Review: Big Bug Trouble in Angel City
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 15, 2013
This is a sci-fi novel, well-written in the first-person narrative voice of Lacey, an attractive, aspiring young actress who lives in Los Angeles, works part-time as a barista, hangs with friends, and drives a pink Caddy. Wannabe actresses are often depicted as dim-witted and naive, unequipped for survival. Lacey proves otherwise. When L.A. is invaded by gigantic alien cockroaches, she goes to war, quoting Lao Tzu and Machiavelli, improvising weapons based on in-depth knowledge of entomology and pest control methods (dad was in the business).Strange things happen in this book and, inasmuch as it is only volume 1 of a series, they only go from normal to bad to worse; no happy ending.At first, I thought it was intended as humorous, misled, in part by this description of a chick who enters Lacey's bar ("a man magnet, stick-thin, long straight thick blonde hair, probably enhanced by extensions, big silicone tatas, and large blue vacuous eyes"), visits the restroom, and is disemboweled by an unseen monster. What I took as dark humor was actually only the beginning of big bug trouble in L.A.The plot unfolds as Lacey experiences signs of unruly nature (meteors, earthquakes, thunder), weird local events (spooky noises, bad odors, plumbing problems, black mists), odd sightings (space ships, large insects), news reports of large bugs and warnings to avoid.She eventually experiences the effects of alien invasion first-hand, moving through a landscape filled with human corpses, hiding, escaping, and taking up arms against the onslaught. Toward the end, she kills a bug, fashions a disguise from bug remains, visits the bug lair, moves among the invaders, and hitches a ride on one of their craft.What happens next? In the final chapter, the story is left unresolved, though Lacey states her determination to pursue the foe by saying, "I was Lacey and my business was pest control."Was I supposed to laugh?