Insanity, Illinois

Killer toasters, remote controls with attitude, refrigerators with apenchant for gobbling pooches...just another mundane day for ace reporter Savannah "Savvy" McKinnon at the Global Query, the country's sleaziest tabloid.Only something about all the reports of appliances gone crazy catches her eye:all the calls seem to have come from the same town in Illinois, a normally peaceful borough called Meridian.Nabbing the field assignment, Savvy heads for the town, forced to bringalong Terry, former football player, not-functioning-on-all-mental-cylindersGlobal photographer, finding events growing stranger by the minute. Meridian sitson an island in the middle of the Mississippi, only accessible by ferry.Trouble is, halfway across, she discovers the captain sitting naked in the pilot'scompartment eating an apple and unaware he is even on a boat. After aforced landing, Savvy finds the town in no better frame of mind. The local doctoris wandering around in a foil space suit, an old woman is being menaced by electronics and a college girl is being chased by green elephants. otherthan that things are pretty much normal.Except for the body of the local police officer slumped over his desk witha bullet lodged in his brain.Is this tied in with a food plant testing "super wheat" and the annualapple festival? Savvy is determined to find out.INSANITY, ILLINOIS, the third (well, actually the second in the series overall) book upon which SCI FI Channel's now defunct series The Chronicleis based, is an afternoon's worth of escapism and pure entertainment. Theprose snap, crackle and pops and pages rush by. The budding relationship betweenthe lead and her older mentor begins to gather momentum and some of thequips are sharp as a spinster's tongue. Hopefully ACE will show more sense thanSCI FI and bring readers more in the series.--Howard Hopkins...

Reporter Savvy Skye works for a sleazy tabloid. Investigating a stack of nutty calls, she discovers an island in the Mississippi where everything has gone crazy. There's a murder and a mad doctor and a gentic engineering firm and a possible plague of insanity. A very fast, fun read. I'm looking forward to more adventures with Savvy Skye!

Remeber sitting in front of the TV on Saturday morning and watching Scooby Doo? Sumner's News from the Edge books provide the same kind of chills, fun, and not-quite-unbelievable action in a grown up package. This time spunky tabloid reporter Savvy McKinnon faces a town where everyone has gone insane on the same day. Is it a outbreak of disease, or is it all just a coverup for murder? One thing is certain: Savvy is as full of sly humor and charm as ever. I love her new sidekick!

Like the first book in the series, this is a mystery book with only a touch of science fiction. In fact, there's so little sci fi in this one that it makes me wonder why anyone would put it on the sci fi shelves. It really doesn't matter. What matters is -- Savvy's back! This time Savvy is out to figure out what's driving a whole town mad. The plot involves poison apples, genetic engineering, the CDC, and a cute coworker with more looks than brains. Savvy continues her wry observations about herself and others. It's funny, breezy, and interesting. A great cosy.