The follow up novel to the super awesome Streams of Babel. I liked most of it -- especially because all the of the characters from the first book were back. Well, all of the main ones. Plum-Ucci threw in a few twists, including some heartbreaking ones that kept the plot going. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with how neatly she tied up all the strings at the end. I don't necessarily think she could (or should) have written another book, but I felt like everything worked out too well in the end. Otherwise, it's a good follow up book. ( )

I was handed this ARC with the directive: "Read this, I really want to know what you think." Someone knows how to woo me!

I had never heard of Carol Plum-Ucci before, but she's on my radar now!

A New Jersey resident, and Young Adult author, Plum-Ucci has been the recipient of countless awards, including, but not limited to, the Michael L. Printz Honor, Edgar Allan Poe Award, ALA's Top 10 Best Books for Young Adults, and Amazon Editor's #1 Choice in Young Literature. She has had great success with titles such as The Body of Christopher Creed (2001), What Happened to Lani Garver (2003), and The Night My Sister Went Missing (2007). Her YA novel, The Body of Christopher Creed has been optioned by Dreamworks.

Carol Plum-Ucci takes on a topic and a perspective the likes of which I had never read before. Bio terrorism. And the victims are teenagers.

9/11 changed the world as we knew it. Many of us will forever remember where we were and what we saw that day. What about the teenagers who were suddenly thrust out of childhood? Their innocence officially ended. The boogie man of their grammar school years had a face and a name and he was hiding in a cave somewhere in the middle east planning his next attack. So, what if there was another attack?

Fire Will Fall takes place within a year after 9/11 and is about a group of teenagers, known to the world as the Trinity Four, who are the victims of a bio-terror attack on a small town in New Jersey. They drank tainted water that infused their body with a virus that have scientists on four continents working on a cure. Brothers, Scott and Owen, and the girls, Rain and Cora, are brought to a mansion out in the woods of the Pine Barrens. There they will be under 24/7 medical care, as well as government protection. The fictional USIC believes that "a dog does not return to its vomit," but they are wrong.

The Trinity Four are an intriguing group of characters, with this horrific attack bonding them. Still, they manage to find love and friendship and a sort of therapy among themselves. Scott, the oldest, takes on the patriarchal role for the group. A former EMT, he is usually first on the scene when any of the other kids are in need of medical attention. Owen is your typical nice guy, but also has a spiritual side and gives everyone a unique perspective on their situation. It doesn't seem like Owen ever truly got over his mother's death. Rain just wants to be normal. She wants to have friends, go to college, get married, have babies and be President of the PTA. If it weren't for this stupid virus, and the fact that her father is in the USIC. Cora is the quiet one. She lived with her grandmother until her mother came back from trying to save the world, addicted to drugs. Cora watched her mother die, yet is still haunted by her.

Outside the Trinity Four, we learn of the activities and illnesses of two more not-so-ordinary teenagers. These guys are v-spies, or virtual spies, tracking the whereabouts and chatter among the bio terrorism group known as ShadowStrike, and reporting their findings to a source at USIC (a fictional US Intelligence Agency). The two v-spies,known as the Kid and Tyler, read an ominous message, "Fire will fall on Colony 2." Trinity Falls was known as Colony 1, and Tyler and The Kid work around the clock to get more intelligence in order to prevent another attack. Where is Colony 2? What is "Fire"?

Tyler and The Kid were my comic relief in this book. They were as opposite as Felix and Oscar, yet they work and live well together. I loved bouncing back and forth between their lives and the goings on of the Trinity Four.

All the kids are on edge almost to the point of paranoia, and every adult seems suspicious. The Trinity Four not only worry about another attack, they are worried about what each day will bring -- another Headache from Hell, or another Throat from Hell, accompanied by high fevers and hallucinations. While one of them may be having a four-star day (symptom free) another may be down (bedridden). In the middle of all of this, they are trying to handle the trials and tribulations of simply being teenagers. There is lots of suspense, and some lighter moments to break the heavy storyline.

I really enjoyed this book. I wonder if I would have liked it even better had I read the first book. DOH! I did not know until after I finished Fire Will Fall that it was the second book in a series. The first book is Streams of Babel, and tells the story of the first bio terror attack that claimed the lives of two of the teens' mothers. Even though I wished I had read the first book, Fire Will Fall could be read as a stand-alone. I am assuming by the loose ends, that there will be another to follow.

PARENTS' NOTE: This book is classified as Young Adult, however, there are mature subjects in addition to terrorism: Rape, drug use,teen alcohol use, sex, oral sex, and masturbation. Not to spoil the book, but the teens don't necessarily engage in any of these activities, but they are a part of their conversations and memories. ( )

It was really good and interesting. It’s about bioterrorism and you don’t hear about that a lot. AHS/CC

What a great read. FIRE WILL FALL was just great fun, although I have to complain a little about it keeping me up too late at night. In fact, the tension was so great at one point that I had to resolve not to read the book too close to bedtime because it was freaking me out.

The story is a follow-up to a previous book --Streams of Babel-- that I haven't read, but which I am definitely going to track down. It's principally about 4 teenagers who are recovering from a poisoning that took place in the previous book where terrorists dumped toxic bio-hazards into their small town's water supply. Most of these teens lost parents and friends, and they are still barely surviving on a pharmaceutical cocktail of meds that have some odd side effects. They are brought to a restored house to recover with the assurance that they are out of danger from the terrorists. 'Dogs don't return to their vomit', they are told. BUT unfortunately that doesn't turn out to be the case as they just happen to have been settled near the next target site.

TALKING POINTS:::
I don't do "terrorists/spy" books, and I don't do popular thrillers (no Dan Brown for me), but maybe I should broaden my reading and take a look at more books in this genre, because I really enjoyed FIRE WILL FALL. I thought Plum-Ucci did a fabulous job with building tension and with differentiating the characters. In fact, I guess that's why I like the book: I got hooked on the characters and how they interacted. The mind-tingling excitement of trying to figure out who would die, was just delicious icing on that cake!

All good things said, this shouldn't be a book you pick up when your exhausted because the chapters are divided amongst 6 points of view, and first person at that. Everything flows brilliantly, but it won't be as much fun for you if you are tired and can't quite remember who is who.

NOTE: You absolutely do not have to have read the first book. This one stands on it's own.

Brilliant fun. A definite 'guilty-pleasure'. Enjoy!

Pam T~
(booksforkids-reviews) ( )