(Books)Final Destination 'Series'

[Ivy]

First Death Found Them, Second Death Warned Them, Now It's Back To Finish Them...

Final Destination - Dead Reckoning - Author Natasha Rhodes
This novel takes place in Los Angeles, following the lead character, Jess Golden, who is the lead singer in a band called The Vipers. While performing at a local nightclub, Club Kitty, things begin to go wrong as the roof begins to cave in. Girders fall into the audience and on the stage, setting everyone in the club into panic. As everyone attempts to scramble from the doomed club, girders, chunks of the roof, glass, and band equipment all become weapons of death, taking down everyone in gruesome ways. But as one last chunk of roof drops down on Jess Golden, she blinks, and realizes that nothing of the sort has happened yet. She is still on stage performing one of the band's songs, the way they were when the first girder fell. As she freaks out, she gets herself and a few others kicked out of the club, leading to much argument outside in the alley. Seconds later, the entire club caves in, right next to the few survivors who were kicked outside. Realizing they've cheated Death thanks to Jess, they each feel different emotions towards her and the accident. Had she really had a 'premonition'? Or was she responsible for the club collapsing in the first place? Before she can prove herself innocent, the survivors begin to die, one-by-one in horrific and painful accidents. Soon enough, Jess realizes that Death refuses to take no for an answer.

Final Destination - Destination Zero - Author David McIntee
This novel takes place in Los Angeles, following the lead character, Patti Fuller, who works at a magazine called Borderlands Control. While boarding the South Hill Metroline with her boyfriend, Patti is suddenly caught up in an explosion on board the car she's in. Fire destroys everyone inside her car in an instant, but in an odd twist of fate, Patti realizes that she and her boyfriend, as well as a few others, have yet to board the doomed car of the Metroline. Patti begins to make a scene, blocking these few people from getting on board, and soon enough, it pays off. The stranded few begin to argue with her as the Metroline leaves the station, but seconds later, a horrible explosion is heard as a bomb goes off on the Metroline. Patti knows that what she experienced was more than a lucky dream, and as she slowly figures out that she, like countless in the past, has had a premonition, the few survivors begin to die in gory ways. Patti and her boyfriend Will become desperate to find a way to remove their names from "Death's List" in time, and while researching, Patti learns that her great-grandmother, Juliet Collins, also cheated death once, saving many from a house fire. As Patti slowly figures out how her great-grandmother cheated death for good, time becomes strained as her and Will's name end up at the top of the list.

Review - I love the character's in this story and how they are all connected in some way or another, but that is not why this is one of my favorites. If you love the "un-solved" case of Jack the Ripper and England back in the late 1800s', then you will the storyline and plot. The book jumps between 'Now' and the 'Past' when one of the characters, Patti, finds a connection in her family-tree that might explain why she had the horrible, un-explainable vision. How did her great-grandmother succeed in 'Cheating Death'? Can Patti figure out the patterns or will six-feet-under be 'Her Final Destination'? You will love the detailed descriptions and the creative imagination that Author David McIntee in-twines into this heart-pounding-breathe-taking-on-the-edge-of-every-page-book

Final Destination - End of the Line - Author Rebecca Levene
This novel takes place in New York, following a group of exchange students from around the world. The lead characters, Danny and Louise King, a pair or twins, also take part in the exchange program. While sneaking around at a closed amusement park, Danny has a horrific vision of the group of students on a subway that crashes. Spooked, Danny tries to shake the bad dream off, but the next day, he finds the group in the same position as they were in his vision, and realizes that they are on a doomed subway train. The train stops for no apparent reason, as it had in his vision, and as he tries to convince everyone to get off the train, another train is heard speeding up behind them. The group of exchange students, as well as their guide and another old man finally pull open the doors and scramble out into the subway tunnel and begin running to the front of the train. A sudden collision is suddenly heard, as Danny's gory vision plays out in real life. The group of survivors have cheated the Grim Reaper, but soon enough, Danny realizes that Death won't stop until they're all dead, each by terrible accidents. A mysterious nurse, Kate Shelley, also becomes mixed up in the events, leading to a dark and terrible truth.

Review - This was the first, and one of my two favorites of the Book 'Series'. Only mentioned in the last sentence of the summary, Kate Shelley is greatly involved and in-twined in this fight-or-flight novel. In the openning pages of the book, you read an Epilogue in which Kate Shelley is playing a deadly game with stolen medications with other Nurses in the Hospital that's under Construction. Kate must inject herself with a drug and see how far she can sprint before it kicks in and she hits the deck, however, Kate's heart stops beating - she was meant to die. And since she was around trained medical physcians, they managed to revive her, and that's what starts the untimely events of this book. Kate was supposed to be on the subway that collides and kills several, but due to the vision of a young man, Danny, she has cheated 'Death' twice. But 'Death' doesn't play fair, and you soon learn a secret, one that is as deadly as they come, and you drop your jaw at the final pages and the revelation that unfolds in the last few sentences...

Final Destination - Dead Man's Hand - Author Steven A. Roman
This novel takes place in Las Vegas, following five different characters: two newlyweds, a detective, a dancer, and a low-life who loves to gamble. Each has his or own unique story that continues to plague them with difficult events that ultimately lead up to their doomed trip in a glass elevator in one the tallest buildings in Las Vegas. As the elevator begins its descent, one of the characters, Allie Goodwin-Gaines, has a horrible premonition, in gruesome detail, that the huge glass elevator is going to begin to dislodge from its set rails before plummeting 200 stories down to the street, killing too many to count. Allie suddenly realizes she's still on board the elevator, and that it has yet to careen down to the streets below. In a panic, she and her husband, along with the other three, manage to escape the elevator. As the detective begins asking Allie questions, they all look down in time to witness the elevator falling from its railings, exploding into the cement 200 stories below. Allie becomes a prime suspect, and is thought to be a possible terrorist, but soon enough, all the other survivors begin to die in a horrific fashion. Allie and her husband Tom soon begin to think about what to do while under the careful eye of the FBI.

Final Destination - Looks Could Kill - Author Nancy A. Collins
This novel takes place in New York, following a group of models and a photographer. While attending a yacht party, one of the models, Sherry, has an unholy vision that the boat will explode, killing everyone onboard. In a panic, she manages to convince a few of her friends to stay off the boat as it leaves. As the accident plays out, a fiery chunk of debris lands on Sherry, putting her into a month-long coma and horribly scarring her body. When she awakes, she discovers that modeling will no longer be an option, and she discovers just how thoughtless her friends are when they give her a mask to hide her burned face. As she attempts to take her own life, she is stopped by Death itself, who offers to repair her burns in exchange for her services- he wants her to open the doors needed to kill the remaining survivors of the boat wreck in accidents. As each survivor dies, Sherry's scars slowly begin to heal, leaving Sherry feeling cold and evil. Is evil more than skin deep?

Review: Based off the Super-Natural Thrillers of the Final Destination Franchise, these books show Death has no ends, the un-stoppable 'Force' comes with the fury of Hell's Amry, showing no mercy to anyone caught in It's path. If you enjoyed the Trilogy that created the idea of Death, It's list, and that It can't and won't be defeated; then you will love these books that are just as intense and suspensful. However, these books are now only available online at such places as 'Amazon' or 'Barnes and Noble', and with the change of the seasons, comes the flucuation of prices. Right now the books can be priced from a low $1.99 to $27.98, and that's an amazing deal. Due to the fact that the Franchise is releasing a Fourth Installment in the 'Destination Series', the prices of these books will dramatically increase because their availabity will decrease. In 2006, when the 3rd Final Destination hit theaters, the books jumped from regular or decreased Market-Price to a whopping $70.00 minimum. The Authors that decided to take the Movies to the next level and create their own scenarios, characters, and write about their gory, un-timely death in their primes; have started a ring of events. Some of these books, written by different authors, usually start off, or mention the one's before it. I have complete two-seperate reviews for my absolute favorites, "The End of the Line" and "Destination Zero", which you will find underneath their summaries.

[Ivy]

If I had to chose between my two favorites, it would be the first one I ever took a look at, 'End of the Line'. The Author has amazing talent at turning your mind and jump starting your imagination. She has the ability to make you feel as though you're one of the characters in the book, and that your clock is ticking down - hour by hour, minute by minute, and second by second. I also love how 'Death' has chosen someone to do It's dirty work, making them kill off the survivors one horrible death at a time, without their knowledge. The fact that the stories true plot and the Climax is within the last few pages and paragraphs of the novel, and that the last sentence sums up everything about Death into a few single, jaw-dropping, explosion of words...