Customer Reviews

Fireworks

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

What would happen if a Fourth of July celebration was interrupted by the crash landing of a ufo? That's the gist here, but Moore infuses his story with characters that are just too darn good for a Leisure paperback. It's true that there ain't much when it comes to extra terrestrial interaction (to put it mildly) but that's not the point. The fear gradually shifts from the dry docked flying saucer to the government agents given the task of keeping the entire town of Collier, GA quiet. (The media is given a story about a terrorist) Like the best episodes of the X-Files the audience plays ping-pong between the threat of invasion and the threat of shadowy government figures calling the shots. Only here the scenario is expanded to include the terror of martial law. That's pretty scary. It's a literary smack in the head, where logically the issues and priorities are eschewed in order to maintain a semblance of order and the more you read the more plausible a situation like this seems.

This is the second book by this author that I've read and I can honestly say this fellow right here has what it takes to be another King, Koontz, or McCammon-his writing is amazingly similar to those lofty three and just as enduring. The only way we can ever see that happen is a hardcover deal and good press and James Moore is deserving of both. Even Hollywood could potentially make good on this story (but it'd probably get screwed up). Bloody, insightful, with well written characters, and compelling enough to keep those pages a turnin'. Fireworks goes high on the recommendation list. Also check out Under the Overtree.

Collier, Georgia is a quiet little town, typical of rural America in composition and attitudes. Although it is populated mostly by plain, simple folk, it still has its share of colorful characters and bad apples. There is, however, very little about the town to distinguish it from its neighbors. At least that is the case until the Fourth of July, when an enormous alien spacecraft crashes in a local lake, vaporizing its contents and killing dozens of locals. That's the day the lives of the citizens of Collier change forever, in ways you might not expect.
This is not a novel of alien conquest, or even of alien contact. Eschewing predictable plot lines, Moore instead poses two simple questions, namely, "How would the federal government react in such a situation?" and, "Given that reaction, how would it affect the lives of the local populace?"

Moore provides a suitably chilling answer to these queries, positing a special branch of the armed forces created to handle just such a task, a grim cadre of soldiers dressed in high-tech body armor, their faces concealed by black visors. Immediately after the crash landing, these soldiers descend on Collier, cutting it off from the rest of the world under the pretext of battling terrorist activity. Their main objective: to secure the apparently inert craft. Their secondary objective: to maintain secrecy, even if it means killing everyone in the town.

This then is the focus of Moore's narrative, as he chronicles the reactions of everyday people to the invasion of their town by their own country. Although at first they are cooperative, the townspeople come to realize that they are in fact prisoners. Their resentment and anger grow by the day, building to a surprising crescendo. Moore populates his book with living, breathing characters, human beings on both sides of the conflict who, despite their fears, are only doing their best to cope with a stressful situation.

Moore is more in control of this narrative than he was of his prior effort, the flawed but highly readable Under the Overtree. The writing here is crisp and clear, the pacing is almost flawless, and, with the exception of the appearance of the spacecraft which triggers these events (its origins and purpose remain a mystery throughout), the subject matter is utterly believable and involving. Moore effectively milks the situation for all it's worth, filling the novel with telling incidents and detail, forcing readers to confront the brutal reality that true horror may lie in something as simple as losing the simple freedoms that Americans take for granted. A twisted combination of Sinclair Lewis' It Can't Happen Here and Thornton Wilder's Our Town, Fireworks is a great read, a book that merits your attention.

The residents of Collier, Georgia always enjoy the annual Independence Day celebration especially the fireworks. However, this year the fireworks are different as a huge UFO crashes killing or severely injuring approximately twenty-five per cent of the locals.

Top secret elite military cadre ONYX arrives in town to secure the perimeter. No one will enter or leave quarantined Collier. To the surviving townsfolk, the operation looks more like an invasion force, which turns worse as the soldiers obey orders of strict security enforcement. Violence between both sides of Americans break out even while the UFO remains under the waters of the nearby lake. Unless cooler heads prevail, further tragedy seems like the only outcome.

FIREWORKS is not an Independence Day or War of the Worlds ET invasion tale though the alien craft crash serves as the catalyst to the theme of how will the Feds react to a UFO and how will locals react to the heavy handed Feds' response that "incarcerates" them? Instead the novel feels more like the Hoffman thriller Outbreak though the impetus varies. Though why the UFO was flying over earth is never revealed (sequel perhaps) the action is loaded, but James A. Moore forces his audience to ponder what seems like believable actions and reactions of real people, soldier and resident alike.

Harriet Klausner

On July 4th a large unidentified crafts crashes into the lake of a small Georgia town during the holiday firewors and kills a large number of citizens. Yet the craft isn't the real story in this excellent novel by horror writer James Moore. This isn't a novel about space aliens and sci-fi happenings, it is a story about people. Moore does an good job with this character study which draws largely on books like Dean Koontz's Strangers. He allows you into the minds of many of the main player's in this tragedy and turns tradition sci-fi roles on its head. Here we have a stiff military leader with a heart, a independent minded sheriff with a conscience, a preachers daughter with a past and a faithful soldier with a secret. These are all good people and their values are put to the test by the trying situation and the fears and prejiduces of the people surronding them.

Excellent. Reading the blurb on the back of the book (at my local library), I had anticipated seeing the military as the bad guy, but you might be surprised how your loyalties get divided. Excellent book that kept me wanting to stay up late to finish it.

I had never read anything by James Moore before - and wasn't quite sure what I was in for when I started this book, but it was quite the page turner - I think I finished it in just a couple of days. Pick this one up - you won't regret it!

This book is more about peoples interactions with the military then with the alien ship.I did find it very enjoyable and an easy read.Though not the greatest, its worth the time and its a very entertaining book.The characters are believable and there struggles are more horrifying with the milta then with the spaceship.

this author creates characters that breathe. this was a book you hate to lay down. a great story---shocking and highly entertaining. i thoroughly enjoyed the read.

Those who pick up a copy of James A. Moore's "Fireworks" simply expecting an alien invasion novel (as the book cover snippets lead one to believe) will be sorely disappointed because it's not the aliens who star in this novel, but rather the residents of Collier, GA.

Amidst the July 4th fireworks celebration, a strange craft appears in the sky and falls to Earth in a lake next the to town. As the town starts to right itself following the devastation created by the crash, an ultra-secret American military group known only as ONYX arrives on the scene to "protect" the citizens from the craft. Well, as every good UFO conspirator-theory believer knows, that kind of "protection" is just not what the military is really motivated by. ONYX simply wants to clean up the mess, get the ship spirited way to Area 51 or some other secret base and move out.

As the commander of ONYX soon finds out, that simply won't set with these spirited and independent-minded Southerners who react unfavorably to the military occupation. As relations begin to slowly deteriorate, martial law is declared and all hell breaks loose soon after in this sleepy little town.

Moore spends the middle third of the book developing some pretty good characters (with pretty good stories). The reader gets a chance to connect not only with these folks but with a couple of the key ONYX personnel. As only a true Southerner could, Moore does an excellent job describing the mindset and determination of these Georgian folks. He also turns up the heat by graphically describing some of the firefights between the citizens and the military and does a nice job keeping the plot boiling. One can't help but wonder what role (if any) the aliens will play in the final outcome. Rather than risk giving away any more plot details, you'll just have to pick up a copy of the book to get that answer.

"Fireworks" is a solid "read" that will appeal to the fans of Robert McCammon and those who enjoyed the early Dean Koontz novels, such as "Strangers" and "Watchers".

I already owned James Moore's "Under the Overtree" when I picked up his latest title, the aptly named "Fireworks." While I haven't read "Under the Overtree" as of yet, something told me to dig into "Fireworks" right away. After a few initial worries in the first dozen pages, I am glad I decided to read this story about an eerie encounter with an alien spacecraft and the subsequent nightmare its arrival on earth brings to the citizens of the small town of Collier, Georgia. On the acknowledgements page, Moore offers his profound thanks to Stephen King and Dean Koontz for writing books about alien visitors. He writes that books like "The Tommyknockers" and "Strangers" provided the impetus to explore such an encounter from a perspective these two authors only slightly touched upon. While Moore is certainly no Stephen King or Dean Koontz, his novel does ultimately satisfy a reader interested in these sorts of things.

It is the Fourth of July in Collier, Georgia as the entire town buzzes with excitement over the annual fireworks display that takes place at Oldman's Lake, an event that also draws a significant number of tourists loaded with money to spend in town. The 1995 display promises to be extra special this year, although the crowds clogging the shoreline aren't aware of the added festivities until it's too late. In fact, many of these spectators won't live long enough to enjoy the memory of what they see arcing through the sky over Collier. Right in the middle of the display, a giant UFO smashes into the center of the lake, sending out a heat and shock wave that kills over one hundred people in the most gruesome ways imaginable. Many who survive will wish they hadn't as they deal with massive burns over their entire bodies and the repercussions of possible exposure to radiation from the spacecraft.

Even worse, this extraterrestrial disaster brings in an even more sinister danger in the form of ONYX, a top-secret black government agency assigned to deal with alien visitors. Within an hour these black suited, armed to the teeth government goons move into town, establishing a quarantine throughout the area and constructing a bogus story about a Palestinian terrorist armed with biological weapons in order to keep the media at bay. Collier gradually slides from confusion into outright hostility as the soldiers under the command of Colonel Mark Anderson implement increasingly totalitarian measures to insure secrecy regarding the crashed saucer. Secondary casualties start to mount as disaffected townspeople resort to violence after suffering through a declaration of martial law, confiscation of firearms, restricted access to their places of business and their injured family members, and a total media blackout in the town which includes restricted use of telephone service. As ONYX members turn up dead, the military fights back against the town by killing or arresting troublemakers. "Fireworks" is a carefully crafted account of the slow descent into anarchy by one town faced with an unthinkable situation. Throughout it all, the huge saucer looms in the lakebed: a silent, metallic behemoth unwilling to give up its secrets to either the townspeople or the ONYX agents.

"Fireworks" is more a character study than a story about extraterrestrial visitation. For most of the story, the saucer simply fades into the background as the various characters attempt to cope with meddlesome government interference in their daily lives. How would you act if the government declared martial law in your town? How would you cope with food shortages and stony-faced silence from government agents nervously fondling automatic assault rifles? Would you suffer a similar fear if government agents wearing detox suits entered your house in search of firearms? Moore walks his readers through the reactions of certain individuals in Collier by employing shifting perspectives concerning the calamity. The first part views the disaster in Collier through the eyes of police chief Frank Osborn, a man who tries to keep the peace between the townspeople and the soldiers even though he often feels rage about what happens in his town. The second section views the deteriorating conditions in town through Karen Donovan, a young divorcee working as a teacher in Collier. The final part of the book finds Moore utilizing one of the soldiers in ONYX to show how the game plays out. There are, of course, numerous other minor characters floating through the pages of "Fireworks," but it is these three people's perceptions about Collier that tell the story.

Moore's book suffers from several noticeable problems. First, the author tends to write sentences that frequently hinder the story's flow. For example, and I'm just pulling this off the top of my head, he describes in detail that a "Jurassic Park" cup used to hold a drink came from a convenience store. Why? I don't know, since it has little to do with the situation. Second, there are a lot of errors in this book, editing errors that a little proofreading may have easily prevented. Finally, there are continuity errors in certain situations. Overall, I don't think these problems fatally mark the book, as "Fireworks" delivers with good character development, a healthy dose of violence, and a nifty ending. My opinion about this book definitely inspires me to read "Under the Overtree" soon, and any story that makes you wish to read other stuff from the same author can't be all that bad.