ShadowStrike poisoned the water of Trinity Falls two months ago. Now the Trinity Four, the teens most affected by the poison, have been isolated in a remote mansion under twenty-four-hour medical care while scientists on four continents rush to discover a cure. Meanwhile, U.S. operatives scour the world for the bioterrorists responsible for this heinous crime, as two teen virtual spies, also infected, hunt for the criminals on the Internet. The danger remains real—for ShadowStrike has every reason to pursue the Trinity Four, and their evil plan will unleash a new designer virus that’s even deadlier than the first.
Fire Will Fall (Streams of Babel)
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Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up—In Streams of Babel (Harcourt, 2008), a terrorist organization poisoned the drinking water of a small New Jersey town. Fire Will Fall begins two months after the events in that book. The four surviving teens have been released from the hospital but are not yet out of danger. Suffering from chronic health problems and under threat from those members of ShadowStrike who evaded capture, they are taken to an isolated mansion near the Jersey shore where they can recuperate under 24-hour guard while scientists around the world race to find a cure for the deadly virus to which they were exposed. In the meantime, members of USIC are working around the clock to find the terrorist cell before its members can strike again with a new and even deadlier biological weapon. The compelling characters, dramatic situations, and page-turning pace of this thriller will keep readers enthralled right up to the climax.—Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AK
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
From Booklist
Scott, Owen, Cora, and Rain are the Trinity Four, teen survivors of a bioterrorist attack in Trinity Falls, New Jersey, that has left them famous in People magazine but also seriously ill and sequestered in a remote compound, where they receive intensive medical care and wait for the terrorists who planned the attack to be apprehended. The Four alternate narration, along with two other teen spies, also ill and hidden in another location, who hack into chat rooms and collect information on the terrorists. This thriller’s pacing is slow, considering the multiple narrators, the promising premise, and the elements of danger and espionage. Most of the story takes place over a few days in the spring following 9/11. After security is breached, and the hackers are announced dead in a house fire, figuring out whom to trust gets harder for everyone, including the reader, and the narrative picks up speed. Sexual tension and fragile relationships are part of the story as much as the terrorist hunt is, and the two couples’ fears about their own possible impending mortality will captivate a high-school audience. Grades 9-12. --Cindy Dobrez
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More About the Author
Carol Plum-Ucci received one of the nation's top literary honors for her first novel, THE BODY OF CHRISTOPHER CREED, a suspense story set in the historic woods of Southern New Jersey. The novel received one of four Michael J. Printz Honor Book Awards, sponsored by the American Library Association, recognizing the best literature published for young adults. The novel also was a finalist in the Edgar Allan Poe Awards and was named to the Reader's International Children's Choice Awards List.
She is happy to report that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has purchased a SEQUEL TO THE BODY OF CHRISTOPHER CREED. It will be released in the spring of 2011. "For years, people asked if I would write a sequel. In fact, I don't think I've ever spoken for an audience where someone hasn't asked that," Plum-Ucci said. "I always said no because I couldn't think of anything good that would happen next. Well, one stormy Saturday night in the dead of winter, I got this totally hot idea and just went with it. It's a lot of years later, but I held out for artistic integrity--a story line that I knew would keep readers turning pages--and didn't try it just to piggy-back a book selling well. As the saying goes for me and HMH: 'We will sell no idea before its time.'"
The CREED SEQUEL focuses on Chris Creed's brother Justin, who, after four years have passed, is now 16. "The theme of bullying didn't carry over to this book--I'll be honest," Plum-Ucci said. "But that theme was always, to me, secondary to a relentless pursuit of truth theme, which engaged Torey Adams throughout. And that theme is still very present. I'm asking kids to look beyond what they can touch, see, smell--something they're not often asked to do by school districts, and I think it's both fun and important."
FIRE WILL FALL, a sequel to STREAMS OF BABEL was released by HMH in the spring of 2010. In STREAMS OF BABEL, terrorists poison the water supply in New Jersey (released in the spring of 2008), and in FIRE WILL FALL, the teenagers who drank the most WMD are fighting for their lives. "I think of FIRE as more of a character piece, so it surprised me pleasantly to see all the reviews coming in, calling it a page turner," Plum-Ucci said. Both books were immediately named Premiere Selections the Junior Library Guild upon release.
WHAT HAPPENED TO LANI GARVER, Plum-Ucci's second novel, is story of prejudice, friendship, popularity, tolerance, and individuality. The story raises a most important question: Might angels exist on earth? The novel has been selected as a featured book both in Seventeen Magazine and YM Magazine. It is named to the 2003 Best Books for Young Adults List, sponsored by the American Library Association, and is a 2004 Teen Top Ten nominee. It was nominated for the Michael L. Printz Awards for excellence in Young Adult Literature.
Plum-Ucci's third novel of THE SHE, was was nominated for BBYA (Best Books for Young Adults, The American Library Association) and received a starred review in Booklist. Her fourth novel, THE NIGHT MY SISTER WENT MISSING, was named a finalist in the Edgar Allan Poe Awards.
Plum-Ucci spent her childhood growing up on the barrier island of Brigantine, New Jersey, where her father was a funeral director. She lived overtop of the funeral home.
'My bedroom was such that if the floor were made of glass, I would have been gazing down into the face of a casket dweller,' she frequently tells audiences. 'When people ask me how I became a writer, I say it was in the middle of nights while growing up there.'
Plum-Ucci loves to tell her childhood funeral home antics, which have captivated teenage audiences across America.
She attended the Brigantine Public Schools, Atlantic City Friends School, and Holy Spirit High School, graduating in 1975. She earned her bachelor's degree in Communication from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana in 1979. She attended Rutgers University and received her Master of Arts degree 2004.
Plum-Ucci worked as Staff Writer and Director of Publications for the Miss America Organization in Atlantic City from 1984 through 1999. She is the third generation of women in her family to contribute to Atlantic City's well-known fanfare. Her mother, Ellen Plum, was the first woman President, and her paternal grandmother, Ads Plum, was a member of the Hostess Committee.
She retired from corporate employ in June of 1999, 'about two days after my advance arrived for The Body of Christopher Creed,' she says. 'I loved being part of something historical like Miss America, and I have many great memories of working there. But I'd spent many years trying to become a published novelist, and I wanted to started enjoying that lifestyle as quickly as possible."
Her husband Rick owns the Ucci Piano Service. Together, they love gardening, going to the Margate Beach in the summers, watching Academy Award winning movies, and raising their daughter, Abbey.
She is happy to report that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has purchased a SEQUEL TO THE BODY OF CHRISTOPHER CREED. It will be released in the spring of 2011. "For years, people asked if I would write a sequel. In fact, I don't think I've ever spoken for an audience where someone hasn't asked that," Plum-Ucci said. "I always said no because I couldn't think of anything good that would happen next. Well, one stormy Saturday night in the dead of winter, I got this totally hot idea and just went with it. It's a lot of years later, but I held out for artistic integrity--a story line that I knew would keep readers turning pages--and didn't try it just to piggy-back a book selling well. As the saying goes for me and HMH: 'We will sell no idea before its time.'"
The CREED SEQUEL focuses on Chris Creed's brother Justin, who, after four years have passed, is now 16. "The theme of bullying didn't carry over to this book--I'll be honest," Plum-Ucci said. "But that theme was always, to me, secondary to a relentless pursuit of truth theme, which engaged Torey Adams throughout. And that theme is still very present. I'm asking kids to look beyond what they can touch, see, smell--something they're not often asked to do by school districts, and I think it's both fun and important."
FIRE WILL FALL, a sequel to STREAMS OF BABEL was released by HMH in the spring of 2010. In STREAMS OF BABEL, terrorists poison the water supply in New Jersey (released in the spring of 2008), and in FIRE WILL FALL, the teenagers who drank the most WMD are fighting for their lives. "I think of FIRE as more of a character piece, so it surprised me pleasantly to see all the reviews coming in, calling it a page turner," Plum-Ucci said. Both books were immediately named Premiere Selections the Junior Library Guild upon release.
WHAT HAPPENED TO LANI GARVER, Plum-Ucci's second novel, is story of prejudice, friendship, popularity, tolerance, and individuality. The story raises a most important question: Might angels exist on earth? The novel has been selected as a featured book both in Seventeen Magazine and YM Magazine. It is named to the 2003 Best Books for Young Adults List, sponsored by the American Library Association, and is a 2004 Teen Top Ten nominee. It was nominated for the Michael L. Printz Awards for excellence in Young Adult Literature.
Plum-Ucci's third novel of THE SHE, was was nominated for BBYA (Best Books for Young Adults, The American Library Association) and received a starred review in Booklist. Her fourth novel, THE NIGHT MY SISTER WENT MISSING, was named a finalist in the Edgar Allan Poe Awards.
Plum-Ucci spent her childhood growing up on the barrier island of Brigantine, New Jersey, where her father was a funeral director. She lived overtop of the funeral home.
'My bedroom was such that if the floor were made of glass, I would have been gazing down into the face of a casket dweller,' she frequently tells audiences. 'When people ask me how I became a writer, I say it was in the middle of nights while growing up there.'
Plum-Ucci loves to tell her childhood funeral home antics, which have captivated teenage audiences across America.
She attended the Brigantine Public Schools, Atlantic City Friends School, and Holy Spirit High School, graduating in 1975. She earned her bachelor's degree in Communication from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana in 1979. She attended Rutgers University and received her Master of Arts degree 2004.
Plum-Ucci worked as Staff Writer and Director of Publications for the Miss America Organization in Atlantic City from 1984 through 1999. She is the third generation of women in her family to contribute to Atlantic City's well-known fanfare. Her mother, Ellen Plum, was the first woman President, and her paternal grandmother, Ads Plum, was a member of the Hostess Committee.
She retired from corporate employ in June of 1999, 'about two days after my advance arrived for The Body of Christopher Creed,' she says. 'I loved being part of something historical like Miss America, and I have many great memories of working there. But I'd spent many years trying to become a published novelist, and I wanted to started enjoying that lifestyle as quickly as possible."
Her husband Rick owns the Ucci Piano Service. Together, they love gardening, going to the Margate Beach in the summers, watching Academy Award winning movies, and raising their daughter, Abbey.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nerve Racking Fun! (a wonderful read),
This review is from: Fire Will Fall (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
What a great read. FIRE WILL FALL was just great fun, although I have to complain a little about it keeping me up too late at night. In fact, the tension was so great at one point that I had to resolve not to read the book too close to bedtime because it was freaking me out.The story is a follow-up to a previous book --Streams of Babel-- that I haven't read, but which I am definitely going to track down. It's principally about 4 teenagers who are recovering from a poisoning that took place in the previous book where terrorists dumped toxic bio-hazards into their small town's water supply. Most of these teens lost parents and friends, and they are still barely surviving on a pharmaceutical cocktail of meds that have some odd side effects. They are brought to a restored house to recover with the assurance that they are out of danger from the terrorists. 'Dogs don't return to their vomit', they are told. BUT unfortunately that doesn't turn out to be the case as they just happen to have been settled near the next target site. TALKING POINTS::: I don't do "terrorists/spy" books, and I don't do popular thrillers (no Dan Brown for me), but maybe I should broaden my reading and take a look at more books in this genre, because I really enjoyed FIRE WILL FALL. I thought Plum-Ucci did a fabulous job with building tension and with differentiating the characters. In fact, I guess that's why I like the book: I got hooked on the characters and how they interacted. The mind-tingling excitement of trying to figure out who would die, was just delicious icing on that cake! All good things said, this shouldn't be a book you pick up when your exhausted because the chapters are divided amongst 6 points of view, and first person at that. Everything flows brilliantly, but it won't be as much fun for you if you are tired and can't quite remember who is who. NOTE: You absolutely do not have to have read the first book. This one stands on it's own. Brilliant fun. A definite 'guilty-pleasure' read. Enjoy! Pam T~ (booksforkids-reviews)
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Cool Premise Wasted,
By
This review is from: Fire Will Fall (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
After slogging through a few hundred pages, I could not bring myself to care enough to finish the book. The initial premise is cool. Four teens recovering from a bio-terrorist attack go to a backwoods mansion in NJ to further heal and face unseen threats. I did not read the first book, and perhaps my opinion would be completely different if I had.My major problem with the book was just that it was boring. The biggest thing that happened in a few hundred pages is two characters stole away to an amusement park and took pictures. (Oooooh, be still my racing heart.) I could not get into the characters. I actually didn't care what happened to them. They're constantly harping on things that happened in the previous book, which is fine, but there's no progression or insight gained for all of what I read, which was most of the book. The narration skips from one to another, which I like, but the voices weren't unique enough until about 3/4 of the way through. Cora and Rain blended into each other, Owen and Scott did the same. The problem could be with me. I tend toward fantasy and science fiction stories where people die a lot and the conflicts affect the rise and fall of planets and civilizations. So, when I say I was bored with the "action" in the book, that could just be a matter of degree.
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is an expressive story that reveals our human failings as well as our abilities to rise above them when we choose to do so,
By Teenreads.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Fire Will Fall (Hardcover)
It's the year 2002, and Americans are hyperaware of international terrorism. The first attack by ShadowStrike came only months ago with the release of a designer bug into the water of one small town. The Q3 virus poisoned many and left four teenagers physically damaged but famous, branded as the Trinity Four by the press, for life. With stage IV poisoning, Cora, Owen, Scott and Rain are now under constant guard by USIC agents, confined to recuperate under monitoring while undergoing indefinite drug treatments. A cure has been promised but has yet to materialize. But ShadowStrike isn't done toying with them just yet. V-spies for the Americans have identified a new threat through the Web, an even deadlier biological attack that will fall like fire on the innocent.Becoming actual survivors of a terrorist assault has left Rain, Owen, Cora and Scott simultaneously unified and scarred. All four are having difficulty processing their emotions, albeit in vastly different ways. Rain's bouts of sensitivity are driving the other three nuts; she cries or complains all the time while demanding the support of her friends. Owen is caught up in his own private psychological drama over God's role in their attack and an imagined Armageddon, beginning with ShadowStrike claiming the lives of their loved ones. Owen's brother Scott doesn't put much thought into such grand ideas but is definitely depressed and dejected even while he tries to remain grounded. Focusing on nothing but his physical agony is clearly affecting Scott's prognosis for the worst. And though Cora remains quiet and patient as always, she is undoubtedly suffering privately too. It's becoming clear to them that she's been hallucinating more on the drugs they're all on. All four drive each other nuts as the question arises of whether they are likely to recover; statistically, they've been told that a full recovery --- and even survival for all of them --- is improbable. They begin to wonder if they're safe anymore and if USIC knows enough to protect Americans. While those of the Trinity Four work out their feelings and recover, Shahzad and Tyler, USIC spies, also recuperate in private. They too were victims of a lesser-known bioterrorist attack, after infiltrating the ShadowStrike network and being discovered. Exposure to a hazardous substance by an operative left them scarred and blistering, and their wounds continue to seep all over the furniture. But the two continue to work for USIC in an unofficial arrangement as underaged agents who report anonymously to a single superior. No compensation has been offered, and they've received no official recognition or support. They're simply excellent hackers who couldn't live with the thought of allowing terrorists to use technology to attack innocent people. Though FIRE WILL FALL, a sequel to 2008's STREAMS OF BABEL, centers on a particularly vicious and disgusting bioterrorist attack, the central focus is not on that so much as the effects of violence and fear on the human psyche. The motives and thought processes of the terrorist operatives are never revealed to the reader's satisfaction. But the thoughts and reactions of the victims are delved into deeply, especially the Trinity Four, who have been marked for life by the trauma. These experiences have also brought them together in unexpected ways, teaching them to be better friends and support each other openly. None, it seems, will ever find it easy to move on or forget the fear that has crippled them. Yet each is exceptionally focused on what they want out of life and has become much more serious about deciding who they'd like to spend it with, even though they're only teenagers. In a sense, being a victim has galvanized them to become tougher and face death without fear. It has allowed each to find his or her own direction and want something better for the world than what it is. The book's pacing is slow, and it presents no surprises as far as action. But the characterizations are excellent (particularly Shahzad and Tyler) and show a bigger picture of terrorism than a simple thrill ride can. This is an expressive story that reveals our human failings as well as our abilities to rise above them when we choose to do so. --- Reviewed by Melanie Smith
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