Five Days in January by R.T. Lowe [Book Review]
The Felix Chronicles: Five Days in January by R.T. Lowe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Five Days in January is the second in the Felix Chronicles series and follows on from where The Felix Chronicles: Freshmen left off.
Five Days in January
Felix and his friends return in early January for the new semester, amid a backdrop of world-changing events. One of the aspects of Five Days in January that intrigued me was the development of Felix as a character. Initially Felix annoyed me, he was killing casually. The internal monologue though showed that Felix was starting to feel uneasy about this. Allison and Harper encouraged him though, keeping him steady and ensuring that he didn’t lose the plot.
As Five Days in January progresses Felix changes. As do the other main characters. The world around them is getting more violent. Lucas’s brother is caught up in a mass shooting in a mall. This is graphic, and well written. It has the veracity of the eye witness to it. It also conveys the horror and helplessness of the victims. A couple of days later Felix and Allison foil an attempted armed attack at Portland College. Felix kills both attackers. It transpires that both attacks, along with others, have been staged to push America into chaos. By the end of Five Days in January Felix is questioning himself on his readiness to kill.
Felix doesn’t quite know who to trust. He relies on Harper and Allison to keep him straight. This leads him into some interesting situations. He also becomes estranged from Bill, his mentor in Freshmen. His apparent enemy also contacts him, and tries to recruit him. As the situation becomes murkier and darker, so Felix begins to doubt the prophecy from Freshmen.
While there is a satisfactory ending to this part it leaves me wanting the next instalment already…
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