East Coast Crisis

Hey all! Here I am with the second book review of the entire V novels. This one has got to be one of the best. . .ranking right up there with the first book, which should come as no surprise seeing that is was co-authored by the same person, A.C. Crispin. Here, she teams with Howard Weinstein and is allowed to take a lot more freedom than when she was restricted to the confines of the mini-series with the first book, but yet still capturing the essence of the V saga. East Coast Crises tells the same story as V - The Mini Series, and V - The Final Battle, only instead of focusing on the Los Angeles resistance, we meet a whole new group of rebels from New York. Like their west coast counterparts, our resistance fighters start out as a diverse group of individuals who, through the events of the visitors coming to earth, are slowly webbed together to become united and fight the new threat on our planet. The book wisely matches pace with the television mini-series and gives us plenty of familiarity by incorporating many of the same events - like watching one lucky cameraman be the first to go aboard the mothership, and later witnessing the televised sensation of the L.A. rebels exposing the alien commander John for what he really is. However, we have our own storylines here too, not to mention our own mothership hovering above New York with it's own crew aboard, who have the same nasty backstabbing ambitions as the one in California. One very smart idea was the involvement of this New York resistance and their contribution to the creation and distribution of the red dust which leads to a very warm and welcoming crossover appearance by several Californians (get the book to find out who!). And the ending was phenomenal, to say the least. What seemed to be like an obvious copycat ending involving balloons and an airforce base diversion, turned into a fast paced rescue operation involving a sky fighter and two sets of trains! Wow! I was literally ripping through the pages! A thoroughly entertaining read - familiar yet very original. I highly recommend it.

This was a good book. I first read it back in 1984. It's about a New York resistance group called White Christmas. It opens with the Vistors, led by Roger, the commander of the New York Mother Ship, and his second-in-command, Angela. Lisa, one of those on the New York Mother Ship, is lied to and told that they've come to Earth on a peaceful scientific mission. That's not true. The Visitors are here to conquer us without a fight. The two miniseries were the pilots for the short-lived 1984-85 television series. It's mentioned in the Larry Niven-Jerry Pournelle science fiction novel Footfall but not in the 1996 science fiction movie Independence Day. Read this book and Footfall.

I really enjoyed this book as a 13-year-old, but I haven't re-read it as an adult. For those who have seen the NBC miniseries "V", it's the story of the same events, only told about a New York resistance group