Lilith

Tate (Diablero) offers few scares in this workmanlike horror thriller. Newspaper reporter Hunter Singleton and his photographer wife, Lisa, get more than they bargained for after Hunter accepts an assignment aboard a new Navy vessel, the USS Gerald R. Ford. Once the ship is at sea, some kind of otherworldly being with the ability to influence the weather possesses crew members and passengers. An undercover CIA operative specializing in parapsychology is unable to prevent the evil force from triggering a megastorm that targets New York City. The book suffers from unfortunate timing, as the city’s experiences in 2012 with Hurricane Sandy make the depiction of the fictional weather catastrophe less plausible. Would New York’s mayor have to ask the emergency management commissioner whether there was some kind of evacuation plan? Some humorous touches, such as the antidote the CIA operative comes up with to counteract the being’s ill effects on people, undermine the mood of terror. (Jan.)