Frost Files - The Irresponsible Reader

Eye of the Sh*t Storm by Jackson Ford: Flash Floods, Electric Powers, and Teagan Lets Loose in Public

DETAILS:
Series: Frost Files, #3
Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date: April 27, 2021
Format: eBook
Length: 512 pg.
Read Date: July 20-24, 2023

And now I’m trapped under a collapsed bridge, in a burning van, having just taken a faceful of meth, while a biker gang shoots at me and my friends with automatic weapons.

We’ve all been there.

What’s Eye of the Sht Storm* About?

Obviously, spoilers for the previous book are going to come into play here…if you’re concerned about that, skip to the stars at the bottom and move on. Actually, I’ll make it easy for you: ★ ★ ★ ★. Proceed at your own risk.

It’s been two months since Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air, L.A. (and the rest of California) is still struggling to deal with the loss of infrastructure, lives, jobs, and sense of normalcy that had been ripped from them. Teagan and her team have resumed their work as best as they can.

The book opens just as a mission to uncover an illegal gun sales ring goes horribly awry—leading to my opening quotation. Before the team has a chance to recover from this debacle, they’re sent to investigate a strange occurrence that is right up their alley. A storage unit complex—the entire thing, from asphalt to walls to ceilings and everything in between—has become electrically charged. Technically, that’s impossible, right? But so are psychokinetics like Teagan and the earthquake-inducing little boy we met in the last book.

Teagan figures out a way to get her inside the complex and discovers the cause–another little boy. About the same age as the one she faced off with two months ago. But this boy is different—he’s scared. He’s not in control of his power at the moment because he just wants his dad and to get away from “the Zigzag Man” (whoever that is). Teagan knows her job is to bring the kid in and turn him over to the authorities. But she can’t do that—this boy, Leo, isn’t out to hurt anyone. He’s not trying to fry California or anything. He just wants his dad, and Teagan can’t imagine subjecting Leo to the experiments and testing that he’d be subjected to if she did her job.

So, she goes AWOL, hoping to reunite Leo with his family before she figures out what to do with her employers. She’s eventually tracked down by her friends—some agree to help her, some try to apprehend Leo. Things get messy from there. And they all learn pretty quickly that Leo was right to want to get as far away as humanly possible from the Zigzag Man.

Reggie

Of the group, the character we’ve spent the least amount of time with. This makes sense—she’s the “woman in the chair,” as Ned Leeds would put it. She’s their hacker, their supervisor, the one calling the shots from home base and doing what she can to dig up information for them in the field. She’s also in a wheelchair, limiting what she can do in the field (but she pushes those limits as often as possible).

This book solves the we-don’t-get-to-spend-time-with-Reggie problem by giving her several point-of-view chapters. When we’re not with Teagan, we’re with her. And I loved it—I’d take a Reggie solo story anytime. She’s just a rich character—getting to focus on her and having some of her backstory filled in are just great. She had a pretty impressive résumé already, but what she accomplishes here proves that Teagan’s not the only impressive one on the team (that could be said for all of them, really, but I want to focus on Reggie).

Her future looks pretty different going into Book 4 than it has so far—but I’m looking forward to seeing what she does in this new stage of life. I predict things will look better for her within the next 400 pages than it does now.

I Didn’t Expect This To Come Up

There’s a subplot running through all this where Teagan deals with the come down from an accidental (and large) exposure to meth and struggles to experiment with it some more. This is due to the withdrawal symptoms she’s suffering, and also because it turns out that meth supercharges her abilities for a brief period and that sounds really handy right now.

Now, I don’t know how realistic all the non-superpower effects of meth and the temptation to use it again so soon are. But it feels real. And the fact that I have to clarify “non-superpower” does put us outside the realm of realism already.

Teagan goes through a lot in this book (and series), but the way she looks into the temptation of great power at a great cost and cannot shake it immediately was really well depicted and—so far—the most compelling. This temptation keeps calling her name, she’s able to justify/allllllllmost justify experimenting with the drug. And maybe giving herself over entirely to the addiction.

Teagan’s Growth

I reacted… poorly. Hey, just because I’ve been trying to think through my decisions doesn’t mean I’m perfect, OK?

This is already longer than I’d planned, so I’m going to be brief here—in my post about Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air I talked about Teagan’s growth in terms of power and maturity—and how far she has to go. That’s still present, but she’s making progress—and she’s aware of her need.

I think she gives herself more credit than she deserves in this quest up to this point—but she’s moving in the right direction. And who wants a perfect protagonist anyway?

So, what did I think about Eye of the Sht Storm*?

Over the past few years, I’ve become very familiar with the giant spurt of adrenaline you get after surviving something that should have killed you.

It always arrives around five minutes after I nearly die, beginning with a prickle on my arms, a delightful tremor in my fingers. Then a feeling of well- being, flooding through me, quickly growing to a kind of hysterical euphoria. It’s like an old friend by now. One I’ve been hanging out with for so long that I know everything they’re going to do before they do it.

There was a point where my eReader was at risk of flying through a window. Thankfully for the sake of marital harmony (and my poor eReader), that didn’t happen (my notes read, “No no no no no no no no,” and I was able to limit it to that). Frost has demonstrated that no character is safe, the status quo is not respected, and that readers should not think that anything is settled. This is not a bug, this is a feature. Not necessarily one that promotes emotional health in a reader, however, but it’s a feature.

What Ford’s cavalier attitude toward my blood pressure does is heighten every moment, intensify every conflict (even if it doesn’t seem like it’s time for a major happening), and keeps you focused throughout as you speed through the pages.

I’ve been annoyed with myself for not staying on top of this series since the summer of 2020—and now that I’m almost caught up—I’m even more annoyed with myself. But for now, I’m just happy I got this posted so I can move on to the next book in a few days.

If you’re into super-hero-adjacent kind of stories, this series is a must-read. Could you do okay by starting with this book? Sure—Ford won’t let you get lost and will help you get oriented in the midst of things. But do yourself a favor and start with the first book and do it soon.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air by Jackson Ford: Whimsical Title Aside, Ford is NOT Playing Around

By HCNewton

On July 18, 2023

In Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air

by Jackson Ford

DETAILS:
Series: Frost Files, #2
Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date: July 7, 2020
Format: eBook
Length: 544 pg.
Read Date: June 19-21, 2023

There is no good reason that it’s taken me three years to read this book given how much I enjoyed its predecessor. But it did, and now I can answer the question:

What’s Random Sht Flying Through the Air* About?

Teagan and her team are back on course after the events of The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind, she’s still haunted by those events (or, more specifically who was behind them). Still, they’re back in action as if they’d never been chased by the police, and have even added a new member to the team (and I’m so glad that Ford figured out a nice way to work him in) to the series.

Teagan’s no longer considering her team coworkers (coworkers by coercion, no less), but friends. She has plans to take cooking classes. That’s not all, she’s even trying to repair the disaster that is her friendship/budding romance. Things are looking up, basically.

Which means it’s time for things to start going wrong. And boy howdy, do they go wrong in a big way. One thing that Teagan, her team, and the shadowy government officials who employ them learned in the previous book, is that there are other people out there with abilities like hers.

For example, there’s this cute little kid—he’s smart enough that it’s a super-power in and of itself—he’s like Teagan, but his powers work best with rock, dirt, soil—basically, anything you focus on in Geology class. And he discovers that if he can access a fault line, he can do a whole lot. Between his power, his intelligence, and a complete lack of moral compass—this discovery isn’t good for anyone.

The question quickly becomes: can Teagan and the rest of her team stop him before mapmakers need to redo the Western coast of North America?

The Stakes

That last line wasn’t a joke—the stakes are literally that high in this one. This is a big jump—we go from a confused younger adult convinced he’s doing the right thing by killing a few people to literally risking several states and provinces? “Ford’s not really going to…oh, yes he is.”

It’s hard to imagine how the stakes could be higher (I’m a little nervous about the next two books), but this remained a very personal story. Amidst the threat of death and widespread destruction, the novel is about Teagan, the boy, and a few people in their immediate circle. Yes, the fate of millions hangs in the balance—but our focus never gets bigger than twenty people.

Personal Growth

At the end of The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind, Teagan’s in a better place than she began the novel in—she’s gained a little self-acceptance, has a better relationship with her team, and so on. But she’s essentially the same person. Which is both good and bad.

What we see in this novel is how much she needs to grow as a person—and as someone with abilities and knowing how/when/why to use them. She does grow a lot in these ways, as you’d hope. But we also see how far she still has to go. Sure, readers could tell that (like her rival) her abilities could be strengthened and improved in her debut—but I don’t know if I realized how far she had to go emotionally as I did this time.

It’s good to see that she is growing—and seems to be aware of her shortcomings, so we can expect to see more of it. Which is all we can ask for.

So, what did I think about Random Sht Flying Through the Air*?

This is just what you want in a super-hero-ish kind of book. There’s drama, there’s action—the kind that CGI wouldn’t quite render right—there’s comedy, there’s honest and brutal emotion. Come to think of it, that’s pretty much what I want in any kind of book (well, I don’t demand action in every one…but you know what I mean). There’s a depth to RSFTtA that TGWCMSWHM didn’t quite have, but it maintained the same voice.

Yeah, I talked about emotional growth and high stakes and all—but at the core of the book is still Teagan’s snarky inner monologue taking us through everything. She takes some hard hits physically, mentally, and emotionally through these events, but it’s still her voice talking us through them. So the book is still entertaining no matter what.

If Ford is going to up his game—and up Teagan’s as well—this much between books 1 and 2, I can’t imagine what’s in store for us in the next two books. But man, am I going to enjoy finding out. I do recommend grabbing the first one before diving in here, but it’s not essential. Either way, pick this up.

4 Stars
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

Pub Day Repost: The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind by Jackson Ford: The Title Says Almost Everything You Need to Know About this Rollicking Adventure

By HCNewton

On June 18, 2019

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind

by Jackson Ford
Series: Frost Files, #1

eARC, 496 pg.
Obit Books, 2019
Read: May 28 – 29, 2019

Not unlike James Alan Gardner’s All Those Explosions Were Someone Else’s Fault from 2017, the title, The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind tells you all the important things about this book that you need to know before picking it up — although I think this book does a better job of following through with the tone of the title throughout the book. The voice, the attitude and the defining characteristic of the protagonist (at least as most people are concerned) is all right there. If the title turns you off, don’t bother buying/borrowing this novel, you’re going to hate the experience. The same goes for the first few pages — if you’re not amused and/or intrigued by Teagan’s personality and narration within the first chapter, just stop and go find something else. If you’re amused and/or intrigued? You’ll be in for a good time. If you’re amused and intrigued? Well, my friend, settle back and enjoy.

Teagan Frost is our titular girl, and she…well can move sh…aving cream with her mind. She has psychokinetic abilities (not telekinetic, she’s touchy about that distinction) — or pk, as she calls is. Teagan will slowly describe her abilities to us as she has opportunity — and eventually will spell out to someone where those abilities came from (surprisingly far from the beginning — which I appreciated). But for the initial plot all you need to know is what the title said.

She’s part of a pseudo-governmental espionage team that acts a lot like judge and jury without bothering with the formalities. No one, or almost none of her team wants to be on it, but the shadow-y figure that calls the shots is forcing them all to be part of it (including Teagan — don’t get the idea that she wants to be some pk wielding super-hero/secret agent — she wants to work in a kitchen somewhere until she’s good enough to start her own restaurant). The rest of the team have various skills that prove handy in their tasks, but she’s the only one has any kind of extra-ordinary abilities. Actually, as far as anyone knows, Teagan is the only person alive who can do what she does.

That is, until a dead body is discovered — and the victim could not have been killed by anyone but a psychokinetic. Naturally, there’s a tie to both Teagan’s teams recent activities and the location they were in the night before. The police are looking for them (not that they have an explanation for how the victim died, but they expect someone can), and some of the higher ups in the government want to take care of Teagan without worrying about due process (those who live by the sword and all) — and if that “take care” involves dissection or vivisection so they can figure out how her pk was given to her . . . well, who’s to complain? Teagan doesn’t have a lot of time to clear her name, but she’s going to try. As are most of her associates — if she does down for this, they will to.

Time prevents me from talking about all the things I want to, but that should be enough to whet the ol’ appetite. It’s a fun book and not one you need to know much about first. There’s a lot of action, plenty of snark, some violence, some banter, some mystery, some heartbreak. There’s a very Cas Russel/Peri Reed feel to this book and this world. But something that feels entirely fresh at the same time. I’m not sure that’s technically possible, but it seems it. So it can appeal both to fans of Cas and Peri, as well as those who didn’t care for them/don’t know who they are.

There’s a lot of depth to the characters, a lot more than you’d expect — which is one of the great parts about this book. As you learn more and more about what’s really going on around the murder victims the more you learn about Teagan and her team/found family (ditto for Teagan, actually). There are plots revolving around romance and friendship plots that are legitimately surprising — in a pleasant way, nice to see someone going the way Ford does, making the choices he makes for his characters. While I’m on the subject, it wasn’t just in characterizations/relationships that Ford surprised me — he did it throughout. Even when I was saying “Well of course, ____ was really doing ___, there’s no other explanation” to myself, that was a heartbeat after I said, “What??!?! No, that can’t be right!” I’m not saying I couldn’t see anything coming, but the ratio of surprises to telegraphed moves comes out in Ford’s favor.

There are a number of X-Men parallels, going on here — all of which would appeal to Teagan (some of which she mentions). Which is a nice touch. It’s probably also something that deserves more space than I’m giving it — I’m stopping myself, because I think I could go a long way down this particular rabbit hole. I’d love to ask Ford about it.

Now, there’s one character that I think Ford messed up — he’s part of a government clean-up crew that comes to take Teagan into custody. For some reason, he hates Teagan with some sadistic vengeance, and isn’t afraid to tell anyone that. It’s senseless and motionlessness (yeah, I know sometimes people hate others for no reason — I can accept that in real life, I can’t accept it in fiction. There has to be a reason). Which is strange, as little as we understand this jerk, we know the murderer and the individual prompting them to act. Technically, we know more about the killer than we do about Teagan for most of the book. Which just makes the clean-up guy even stranger.

I expect in future installments, we’ll get an explanation for the hatred and I’ll shut up. But not until then. Ford may be playing a long game here, but this is a short game world. Ford’s set up a lot for future installments, really (you won’t figure out just how much until the end — unless you’re smarter than me, then maybe you’ll see some of it coming) — but that doesn’t stop this from being a wholly satisfying experience.

So much of the time when I’ve been reading lately I get wrapped up in evaluating a book (for good or ill), wondering why an author did this or that, and what that might mean for the book as a whole, what that might say about the writer, etc. There’s nothing wrong with that — at all. But every now and then, it’s nice to stop the critical thinking and just enjoy a book. I’m not saying I did that wholly (and my lengthy notes can testify to that) — but in a real sense I did. I got lost in Teagan’s voice, the action, and wondering just how far the killer (and the individual pushing him to be one) would go, and who’d be lost in the process. I didn’t worry about what I was going to write, but about what Jackson Ford had written. I appreciate that.

I think this is one that could be better on a second (and then maybe on the third) read, once you can take your time and not race to find out what happened, or be dazzled by Teagan’s personality. If I’m wrong, and Ford’s just razzle dazzle — well, you’re left with a fun read with snappy prose and an more-entertaining-than-most protagonist/narrator. Either way, The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind is a book I recommend without a hint of hesitation (if you pass the simple tests from my first paragraph).

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Orbit Books via NetGalley in exchange for this post — thanks to both for this.

—–

4 Stars

✔ A book with a curse word in the title.

The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind by Jackson Ford: The Title Says Almost Everything You Need to Know About this Rollicking Adventure

By HCNewton

On June 6, 2019

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind

by Jackson Ford
Series: Frost Files, #1

eARC, 496 pg.
Obit Books, 2019

Read: May 28 – 29, 2019

Not unlike James Alan Gardner’s All Those Explosions Were Someone Else’s Fault from 2017, the title, The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind tells you all the important things about this book that you need to know before picking it up — although I think this book does a better job of following through with the tone of the title throughout the book. The voice, the attitude and the defining characteristic of the protagonist (at least as most people are concerned) is all right there. If the title turns you off, don’t bother buying/borrowing this novel, you’re going to hate the experience. The same goes for the first few pages — if you’re not amused and/or intrigued by Teagan’s personality and narration within the first chapter, just stop and go find something else. If you’re amused and/or intrigued? You’ll be in for a good time. If you’re amused and intrigued? Well, my friend, settle back and enjoy.