Get Katja

Sequel to 2012's Katja from the Punk Band, this sees the eponymous character emerge from hiding to front her punk band once more, an ill-considered decision that attracts the close attention of the startlingly diverse assortment of people with a grudge against Katja. With a skill for inspiring vengeance, her friends unreliable allies at best and back-stabbing traitors at worst, Katja's primary defence is the fact that so many people, from corrupt cops to black market medical experimenters to cross-dressing gangster enforcers, are after her that the various schemes and gambits swirling around the musician interfere with one another. Logan handles his large cast with skill, flicking from person to person, from plot to plot and back and forth through time to create a fast paced madcap caper story. Although the book is not long enough to delve quite deeply enough into any given character, the author manages to paint them in vivid colors. Each has their own easily grasped reason for involvement with Katja, and nobody is handicapped with ethical or moral considerations that would impede their participation in the story. Energetic and amusing, this is a worthy sequel to the original. (Mar.)