Jennifer Estep, Karma Girl

Karma Girl

Jennifer Estep

Berkley, May 2007, $14.00

ISBN: 0425215113

After two years of exclusively seeing one another, Expos investigative reporter Carmen Cole and construction worker Matt Marion are ready to marry today at the Forever Inn in Beginnings, Tennessee, although she worries that her beloved seems distracted. However, at their room, Carmen finds Matt straddled by her best-friend-since-fourth-grade, Karen Crush. As painful as that betrayal is, she is horrified to learn he is superhero Machinator and she is his archenemy uber-villain Crusher. Irate by the betrayals, Carmen vows to expose the secret identities of all the superheroes and supervillains.

On an obsessed quest, she travels home to Bigtime, NY, to begin her odyssey starting with Travis "Tornado" Teague of the Fearless Five; after being outed he commits suicide. The Terrible Triad wants her to expose the rest of the Fearless Five, make that Four, so hey kidnap her, giving her a choice to uncover the secret identities of Striker and the Fearless Five or being the subject of a horrific experiment. Carmen accepts the terms of exposing Striker, but agrees only to buy time. She tracks Striker and though vowing no more super love affairs in her life, she is falling in love, but first she must expose the Terrible Triad once she gets past her demotion to the society pages.

This is a wild comic book romance starring a delightful heroine who finds vengeance quite sour tasting. The fast-paced storyline never slows down as superheroes and supervillains make for a Bigtime of fun for readers who appreciate a zany, over-the-top fantasy.

Harriet Klausner