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I must admit to be more than a little concerned when I heard details of SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET being posted on a ROSWELL mailing list. Having pretty much enjoyed the first three post-TV series novels, I didn't think that we needed a "relaunch" (see SHADES), with a new look - the old one was perfectly fine as far as I was concerned. Even more worrying was the fact that the books seemed to be relying on a high level of continuity - something that I'm not always in favour of. Now, that's not to say that I want to see the TV series' continuity junked, but any novels need to advance ROSWELL's continuity, rather than simply falling back on old characters, old situations and referencing everything to something that's happened in the past. First impressions of SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET aren't impressive, with an absolutely terrible cover that looks like it was knocked up in five minutes by someone with exceptionally poor Photoshop skills. Oh well. After a brief prologue set in 1947 that sees a pair of newlyweds abducted by aliens, we're back in the present - between seasons 2 and 3 to be precise - just outside town. Not for the first time, a body is discovered outside Roswell, and in a neat, and fairly unobtrusive piece of continuity, it's discovered by two of Michael's (future) co-workers. The gap between THE DEPARTURE and BUSTED provides a space for a series of linked novels, and as long as it's not overdone, introducing these sorts of characters isn't a problem. However, things went downhill after this as far as I'm concerned, as the authors can't resist throwing in the continuity references. These really fall into two categories. There are those that are merely references to previous events, which are annoying but understandable, especially if the range is trying to pull in those who weren't avid viewers of the TV series. However, there are also ones that are best described as "stupid", such as Isabel thinking that her relationship with Jesse is like a 1950s TV courtship or the even more stupider scene where she thinks about getting her hair cut like an actress on some WB show. No doubt we're supposed to find these sort of things clever, but they just proved grating as far as I was concerned. Argh! Beneath all the gratutious continuity references and occasional stupidity, we're pretty much left with two main plots - Michael being accused of murder and Max and Isabel following up a lead on the human half of the hybrids' DNA. Personally I couldn't see just why they felt compelled to do this, especially since it could have exposed all of them to further risk. So a bit of an average novel, then. Too many continuity references, a less than brilliant plot and it also appeared to be pitched at a slightly younger audience than most of the other post-TV series novels. Oh, and the gay hotel desk clerk could have provided a moment of light humour but instead the authors decided to make a point out of out and it came across as way too clunky. All in all, a bit disappointing. BACK TO THE TOP |
SKELETONS
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