Blurb
Telepathy creates
as many problems as it solves, as most of the members of the secret
organization x0 would admit. When new member Lola discovers another
group of telepaths with a completely different approach, those
problems multiply at the speed of thought.
Soon,
Lola’s family and friends are in danger. Lucky for her, she’s not
your average budding psychic. Each person with whom she is close has
a special gift of their own. That’s good, because it’s going to
take every power they possess to keep this other group from
succeeding with their plan to eradicate x0.
Excerpt
“The
way your mom describes how you see the future, it is so cool. Please.
Touch me first. I want to know what’s going to happen to me.”
Xuha made one of his exaggerated comic faces, this time a look of
amplified eagerness.
Ariel
directed a fierce look of annoyance at her mother.
“We
are in the middle of a crisis here,” her mom responded. “So we’ve
now got a ‘no secrets’ policy in this house. I’ve told everyone
everything I know because we have to work together.”
“That
will not be possible,” the blind Irish man said from the place
where he had settled in on the couch.
Lola
looked at this man named Cillian more closely. He was a tall,
unusually attractive man in his mid-forties, with a rich brogue and
the demeanor of someone of wealth and importance. He spoke like he
was accustomed to being listened to.
“I
beg your pardon?” Lola said as politely as she could.
“Ariel
will need to be selective about what she tells you. It’s a pity
that you chose to share her feyness with this entire group, but she
and I will find ways to manage that damage. She needs to check with
me before she says anything.”
Lola
reminded herself that she was tired. Hungry. Under a lot of stress.
And not used to strangers in her own house telling her what to do.
She tried to soften her voice before she spoke, but she didn’t do a
very good job of it.
“Ariel
is my daughter and she will do no such thing. Her entire family is in
danger and needs her help. What she does or doesn’t do is not your
concern. I’m not even sure why you are here, but you may stay if
and only if you don’t think it is your prerogative to tell us what
to do.”
The
rest of the room went silent.
My
Review
Lola
Zeitman is geophysicist who works for an oil company in Texas. She is
also a telepath. She can read the thoughts of others as well as
shielding her own thoughts from being overheard.
Lola’s
eldest daughter Ariel can see the future—well, actually,
alternative futures. Her middle child, daughter Teddie, can travel in
the astral plane, leaving her physical body behind while sending her
energy body to distant locations. Zane, Lola’s teenage son, has a
different talent; he can morph his face and overall appearance to
mimic other people. Meanwhile, Lola’s beloved husband Alex can slow down
or accelerate his personal experience of time. This makes him a
dynamite athlete, as well as helping him get through boring or
painful experiences.
A
family of superheroes? Hardly. Each of these powers has serious
limitations. Sherrie Cronin has succeeded in creating a normal, close
knit family who just happen to have talents that just might save the
world—but only if they work together, and reach out to other
specially-abled individuals around the globe.
In
One Too, Sherrie
Cronin’s surprisingly believable science fiction novel, the focus
is not so much on superhuman powers as on the moral power an
individual can bring to bear to fight evil. The fact that Lola and
her family have these varied talents is less important than the way
they use them. Their opponent is an uncomfortably familiar
international news organization, Reel News, dedicated to stirring up
conflict for profit. Warren Moore, the CEO of this massively
influential company, has assembled a group of male telepaths to help
him in this mission. The monads, as he calls them, are well-paid to
ferret out stories that can advance Warren’s agenda. They
accurately sense and report the fears of the public so the Reel News
can amplify and exploit those fears.
As
the story opens, Warren tries to use Lola to do just that—to
make her pacifism appear ridiculous. However, during the interview,
one of his monads recognizes her powerful telepathic capabilities.
Warren’s goals shift, becoming far more dangerous to Lola and her
family. He will stop at nothing, not even murder, to either eradicate
or control Lola and her loosely knit group of fellow telepaths, x0.
I really enjoyed One Too. Although it has many characters, the author manages to make them distinct and sympathetic. Even Warren, the villain, has some positive qualities. The monads vary according to their personalities and the cultures to which they belong. I loved the fact that the heroine was a middle-aged mother of grown kids, not to mention a professional scientist. Both the concept and execution of this novel eschew the genre stereotypes that make many books so depressingly predictable.
I
also appreciated the global scope of One Too.
Though it begins in Texas, the book takes the reader all the way to
South America, and ultimately, to Antarctica. Characters hail from
Argentina, from Ireland, from Thailand, from Nigeria, from Turkey,
even from Bhutan.
I
have only two, relatively minor criticisms of the novel.
First, I felt the pacing was too even. The book features a variety of
crises, but somehow the narrative flow didn’t make those stand out
for me. Though Lola and Alex have a terrifying brush with death near
the end of the book, this didn’t seem any more urgent than their
earlier, less perilous escapes from the clutches of Warren’s
organization. This may be due to the fact that by the end of the
book, the reader has become accustomed to the ingenious ways that
different characters, with different abilities, pool their talents so
that the strength of one offsets the weakness of another. I’d come
to expect they’d succeed, so this reduced the tension.
My
other concern is that perhaps the author makes her personal political
and moral perspective too transparent in this tale. It’s clear from
the preface and the afterward in this novel that One Too
(which is part of the series 46 Ascending) has a particular agenda. I
agree wholeheartedly with Ms. Cronin’s views, but other readers
might find the way she wears her political heart on her sleeve to be
annoying. It might even be enough to make them put down the book.
I
understand that in some sense, the author views this novel as a way
of changing the world, if only in a small way. For instance, she is
donating a percentage of all sales from the book to Amnesty
International (an organization I also try to support). It’s
difficult to be subtle about something you believe strongly. Still,
from a reader’s perspective, it might be better to make the
messages a bit less obvious.
Overall,
though, I’m really happy I volunteered to read and review this
novel. I hope that Ms. Cronin’s tour brings her many more readers.
About
the Author
She published her
first science fiction short story long ago, and then waited a lot of
tables while she looked for inspiration for the next story. When it
finally came, it declared to her that it had to be whole book,
nothing less. One night, while digesting this disturbing piece of
news, she drank way too many shots of ouzo with her boyfriend. She
woke up thirty-one years later demanding to know what was going on.
The boyfriend, who
she had apparently long since married, asked her to calm down and
explained that in a fit of practicality she had gone back to school
and gotten a degree in geophysics and had spent the last 28 years
interpreting seismic data in the oil industry. The good news,
according to Mr. Cronin, was that she had found it at least mildly
entertaining and ridiculously well-paying The bad news was that the
two of them had still managed to spend almost all of the money.
Apparently she was
now Mrs. Cronin, and the further good news was that they had produced
three wonderful children whom they loved dearly, even though to be
honest that is where a lot of the money had gone. Even better news
was that Mr. Cronin turned out to be a warm-hearted, encouraging
sort who was happy to see her awake and ready to write. "It's
about time," were his exact words.
Sherrie Cronin
discovered that over the ensuing decades Sally Ride had already
managed to become the first woman in space and apparently had done a
fine job of it. No one, however, had written the book that had been
in Sherrie's head for decades. The only problem was, the book
informed her sternly that it had now grown into a six book
collection. Sherrie decided that she better start writing it before
it got any longer. She's been wide awake ever since, and writing
away.
Author Social Media
Links
Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/cinnabar01
Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077NYTNSJ
Sherrie
will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner
via rafflecopter during the tour.
