucking them in just to impress us.

Having read an awful lot of spin-offs that are aimed at kids, it refreshing to find one aimed at a more adult readership. The language in BEFORE THE DAWN is fairly strong, but didn't feel gratuitous, while the death count is also quite high, with hints of wife-beating and child abuse.

A look at the release schedules shows that Collins is the author of two further DARK ANGEL novels due for release in the first half of 2003. If they're anything like BEFORE THE DAWN, then that can only be good news for those of us still missing the TV series. BACK TO THE TOP

BEFORE THE DAWN

Written by MAX ALLAN COLLINS

EBURY PRESS

£5.99


RATING: 9/10


NEXT RELEASE:
SKIN GAME