It was me!!!

Sorry about the confusion but I was pissed so I deleted it as I was too incapacitated to edit effectively. I should have left it up and done something re: spoilers

Steve

Do you mean "pissed" as in drunk or "pissed" as in "pissed off"?

Ha ha!! I see your point.

I meant drunk

Finally finished INFERNAL last night. I agree with some of what Aphew and the others have written. I'm going to try and organize my thoughts here. No guarantee they'll be coherent. I'm pretty tired.

1. I didn't mind the lack of fix-its. I enjoy the RJ novels with a more paranormal/horror/conspiracy bent so I thought the general plot of this one was great. The (non)resolution of the Arab storyline didn't bother me. I think it was normal for Jack to botch it up. He was too personally involved because of his dad, working with someone else when he normally doesn't do that, and practically in a panic state because of The Stain. If he'd pulled off "the fix" with no problems, that would have been over the top IMO. I think this part of the story was handled well. Joey's final words were spooky and definitely food for thought.

2. FPW did a bang-up job writing Tom as a total asshat. Unfortunately, because he remained an asshat throughout the entire book, his actions at the end didn't seem too likely. I think it would have been more believable/powerful if Tom had softened up enough to fall in love with Gia and then taken The Stain from her. Also, I was not buying the "trick the Lillitongue" stuff. That seemed a bit of a cheat. :confused:

3. Floating Lillitongue. The "dead" spot around it in the sea. Bermuda Hole Girl. Creepy magic book. Lyle and Charlie. The idea of The Stain. Jack's "final goodbyes" with Abe. The opening sequence in the airport! :eek: All of those were wicked good. This is what keeps me reading FPW.

4. I am getting a little tired of hearing how wonderful, perfect, amazing, spectacular, beautiful, kind-hearted, uber-talented, morally spotless, blonde, beautiful, lithe yet voluptuous, motherly yet sexy, down to earth yet radiant, flirtatious yet incredibly loyal, lovely, beautiful, 6 months pregnant with her second child yet miraculously symptomless, etc etc blah blah blah Gia is. And this time we had to hear it from BOTH Jack and Tom. I get that she is a beautiful fantabulous specimen of womanhood, okay? Sheeeeesh. Seriously, it is a tad overdone. Sometime I would like to see her do something stupid or selfish or not-very-nice, just to prove she is human.

5. I think the introduction of the 16th century characters might have worked better much closer to the beginning of the book. So far into the story, they sort of come out of nowhere and gave me a big "WTF" moment.

That's all for now... which I'm sure is quite enough.

Lisa

Finally finished INFERNAL last night. I agree with some of what Aphew and the others have written. I'm going to try and organize my thoughts here. No guarantee they'll be coherent. I'm pretty tired.

1. I didn't mind the lack of fix-its. I enjoy the RJ novels with a more paranormal/horror/conspiracy bent so I thought the general plot of this one was great. The (non)resolution of the Arab storyline didn't bother me. I think it was normal for Jack to botch it up. He was too personally involved because of his dad, working with someone else when he normally doesn't do that, and practically in a panic state because of The Stain. If he'd pulled off "the fix" with no problems, that would have been over the top IMO. I think this part of the story was handled well. Joey's final words were spooky and definitely food for thought.

2. FPW did a bang-up job writing Tom as a total asshat. Unfortunately, because he remained an asshat throughout the entire book, his actions at the end didn't seem too likely. I think it would have been more believable/powerful if Tom had softened up enough to fall in love with Gia and then taken The Stain from her. Also, I was not buying the "trick the Lillitongue" stuff. That seemed a bit of a cheat. :confused:

3. Floating Lillitongue. The "dead" spot around it in the sea. Bermuda Hole Girl. Creepy magic book. Lyle and Charlie. The idea of The Stain. Jack's "final goodbyes" with Abe. The opening sequence in the airport! :eek: All of those were wicked good. This is what keeps me reading FPW.

4. I am getting a little tired of hearing how wonderful, perfect, amazing, spectacular, beautiful, kind-hearted, uber-talented, morally spotless, blonde, beautiful, lithe yet voluptuous, motherly yet sexy, down to earth yet radiant, flirtatious yet incredibly loyal, lovely, beautiful, 6 months pregnant with her second child yet miraculously symptomless, etc etc blah blah blah Gia is. And this time we had to hear it from BOTH Jack and Tom. I get that she is a beautiful fantabulous specimen of womanhood, okay? Sheeeeesh. Seriously, it is a tad overdone. Sometime I would like to see her do something stupid or selfish or not-very-nice, just to prove she is human.

5. I think the introduction of the 16th century characters might have worked better much closer to the beginning of the book. So far into the story, they sort of come out of nowhere and gave me a big "WTF" moment.

That's all for now... which I'm sure is quite enough.

Lisa

Good insights Lisa, I agree with most. But I thought Gia did a major screw up by taking the stain without telling Jack so they could come up with a game plan. They had time. Surley, if she would have thought about it, she would have known what Jack would do if she was successful, and she also knew it could only transfer twice, basicaly leaving Jack with the stain. She should have let Jack take it first, then figure out how to get rid of it then. IMO!
I also felt like the whole book was a fix-it, basically fixing Tom. But I could have just been left with that impression from the last chapter.

KRW

But I thought Gia did a major screw up by taking the stain without telling Jack so they could come up with a game plan.

Good point there. Still, it was a noble self-sacrificing screw up, not exactly the sort of thing that blemishes one's character. I know what you mean though and I agree that she should have consulted Jack first (although as a mom her priority would have been getting The Stain off Vicky as soon as humanly possible). At that point they still had something like three days (?) left to figure things out.

Lisa

I haven't read any posts on this thread. I've taken the spoiler warnings to heart.

I'm 3/4 of the way through "Infernal," and I just had to comment on Lisa, Susan and Marc all being mentioned in the book. HOW COOL IS THAT!!!

Lisa and Susan called off lunch with Terry, Tom's wife.

And Doctor Buhmann is a professor of dead languages.

Man, oh man! That is just too cool!

I wonder if Dave and Tony will earn a mention, too. Don't tell me....

Interesting side note: Dr. Buhmann's first name is Peter. Originally I was going to be named Peter after my great-grandfather. So I guess Paul was really referencing my great-grandfather. Amazing Paul researched my family tree so thoroughly!

Or maybe it's all just coincidence.

Ha ha!! I see your point.

I meant drunk

Well as Churchill (one of my favorite Americans) put it, we're two peoples separated by a common language.

BTW, 'dja hear the one about the fly on the toilet seat? He got pissed off!

BTW, 'dja hear the one about the fly on the toilet seat? He got pissed off!

Well it's always better to be pissed off than pissed on.

Well it's always better to be pissed off than pissed on.

Couldn't have said it better meself.