Those Who Walk in Darkness

Soledad O'Roark #1

by John Ridley

John Ridley's Those Who Walk In Darkness is a futuristic, sci-fi thriller filled with superheroes and super cops in a battle between good and evil. Soledad O'Roark is a tough, no-nonsense rookie on an elite team of police officers whose sole mission is to capture and deport metanormals. Metanormals are humans who have altered genetic traits which enable them to perform extraordinary feats, like fly, manipulate elements (metal, fire, water), become intangible (move through solid objects), etc. However, the most feared and deadly of the metanormals is the telepath who can enter the mind and take total control of one's actions, emotions, and thoughts with little to no warning. If you are picking up a strong "X-Men" vibe, then you are right on point.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Superheroes, Urban Fantasy, Crime, Fantasy, Mystery

320 pages, Hardcover

First published May 20, 2003

About the author

John Ridley IV (born October 1965)[2] is an American screenwriter, television director, novelist, and showrunner, known for 12 Years a Slave, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He is also the creator and showrunner of the critically acclaimed anthology series American Crime. His most recent work is the documentary film Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982–1992.


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This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.

Reviews

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd guess anyone who has any history in "comic-book-dom" (especially the "Marvel Universe") when reading this book will find it difficult not to draw a few parallels with the X-Men's struggles.

(By the way, this book is so heavy with certain political baggage and hovering racism that I doubt most will [be able to:]miss those either. Fine they're there. That's all I care to say on or about that. If you're getting your instruction or education on political issues or having your views influenced by a book about mutants and super-beings there are more problems than the views of a comedian, actor, film maker, writer of superhero fiction being in a novel here.)

There are some rather standard plot points here. They aren't badly handled and the book itself isn't a bad read. Soledad is a "driven" officer (read obsessed) who has had her sights on being part of M-Tac (the police squad responsible for "serving warrants" on metanormals) since just after the disaster that brought about the events of the story. She faces a lot of challenges from death to the political machinations of her superiors. Not a hard book to read and the story works "sort of" within it's given reality (especially if you have a comic book background.)(there are some problems that bug me, I'll mention a couple later, under a "Spoiler Warning"). I do plan to pick up the next book and see where he goes with the storyline.



I'm going to discuss a couple of annoying points below, but they will require at least some spoilers, so if you want absolutely no spoilers...please don't read below the spoiler warning. Seems like common sense doesn't it? :)

*****SPOILER WARNING SPOILERS BELOW LINE *****

The book begins after an "event" where a "metanormal" criminal (super criminal) took San Francisco hostage. That kind of thing had happened before and one or other of the metanormal heroes (superheroes) had always "saved the day". People barely thought about it, the superheroes would save them...only he/she didn't, and San Francisco was mostly destroyed. The President of the United states issues an Executive Order that all metanormals lose their U.S. citizenship......wait a minute.


I'm sorry, but no matter how badly we had/have fractured the Constitution the President can't simply issue an executive order and revoke the citizenship of any "group" of American citizens. I suppose that didn't bother a lot of people as it's not something I've seen discussed that much... The lawyer in the book, who saves Soledad's career and wants to help the metanormals would salivate at this action. The story goes that the government offers $50,000 to any metanormal who will leave the country and will arrest the others. (I assume there is supposed to be some sort of immediate "deportation".) The M-Tac units are hunting down and (euphemistically) serving warrants on the ones that "went into hiding". (We'll discuss that in a minute.)

Surely at least one of the "superhero" types would have had enough money to hire a lawyer... any competent attorney would have been able to find a judge who'd stop this in it's tracks.

More, since none but one single metanormal was involved (here we got some heavy handed "racial profiling" references) the court would again have pitched the "order" out on it's proverbial ear.

Since almost an entire city was destroyed, had the President had the presence of mind to order a state of emergency (nearly the only way to give himself the power to do what's done in this book) and then issued his order, and then fallen back on public opinion (which the book tells us is firmly in favor of stoning for the metanormals) he might have headed things the way they went, but to make it even remotely legal congress would have had to get into it sooner or later.

Building on that, the issue of "serving warrants". This is basically a euphemism for "shooting on sight". Another comparison is made in the book to the internment of Japanese Americans, that public opinion was okay with it an no one spoke up to stop it... not even the courts. True, but the Japanese weren't being shot on sight.

Some may want to point out that "a lot" of the metanormals seem to be the "super criminal" types so the M-Tac officers had to shoot, but in the story's own structure all the metanormals seem to run on sight of the police. Soledad herself refers to "killing freaks" as her job (part of the character, but it's not an unusual attitude in the book) so the author is painting a society where the metanormals are being shot on sight. I doubt that the great majority of public opinion would stay with that kind of action for very long, even after the loss of an entire city.


Also...who was (was anyone)surprised that the only person to be able to illicit a little tenderness or caring from Soledad was (turned out to be) a metanormal?

I kept waiting for some sign that Soledad was discovering that she (horror of horrors) does (after all) have some metanormal ability that is only now showing up. Would she kill herself?

By the way back to the President's infamous executive order...in the book these metanormals all (so far) seem to have one ability. But, what makes a metanormal? I mean would they overlook Batman? How about Ironman?

There are a lot of holes in the story that makes this book work, I suppose it's just another part of suspending belief or suspending reality to enjoy the story. But these and some other gaping plot holes did bug me a bit.

On the other hand, the book isn't a bad read, just (try to) accept it on it's own terms and read it as a story.

I wonder if the book/story is going where it seems to be. I actually hope not, but there's one heavily foreshadowed later plot or even outcome that almost screams "look at me!" and I really hope we aren't going there.

Early on it begins to look (to me) as if we're headed for the "the metanormals are the next step in evolution" plot. We've established that the U.S, is busily running all of the "Mutants" or (again) metanormals out of the country to Europe or elsewhere. The whole thing could be a set up for the "oops America has no metanormals and everyone else does" outcome. No children of the "new race" here. Ridley went so far as to include a conversation on the Cro-Magnon replacement of the neanderthal. Don't know if it's where he's headed, but I wouldn't be surprised.

[Stacie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This story was set in a world that was uninteresting and peopled entirely with characters who were unlikeable and boring. The "plot" was predictable but worse than that, it wasn't even fun to follow. I read this all the way to the end hoping that there would be some twist or point that would redeem the time I spent reading. I was sorely disappointed.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

pre "Heroes" pre 'Superpowers' pre 'Iron Man', a look at superheroes in everyday society and the consequences thereof...

[wyrdling · Rating 4 out of 5]

bigotry is insidious.
antiheroic hero. creative use of "super" abilities. excellent use of tactical principles and fascinating exploration of police special unit psychology.
not for the faint hearted or sqeamish.

i could never tell whether the author was trying to make a point about bigotry or just letting the character be her flawed complex self. which i think is one of the best recommendations for depth of characterization i can give. it all seemed natural and made perfect sense and there was no deus ex machina, just some messed up situations in a messed up world.

[Aaron Chandler]

i have been an on and off fan of the superhero mythological, this is one of the many book that make me sit back and looked at it all again. i have to say that i loved this book, simple and plan as that i loved it, it was an interesting read.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Started reading this in a used bookstore and had to buy it because it was easier than digging up the copy I had in the basement stashed in places unknown. The story is set near-future where Soledad O'Roark is a rookie on a SWAT team that specializes in taking down renegade superheroes/supervillains. That sounds far-fetched and Hollywood B-movie claptrap but the difference is in the way Ridley handles the story and character. there's plenty of tech talk for the geeky and there is action, but the novel really unfolds more like one of Joseph Wambaugh's police novels. Soledad has issues and baggage and develops like a character in a mainstream literary novel. The fact that she's a minority and a woman ads to the complexity. I knew John Ridley from his stand-up comedy bits on Comedy Central in the mid-late '90s and saw him briefly at Bouchercon in 1999 where I picked up his EVERYBODY SMOKES IN HELL and LOVE IS A RACKET. Still haven't read those, but I probably will. There is one sequel--WHAT FIRE CANNOT BURN, but it seems that Ridley has turned from fiction to screenwriting (Three Kings, Third Watch) and directing. His novel STRAY DOGS was filmed by Oliver Stone as U-TURN. Highly recommended.

[Ficie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Soledad is tough, and unapologetic.
Soledad likes weapons, hates freaks. Soledad sees the world in black and white, and she is proud of it.
Soledad hides her feelings from the world. Pity her range of feelings (hatred - loneliness - anger) is not that vast.
Ridley's book - presented to me as an original, post-9/11 look on the world of superheroes - is plagued by a spiteful, bitchy, untrustworthy protagonist, whose motives are impossible to understand (not to mention share). Her extremely conservative, bordering fascist take on things is always annoying, and often repulsive.
Soledad does not learn, and she is happy with that.
The book is not badly written -if we exclude a couple of temporary, incomprehensible shifts of pov, and the feeling that you are reading a screenplay rather than a novel.
But the main character. Man, did I wish to see her shot down - or at least changing, comprehending. But no, sir. Nothing but black and white (the Bad Guys VS the Good Guys, and we are the Good Guys. Because! And since they are Bad, we can butcher them, that's just fine - that's, actually, GOOD). Only an elementary-school-complex world-view for Soledad.

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

After a supervillain blows up San Francisco, mutants (the only powered people in this setting) are outlawed in the U.S.. Soledad O'Roark is a cop with the LAPD MTAC unit which serves warrants on and goes after mutants, and has to deal with a conspiracy to disgrace her, a complicated love life and her own bigotry.

Except she never really does deal with that last bit - possibly in the sequel. it's interesting that Soledad's black, but aside from a brief mention and Soledad breaking up a dispute between a black and a Korean that doesn't really play into things. Soledad and all the other cops just hate mutants, no questions asked. The little we're given about why doesn't make sense - either we haven't gotten the full story or it's just bad writing on Ridley's part.

Acceptable airport read, but not much more than that.

[Deirdre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Soledad "Bullet" O'Roark is a super-power hunter, taking some of them down with a gun of her own invention. She's a cop with issues and has problems with relationships and her world is such that she keeps trying to connect with someone but no-one likes her life for long enough to stick around and try to make her open up and other members of the team die too often for it to be reasonable for her to date one.

It's an interesting read but somehow it's not quite as interesting as it could be. I didn't really connect with the characters or the situations they were getting into.

[Sarah (Workaday Reads)]

This book has a very hard edge, and a lot of profanity. It’s written into the story well, and is accompanied by a lot of angry feelings and fast action. Unfortunately, the story wasn’t strong enough to keep my attention.

The story started quite exciting, with Soledad on her first call with the Mtac team, facing a villain with super powers. But every time I put the story down, I didn’t rush to pick it back up, and after forgetting about it for 3 days, I realized I just wasn’t invested in the story, and so DNF’d it.

[Trip · Rating 4 out of 5]

What kind of person hunts down people with superpowers? A deeply, deeply broken one, apparently.

[Fresno Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

angry cop must battle marginalized superheroes, quick read...

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Similar to the television series "Heroes," Ridley's Those Who Walk in Darkness is a science fiction piece extrapolating a future where mutants with various superpowers roam the earth, some of whom are bad, so bad that San Francisco is gone. Soledad is a police officer with a special squad who are dedicated to hunting done the mutants. The stark reality of her rookie battles with the mutants (or freaks as they call them) is played out quite graphically and Soledad is an unusual woman who is dedicated to her mission no matter what no matter the odds. A police procedural and a science fiction story all rolled into one. Action fills this tale, although for some reason it feels a bit choppy and is a slower read than it should be.

[Chris Davenport · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I picked up this book 1. because of the promise of its premise and 2. in spite of all the lackluster reviews. In hindsight I should have heeded the other reviews.

The story and characters are static, flat, and wholly unlikable from page one. No one learns, changes, grows, or otherwise evolves beyond their original prejudices or bigotry toward the other side. I don’t expect each side of the normal vs. super powered “conflict” to each disarm, hug, and go out for drinks by the end. But the utter intransigence and repetitive drumming of “I hate you for *insert motive here!*” from both the major protagonist and antagonist wears thin ridiculously fast!

[Esya Osherovsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, i did finish it. The book reads fairly smoothly, and the way it is written worked for me. BUT! The only character I had any sort of positive emotions towards was Ian. The rest: cops, mutants, all of them are not interesting or in any sort relatable. Cops are very flat, like a cardboard cutout of "tough cop"... Why they are on the "good" side is completely unexplainable. To be honest, the main character is a complete bigot and racist, without any redeeming qualities or motivations whatsoever. And when she starts to have any other emotion than hate, she just turns around and goes back to hating. And somehow she is in the right?

[John Bruni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't expect to like this one. Meta-superhero stories are a dime a dozen these days, but I got sucked in pretty quickly. Soledad is the rookie on a team of cops designated to killing metahumans, those with superpowers. There's a lot of office politics involved in this, and some actual politics, but I started out not liking Soledad. She's a bigot run on hatred, and when we find out why Vaughn, a telepath, wants to kill her and all the other MTac people, I was totally on his side. But Ridley's playing with a lot here, and there are a lot of twists and turns. I did figure out Ian's secret pretty early, though. It's a fun book, but I have one gripe. It's a spoiler, so I won't mention it.

[Eileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked many things about this concept, but was hoping for more philosophy and less police procedural than it ends up being. Also struggled with the weak back story for why the female characters take the job in the first place, which made one of the final scenes really hard to believe.

[Rawle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just gave up. There's no point in finishing this one.

[Kela Barniak · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really really really enjoyed this book .

[Andala · Rating 3 out of 5]

Normals against mutants as one cop seeks to use specialized bullets to kill various types of them.

[Billy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank the Lord I finished this book! It's been with me - torturing me - for the better part of four months like some Netflix DVD that you feel obligated to watch because you're spending money on it but don't have the heart to quite watch. It's the same with this book: I got far enough into that I felt I HAD to finish it, but kept dragging my feet on it.

Now, you would think it'd be a book I'd finish in a weekend: there's an executive order saying anyone with superpowers is outlawed, so a police unit called MTAC is formed to put down the "freaks" who violate said executive order.

The main character - notice I didn't say protagonist or hero - is Soledad O'Roark who hates the freaks and makes a special gun to put them down. It is interesting that John Ridley decides to make the main character a bigoted cop. The book goes to lengths to show how wrong Soledad is to be so prejudiced as some of the "freaks" help save innocent people. But if you were expected Soledad to come to some sort of character epiphany about how prejudice and bigotry is bad...

...well, you'd be wrong. She makes a special bullet to kill her lover who she finds out is a metanormal. End of book.

The lack of character development - no matter how wink wink nudge nudge it is from the writer - is completely grating. I don't feel like there was any point to her lack of emotional evolution (as opposed to, say, a Jay Gatsby where his death signified something). Instead, she starts off the novel as a bigot and ends the novel as a bigot.

[Michael Rowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one starts as a joy to read and then takes you on a roller coaster ride of the emotions. It's filled with moral and ethical questions that purposefully take you down the side you do not want to consider and leaves you wondering how you feel when you reach your conclusion.
Did I really just side with the badguy?
Who the heck is the badguy?

This one will leave you sitting in your comfortable chair wishing you had somebody to debate the questions with because you want to talk about it while you are reading it and most assuredly when you finish it.

I didn't give it 5 stars because I'm still trying to decide if I enjoyed it...or if it abused me emotionally so badly I simply can't stop thinking about it.

I'm wondering if that last sentence makes it one of the greatest stories I've ever read...or the worst.

Check it out and decide for yourself.

[Trike · Rating 3 out of 5]

The set-up for this story is that a supervillain blew up San Francisco, leading to the outlawing of all metanormal humans. So the supers who don't leave or get deported are hunted down and killed by cops specifically assigned for that job. Not an original premise, but this story is so kinetic and relentless that it doesn't matter. This is not great literature -- it's a modern superhero pulp book that a geek like me considers a beach read. If there's a moral to the story at all, it's that fanaticism is bad. Also, not revelatory, but the conflicted heroine at the heart of the book is equal parts crazy and bad-ass, which keeps it interesting. I'm not sure this is meant to be examined deeply; it's more like a Mike Hammer book with super-mutants.

[Gene · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was expecting so much more - more action, more mutants....What I got was a bit of a cop drama with a mutant/super powered setting. It starts off with a bit of action, moves on to Drama and character building, then finishes with another bit of action.

Good concept, but not what I expected...or wanted from it.

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I inadvertently read the sequel first, which is so much better. This first installment is a lot less compelling, and I found the climax so contrived it hurt. There was a much easier way to go about that final showdown. In fact, that showdown was completely unnecessary. Other than that, though, I do like Ridley. This book is all right, but I wouldn't go out of my way to read it.

[James Fearn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Writing style: interesting. Sometimes made for confusion. I say, it is action packed and entertaining enough for a read. I finished the book after starting to read it late July early August just now after checking it out from the eBook library. Still really do not quite understand the underlying premise of the book.

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting premise, light on follow-through. Could have been a provocative parallel between discriminating on meta-normals based on the actions of a few and other discriminations, but it wasn't explored deeply. A quick Sunday-afternoon read after finishing Moby Dick.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read.

But I almost passed this book by; the iconography of the title and mosr especially of the cover illustration screams "dark mystery' rather than its natural "angsty superheroine" loving one. In other words a modern sf&f crowd.

[Will · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like a grittier comic book without the pictures. A fun read, but not especially interesting.

[Mindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a real brainy read, but entertaining enough. Of course, I like anything with an X-men feel to it.