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Hurricane
Hex
Reviewed by Tim McCree
February 2006
BOOK: Hurricane Hex
AUTHOR: Diana G. Gallagher
NOTE: This review may contain plot spoilers.
You know, I can’t help but wonder about the
timing of this book. With the double whammy of Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita still fresh in many minds, was this latest
Charmed book sort of a tip of the hat to those events? Hmmmmm...
Anyway, in this book, the
Halliwells are in Florida to attend a seminar for Phoebe’s
advice column. After said seminar is over, the sisters take a
trip to visit Paige’s friend from college, Sharon Grant, and
her husband, Ben. The Halliwells relish the chance to take a
vacation from being the Charmed Ones, and this trip seems to be
it. However, as always, things do not turn out that way. It
seems that Sharon has taken to dabbling with folk magic, along
with an older woman named Margaret Olsen. Both women believe it
is harmless, but the Charmed Ones know better. They try to warn
Sharon about fooling around with things she does not understand,
but Sharon won’t listen. Soon, the spells Sharon and Margaret
cast begin to run awry. To make matters worse, a hurricane is
rapidly bearing down on their location, and Sharon and Margaret
decide to use magic to stop it. Can the Charmed Ones make Sharon
and Margaret realize the danger they are unknowingly putting
them all in, before it’s too late?
Well, this was an enjoyable
book. The Charmed Ones are once again very well written as the
characters that I knew and loved from the earlier seasons. I
liked how they tried to talk Sharon out of using magic, without
revealing themselves as witches. This is a fine line they
probably have to walk far too many times.
This book was also another story
in which the Charmed Ones actually managed to get out of San
Francisco for a change. The show very rarely does this, I guess
the budget is the reason. However, the books are under no such
restrictions, and the author puts this to good use. The
depiction of Florida is very well presented. The weather, the
environs, and even the animals, such as alligators, are
believable. Also, Ms Gallagher managed to depict the destruction
a hurricane would cause without going over the top. After all, I
think a lot of people in the U.S. have had quite enough of
hurricanes for a while and don’t need to be reminded of them.
This book manages to balance that out, telling a good story
involving a hurricane, but not so much as to upset some people
still recovering from Katrina and Rita.
Although he has a very small
part in this book, Leo is well written, he is the one that helps
save the day at the end. Once again this shows what a big
mistake the show made in writing him off.
Some other points:
-Cole is actually mentioned for
the first time in ages. At one point, one of the characters, an
elderly woman named Agnes Finney, talks about her deceased
husband. Hearing this, Phoebe actually feels a bit sad about
losing Cole. I must say that this is a marked improvement over
the show, in which Phoebe seems to have forgotten that Cole ever
existed.
-Margaret is very interested in
Florida folklore. I found the stories she told to be very
entertaining and somewhat chilling.
-once again we have Wyatt, but
still no Chris.
-Daryl is not in this book, but
since there are no scenes in San Francisco in this story, I
wouldn’t expect him to be.
-there was a funny subplot about
Piper worrying about Wyatt becoming too "Mommy
dependent". It seems she was right, poor Leo is having a
heck of a time getting the kid to go to sleep!
To sum up, this was a very
enjoyable book. I give it an 8/10.
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