QUAKE

This final installment in the Pulse trilogy starts up only moments after the ending of Tremor (2013), and the action never lets up.

Faith Daniels is sure of only a few things in life: that she loves Dylan Gilmore, that they are both virtually indestructible due to their dual pulses, which protect them while giving them superpowers, and that they’re in a fight against an evil genius who thinks the only way to save humanity is to destroy millions of people. Representing all that is left of the rebellion, along with friend Hawk and military bodyguard Clooger, they head for a mountain refuge to take stock and come up with a strategy that will vanquish Wade and Clara Quinn, siblings who also have two pulses, and their father, Hotspur Chance. But they don’t have much of a chance to strategize, as the Quinns invade all too soon, taking out some of their slender forces and kidnapping Dylan’s half sister, Jade, in the process. It’s an all-or-nothing battle now, and the fate of the entire Western State rests in their hands. Carman keeps the action moving at all times, allowing well-timed breaks for his solid, likable characters to contemplate the difference between right and might, as well as mind over matter.

An engaging end to a well-developed arc