I've been absorbed at work the past few days but I've allowed myself the luxury of reading Christopher Pike's newest book, Falling.

I am a huuuuuuuuge Pike fan. I have almost all of his YA books save for five (which I'm gonna get soon). That's what, 60 books? So you can say I'm obsessed with his books, to which I'll retort, "So frikkin what?!"

"Literary crack cocaine" is what one review called the book, Falling and they kid you not. This is an amazing suspense thriller. The plot is well-weaved and you won't be able to help but keep turning the page. There's a number of plausible criminal plots involved in the book, which makes me wonder if Pike isn't actually a criminal himself. (Ha! I'm sorry, that was written in jest.) Best of all, the characters have so much depth in them they stirred me to the core.

I think Pike's best gift is character development. He is able to capture emotion, inner demons and human weaknesses, lump it and throw it at a reader like me. And now I'm stripped senseless. I couldn't help bawling at Kelly Feinman's inner struggles and believe it or not, like Kelly, I too felt a bit of sympathy towards the Acid Man himself. I also couldn't help but feel hatred towards Amy, just like Matt Connor and I have found myself in a moral dilemma when I accepted and swallowed whole the reasons of the criminal mind.

I'm sure I'm biased to a degree. This is, after all, Christopher Pike. I have been reading Pike since I was in 5th grade and I have been rereading his older books over the years. I love every one of them; some way more than others. I have witnessed his books' transition from plain murder mystery (Final Friends series) to New Age (Remember Me Series), to evil thrillers (The Last Vampire series),to completely alien (The Tachyon Web) and now to more Adult-oriented books. His high school characters have grown up, as he has gotten older. He cannot very well write about High School problems now that he's probably in his 50's so it's just apt that he has ventured into general fiction for a more mature audience. He's been dying to write about sex since way back when (haha!) and since his YA books couldn't have a lot of "action", at least now he has the freedom. Thank Goodness he hasn't gone into every blessed detail though, a mention here and there and it's just enough.

Falling will keep you falling into the deep, dark abyss that is Christopher Pike's world. And when you have touched the ground and realized you're still in your room just holding a book, you'll find yourself disappointed that the fantasy had to end. I certainly wanted to know more but I unless I find some fan-fiction sequels (or unless I make one up myself) Matt Connor and Kelly Feinman will just live on in my imagination. Talk about getting high on literary crack cocaine!

P.S. I'm not sure if it's available in the Philippines. Our local Barnes and Noble had to order my copy from another store for me. But if you get the chance, spill the thousand bucks or so coz you won't regret it.

P.P.S. I seem to be doing a lot of these postscripts but I just want to tell you about The Blind Mirror. That's the Pike made before Falling. Man, was that book a page turner... I couldn't put it down coz I wanted to know what happens next! But you have to be pretty open minded to swallow that whole thing in one gulp. Still, a great read.