Fringe: The Zodiac Paradox – Review

I’m delighted to say that Christa Faust’s new novel, The Zodiac Paradox, based on the hit TV series Fringe,  is quite the successful companion to the show that also works well on its own. Not having much experience with novels based on shows I have to admit I was a little skeptical of it at first.  However,  I was pleasantly surprised. A well-written novel, The Zodiac Paradox is able to take the reader into the Fringe universe without boring anyone who isn’t familiar with the show.

Using the true story of the Zodiac Killer, a serial killer who was active in California during the late 60s and early 70s, Christa Faust weaves a story that explains the emergence as well as disappearance of the killer in a very compelling and, of course, supernatural sort of way. Using the idea of mind linking and reality tearing, Christa could have easily lost most readers with just the arcane nature of this kind of phenomena, but she is able to create such a convincing scenario for how the events occur that you’re forced to turn page after page to find out what happens next. And Faust’s prose is so well written that she is able to make the seemingly unbelievable quite believable.

The thing that really hooked me as a reader was I didn’t feel like I was reading a novel based on a TV series, which is what I was most worried about. I felt as if I was reading a stand-alone science fiction thriller and this is where I think Christa Faust has really succeeded with her project. The Zodiac Paradox should be able to reach a much greater audience than just the fans of the series. And for readers feeling initially hesitant like me, rest assured that you don’t have to be familiar with the show to understand what is happening in the novel and can still really enjoy the engaging story that Faust has created.

I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys the fantasy, supernatural and science fiction genres. And for those of you who do follow the TV show Fringe, you’ll be given a very interesting origins piece about Bishop and Nina that remains true to the series. It’s also very nice to see Nina as a young, strong female supporting character in the novel who seems much more put together than both Bishop and Bell. All in all, The Zodiac Paradox seems to have just about everything a reader could want – suspense, action, some romance, and likable leads that keep the narrative briskly moving forward. [subscribe2]