Fascinating Science Fiction Series

The Best Seller

Maya Smock, an aspiring author, grew up in an orphanage and foster homes. Used and abused, she entered adulthood early taking a job at a Las Vegas bookstore by day and writing her novel, “The Master Race,” at night.

When Maya’s book was finished she met a literary agent at a Las Vegas convention. Claude Kazinsky, agent for Tatum, Boyle, and Shapiro loved it. After publication, Maya kept her promise to her bookstore boss, Eric O’Reilly, and held her first book-signing event at his establishment; which was a huge success.

Not only did Maya meet Claude, who she soon married, but she also became friends with Jay McCallister, a science fiction writer with credentials of the likes of Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, or Arthur C. Clarke. He was huge and he took Maya under his wing.

Thus begins Dina Rae’s science fiction thriller, The Best Seller. Rae tells her story in two perspectives. First, there’s the story that begins during the summer of 1947 at Broom Lake, Nevada. Written in the third person omniscient point of view, we see a top-secret military installation where four coffins are sent to the base’s underground laboratory to be studied by Nazi scientists rescued by Americans after World War II. Their goals and objectives could freeze blood to its core.

Then Rae switches to Maya’s story letting her relate it in the first person narrative. We see Maya changing from a minimum waged employee living in humble surroundings in a bad neighborhood to owning a mansion in Vegas and a condo in Los Angeles.

The Best Seller is plot driven with a thrilling story line that will keep readers turning pages until the final climax. My only concern was that a few sub-plots were not resolved leaving me waiting until Rae has the sequel published.

 

The Sequel

Dina Rae does not disappoint her readers in The Sequel toThe Best Seller. The novel has three strands. The first is that of Maya telling about her trip back in time. The second takes place at Broom Lake, Nevada during the early 1970s, and he final strand of the novel takes place in present day Nevada as we uncover betrayal and murder at Broom Lake.

Maya Smock is back telling her story in the first person. We soon learn she has a very special ability. Within her DNA there is the genetic code for time travel. Glenn Lucasek, the head of T.A.H. (They Are Here) Institute sends his partner, Jay McCallister, back in time successfully. When Maya takes the trip back to World War II Germany, something goes wrong and Maya doesn’t return.

At Broom Lake septuagenarian General Robert Andreas is about to retire from the base that created babies with human and alien DNA. But before he does, he must get in touch with his old flame, Kate, who informs him by letter about a child at her daughter Lori’s orphanage in London that could be an alien half-breed. He flies to London to find out that Kate’s claim is true, Lori is actually his daughter, and Kate’s life is at risk.

The final strand is the springboard for the other three subplots. This is the anchor for Maya’s trip back in time and a point of reference to the development of the Dr. Lori character, and the fates of Claude Kazinsky and the Nazi scientists from the first book. 

Many of the characters from the first novel are aged and returned to the present. Geneticist Dr. Lori Blacksmith, new to the series, has figured out the time travel gene and her two subjects, Jay and Maya, are successful in its implementation. Of course she has help, but a few of the sources of that help could best be described as paranormal.

Throughout the novel there are high stakes tensions as conspiracy theories are opened raw to a gaping reader—flying saucers, government conspiracies, Roswell, and Area 51, to name a few. There are several murders, sanctioned torture, a few alien races, a world beneath the Earth, and the historical figures we meet don’t disappoint. Rae does a wonderful job of developing her characters, describing the settings, and moving the plot along like a staccato beat.

Warning: To enjoy The Best Seller Series Pop highly recommends starting with book one, The Best Seller, before reading The Sequel, otherwise he’s afraid you’ll get very confused. Happy reading.

About the Author

Dina Rae has written nine novels and has been interviewed numerous times on blogs, newspapers, and syndicated radio programs. She loves to play tennis, watch movies, and teach. She enjoys reading about religion, UFOs, New World Order, government conspiracies and political intrigue. Rae lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband, two daughters, and their pet dogs.

 

 

 

 

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