Review: Wonderfully written...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 13, 2013
Thompson writes characters that a reader wants to know. The good guys are affable and fun. We get them on down time singing karaoke, eating and having beer and eating. Instead of wishing that Thompson would rush the action, those moments are fun with friends. Thompson very cleverly gives everyone a back story, no matter how brief. In one scene we have a grandmother with her grandson at an animal auction. Thompson tells us that her husband died in a flu epidemic but she is ready to move on and has her eye on someone. The hint into her is priceless because as the scene progresses and her grandson is in the path of danger our heart bleeds for her because we know she's suffered enough, don't take her grandson! There's an emotional investment that is invaluable in this sort of story.The plot-line is wonderful. Animals are turning on their owners and killing them. At the start of the novel a young corn detassler (and what young person in Michigan or Ontario wouldn't know all about corn detassling - often a teens first job here) finds a body in the field that has been attacked by emus and subsequently died of a stroke. The young woman puts her hand through his chest and the description is beautifully gory and yet not overly graphic which sounds perhaps a bit contrary. There is a solid and believable scientific base for the story and there are few superhero moments. These are good people doing their best.I do have a bit of a bone to pick with Thompson, the catty female. I hate the female that serves no real purpose but to be catty in a story and Rita is that character with bells on in "Chemical Attraction." The character designed to cause a minor stress between the characters. Especially in the case of this novel she came too late to be believed and only serves to counter-act the strong and smart female characters in this novel and shove women back into a weak and petty stereotype. We get it, Joe is hot. That's established. Any female in the novel would sleep with him in a heart-beat. Rita was just unnecessary."Chemical Attraction" was a fabulous read. If you like romantic thrillers in the spirit of Sandra Brown you cannot do better than this novel. It was a wonderfully written and plotted story.