This was a weird mix of disappointing and enjoyable. I really liked the first book, and I couldn’t wait to see what these characters did next. The characters were still great, but the plot and mystery in this one were just not quite there.
Nolan, his producer Ken, cameraman Pierre, and general ‘keep everybody on track’ person Molly are the creators of the Anomaly Files, a YouTube show where they explore mysteries and odd phenomena. The first book was a tense adventure story in the Grand Canyon where the crew gets trapped in a cave and ends up real close and personal with some of that odd phenomena. They BARELY mention any of that in this one – they’re just off to film another episode, with no PTSD or discussion whatsoever. So you definitely don’t have to have read The Anomaly to get this one, but if you read this one first you probably wouldn’t bother reading the actually good book in the series.
Nolan kind of tricks the crew into a trip to northern California to investigate some ancient walls that appear all over the world, with no clear purpose or builders. His ulterior motive is his ex-wife Kristy, an investigative journalist who’s there in the same small town to look into the disappearance of a local teen. Nolan and Kristy have been tentatively exploring reconciliation, and he thought she sounded weird on the phone, so off he goes.
There’s a lot of mysterious mist and cranky locals, Pierre disappears, and creepy things happen. Except I think the author thinks they’re creepier than they are, and that the explanation is all deep and disturbing and exploring the nature of reality, blah blah blah fishcakes. It all just feels very disconnected and meandering, which is such a shame after the last one!
So. Good to see these people again, but re-reading The Anomaly would have been more enjoyable. Alas.