Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

It begins with the cover, the perfect red apple — forbidden fruit! — offered to the reader by perfect, pale hands. (Note the epigraph from Genesis: "But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it... ") It continues, and continues, with the blossoming relationship between the narrator, Bella Swan, and the physically perfect and mysterious Edward Cullen — who, as the back cover states, is a vampire.

The popularity of this book, and the upcoming movie release, have probably broadcast the basic plot: Bella, about sixteen, decides to relocate from her mom's home in scorching Phoenix to her dad's home in overcast Forks, Washington, where the aforementioned Edward and his equally beautiful and mysterious "siblings" are (rather poorly) attempting to pass as high school students. (The author wisely or foolishly stays away from close scrutiny of the practicality of this. How do deca... Read More

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Considering how popular Stephenie Meyer has become, it’s hard to imagine that her debut novel was only just released in 2005, because it seems like I’ve been hearing about the author for decades. The Host — Ms. Meyer’s first novel for adults — marks my introduction to the author’s charms and I can now see firsthand why Ms. Meyer is so popular.

Let's start with the setup. While reminiscent of the Body Snatchers films/book and The Puppet Masters, there are some key differences in The Host. One, in this story Earth has already been conquered, and has been for several years now. Also, Earth is only one of dozens of planets that have been similarly subjugated. Two, the ‘souls’ are a benign alien species and in their mind they believe they’ve done humanity a favor by getting ridding of... Read More

The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer

Stephenie Meyer changes it up fairly dramatically in The Chemist (2016), her second adult novel, where there is nary a vampire, werewolf or space alien to be found. It’s a rather pulpy but absorbing thriller in the vein of a Jason Bourne novel (to whom she’s dedicated this novel, among others). There’s no real speculative element here, other than perhaps some new developments in chemical-based torture and some startlingly smart dogs.

The narrator, a bright, rather repressed molecular biologist, was originally hired by a nameless government agency to do cutting-edge medical research, but ended up being pressured to use her medical skills to create biological compounds that cause severe pain without permanent physical damage, and then to use them for torture-assisted interrogation... Read More