Bitter Waters (Ukiah Oregon, Book 3) [Mass Market Paperback]

Wen Spencer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 6, 2003

From Wen Spencer, finalist for the John W. Campbell Award...In this brand-new adventure in the multiple award-winning series, half-human, half-alien tracker Ukiah Oregon must put his skills to the ultimate test-because kidnappers have taken his son.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Half-alien PI Ukiah Oregon is in bad grace with his moms, Jo and Lara, and his protecting pack. They are unhappy about Ukiah's engagement to FBI agent Indigo Zheng: the moms because, though Ukiah is a couple of centuries old, Indigo is too old for him; and the pack because he is marrying at all. Partner and mentor Max Bennett is on Ukiah's side, however, and that is critical when the routine tracking of a missing boy exposes Ukiah to a fanatical, malignant cult that kidnaps his son, Kitanning. The cultists have learned of the existence of the Ontongard, descendants of Ukiah's enemies who are still programmed to attempt to conquer Earth for their hive, and they are every bit as dangerous as those they call "demons," for they have acquired Ontongard chemical and biological weapons. Well-chosen everyday details as well as fire, murder, sudden death, and a lot of sex lead to an ending that resolves some of Ukiah's problems but leaves Earth's fate hanging fire for eagerly anticipated sequels. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Roc (May 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451459229
• ISBN-13: 978-0451459220
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #412,305 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exciting science fiction thriller, May 13, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bitter Waters (Ukiah Oregon, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

Although the human race is unaware of it, there is a war going on between two rival groups of an alien race. The Ontongard infects humans and makes the species one of them, an individual cell in an organism. The pack aliens retain their individual identities while having access to the group memory. The pack wants to kill the Ontongard so they won't destroy the human race. Ukiah Oregon, half alien and half human is the only breeder on the planet and the Ontongard want him to create more of their kind.

Oregon has a son who has been kidnapped. Ukiah, his friend Max, and the pack are doing all in their power to get him back but since the people who kidnapped him are human, they have to be very careful not to let any government official know about Kitt's alien origins. To make matters even worse, the kidnappers are using Ontongard biological weapons, which means that people who don't have any understanding of what they are doing are playing with something that could destroy the world.

Wen Spencer has written an exciting science fiction thriller that stars a vulnerable and powerful hero who is impossible not to cherish. The war between the two alien factions feels real and believable in a Twilight Zone kind of way. The investigation of the kidnapping by aliens, Homeland Security, the FBI, the local Pittsburgh police and a human once possessed by the Ontongard is exciting to see unfold as each group has its own agenda. BITTER WATERS is a must read.

Harriet Klausner

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wen just keeps on getting better and better!, May 16, 2003

By 

Walt Boyes "Walt Boyes" (Aurora IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bitter Waters (Ukiah Oregon, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

Wen Spencer's writing grows with each book. I got home yesterday after 8 days away to find my copy of Bitter Waters waiting for me. Finished it at 7 AM this morning. (Yawn!)

It is absolutely amazing to see how well her writing improved from Alien Taste (pretty darn good) to Tainted Trail (yep, not a one book wonder) to Bitter Waters. This is a mature writer working here! And she's still eligible for the John W. Campbell Award in 2003 for Best New Writer!!! She ought to win hands-down.

The ability Wen have manifested to climb into the heads of some very strange people (like Rennie, or even _Hex_) is terrific. Few SF writers write believable aliens, fewer still write believable human interactions with aliens from the alien point of view.

Bravo!

Buy this book. Better yet, buy Alien Taste and Tainted Trail and lose a weekend reading them all in sequence.

...

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gotta Get It!, June 3, 2004

By 

Tammy L. Croft (Northern Tier of Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bitter Waters (Ukiah Oregon, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)

BITTER WATERS by Wen Spencer manages to pull off the difficult task of being a series novel that stands on its own. I came across BITTER WATERS by accident and fell in love with it--enough so that I special ordered the first two Ukiah Oregon books to read them all in order.

Briefly, Ukiah and his private invesitgator partner, Max Bennett are just back from Oregon (Minutes out of the airport back) when the police call them in on a missing child case. Ukiah, an alien hybred, manages to locate the missing child only to find that other children have turned up missing--and his enemy, the very alien Ontongard, seems to be involved. Then his son/clone Kittaning is kidnapped, a Homeland Security agent turns up investigating a cybercult and everything gets skewed sideways.

It is a difficult feat to write mystery/suspense stories in a science fiction setting but Wen Spencer pulls it off, in large part because her story is deeply rooted in our own familiar world and set only months into the future. Add to that well written characters and you have great story telling.

THough I read BITTER WATERS first, I do reccomend that you read all three Ukiah Oregon books in order so you get his full story in proper detail. Each book stands alone, but together they form a compelling story. I'm looking forward to the next one.