Book Review: Bitter Waters

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Bitter Waters     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Wen Spencer
Class/Genre:   Science Fiction   Mystery   Private Investigator
Series: Ukiah Oregon # 3
Roc, May 2003, $6.99, 320 pp.

Although the human race is unaware of it, there is a war going on between two rival groups of an alien race. The Ontongard infects humans and makes the species one of them, an individual cell in an organism. The pack aliens retain their individual identities while having access to the group memory. The pack wants to kill the Ontongard so they won’t destroy the human race. Ukiah Oregon, half alien and half human is the only breeder on the planet and the Ontongard want him to create more of their kind.

Oregon has a son who has been kidnapped. Ukiah, his friend Max, and the pack are doing all in their power to get him back but since the people who kidnapped him are human, they have to be very careful not to let any government official know about Kitt’s alien origins. To make matters even worse, the kidnappers are using Ontongard biological weapons, which means that people who don’t have any understanding of what they are doing are playing with something that could destroy the world.

Wen Spencer has written an exciting science fiction thriller that stars a vulnerable and powerful hero who is impossible not to cherish. The war between the two alien factions feels real and believable in a Twilight Zone kind of way. The investigation of the kidnapping by aliens, Homeland Security, the FBI, the local Pittsburgh police and a human once possessed by the Ontongard is exciting to see unfold as each group has its own agenda. BITTER WATERS is a must read.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner

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