A. L. Brooks is a widely fluctuating author for us. On one
hand we’ve disliked some of her characters immensely and on the other, we’ve totally
loved some of her work. So she’s a hit or miss. This book is a totally hit for
us.
Four aging cousins – Reed, Val, Mary and Sunny – are living
out their creaky days in Hazy Days Nursing Home. They are
not particularly thrilled about this turn of things given that they were once
superheroes with special powers. But their powers just abandoned them and their
bodies aged suddenly. Their government handler, Agent Geena Fox, insisted on
taking care of them and signed them into Hazy Days with full payment made for
twenty years. Six years down the line, Reed, Val and Sunny feel twinges of
their powers returning.
Around the same time, Agent Fox is
assigned a rookie partner, Agent Leigh Walker, who is peppy, eager, chirpy but
also daughter of a senator and doesn’t seem to have done all that great in her
class. Fox wants to get Walker out of her hair and sends her on what seems to
be a fool’s errand – find a person, Francesca (Fyre) Power, who has been
missing for six years with two sightings in the interim. Fyre is Reed’s sister
and one of the superheroine cousins.
Six years back the five cousins had
faced off against one more of their own, Val’s sister Jewel aka the cousin gone
rogue. While they got her down, everyone believes that Fyre died at that time. Except
that there was no body. Which makes Agent Fox hold on to the hope that Fyre is
not dead. A hope she clings on to because she’s nursed feelings for Fyre for
the past twenty years.
Stunningly, Agent Walker finds Fyre and
Agent Fox hears from Reed that Val, who’s always had a weird connection with Jewel,
believes that not only did Jewel survive their last fight, but she has come
back to wreck more havoc.
Agent Fox, with Fyre and Agent Walker
in tow, meets the Power girls and they set up training to see if the lost
powers can come back in their entirety to fight Jewel and finish her for good
this time.
Dana Chapman, a new adorable, dedicated
but nosy nurse, looks after the Power cousins (yes, that’s their common
surname) but is constantly trying to eavesdrop and know everything everywhere
blunders her way into the whole set-up and becomes an integral part of the
team.
This book is a complete entertainer.
All the characters are super-likeable and the antagonist is super- caricaturized and perfect. The conversations and banter between
the cousins is often hahaha funny. The challenges of aging bodies is written
with sensitivity and humour. There are two love stories: the decades-long
simmering one between Agent Fox and Fyre and fresh new one between Agent Walker
and Dana – and they both are awwww sweet. The pacing is perfect. The superpowers
(though not dreadfully original or unique) are well used in the dramatic and
tight situations.
Superheroes aging is being written in
more and more – though mostly they’re retiring in Marvel-verse and a next
generation is taking over – so her the feisty women regaining their powers and
coming back is fun. We enjoyed this one so much that we hope we get a few more
books with all eight women (the five cousins, two Agents and Nurse Chapman).
⭐⭐⭐☆★
