Before the dawn by Max Allan Collins

Max is the product of project Manticore, a transgenic child who has the "advantage" of cat DNA spliced to her own, and she has benefited from the tender loving care of project Manticore who are training Max and her siblings to be the perfect soldier - until the night some of them escape.  On the run from the only home she has ever known, Max tries to slip into a normal life but it is not easy to hide from who she is and what she can do.  After years on the run she has finally found a family of sorts with the Chinese Clan, but when she has the chance to track down one of her siblings from Manticore Max leaps at the chance and travels cross country to Seattle to try and track him down.  But things are not necessarily what they appear, and the danger Max has been hiding from for the past ten years is about to come knocking on her door.

Before the dawn is a prequel for the TV series Dark Angel which was created by James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee, and while it has been about ten years since the show was on the air (and this book was written in 2002) this is the first time I have gotten my hands on a copy and I am glad I did.  The back story for Max was only caught in glimpses through the show, and it was helpful to fill in some of the blanks - like how Max met Original Cindy, why Logan was the way he was with Max and how he knew so much about Manticore, and the reason why Max doesn't touch guns when she is working.  It has been some years since I watched the show, but the characters rang true and it was nice to catch up with the characters and learn about their pasts.

There are two books which are set after the last episode of the series - Skin game and After the dark - both of which are on my reading list to check out next.  Dark Angel was a great series and it was such a shame that they took it off the air after only two seasons, and Before the dawn helped with a Dark Angel fix and I am all inspired to watch the series on DVD again.

If you like this book then try:

• Dark Angel: Skin game by Max Allan Collins
• Dark Angel: After the dark by Max Allan Collins
• Supernatural: Heart of the dragon by Keith R.A. DeCandido
• Supernatural: Night terror by John Passarella
• Supernatural: Witch's Canyon by Jeff Marriotte
• X-Files: Ruins by Kevin J. Anderson
• X-Files: Antibodies by Kevin J. Anderson
• X-Files: Skin by Ben Mexrich
• Buffy: Dark congress by Christopher Golden
• Buffy: Queen of the slayers by Nancy Holder
• Buffy: Blackout by Keith R.A. DeCandido

Reviewed by Brilla