Eureka: Subsitution Method was a great fun find at Barnes and Noble. I should have known that there would be some Eureka books around since all my favorite Sci-fi shows tend to have some book tie-ins. It was a joy to read since it was like having an episode of Eureka in book form. I found this book almost on accident. I was intending to buy a Star Trek book on that trip to Barnes and Noble. But other then a book I’ve already purchase, there wasn’t really a Star Trek book calling to me. As I as giving up and stood up to leave the section, I saw Colin Ferguson’s face and smiled instantly. Being a huge Eureka fan, I knew that I should give the book a shot. Traditionally TV tie-in books can go one of two ways: it’s wonderful or awful but my gut was telling me that this book was going to be one of the wonderful ones.
As soon as I read the first chapter, I was in love. It had everything I loved about Eureka the TV show. It’s got science to it but extrapolated out to a foreseeable degree and great humor. There were times I was just laughing and smiling. I loved so much of the dialog. One of my favorite exchanges between Carter and Henry follows:
“No, but I’ll bet my fire engine still is.”
“Your what?” Carter shook his head. “You were going to take that thing?”
“Sure, why not? It’s an official Eureka vehicle.”
“Henry, it’s a fire engine!”
“Is that a problem?”
“Yes, it’s a problem.” Carter ticked off reasons on one hand, keeping the other on the wheel. “First off, it looks ridiculous. Second, its top speed is what, forty? Third, where would you put people if you had to drive them back? On the ladder? Fourth it looks ridiculous.”
“You said that already.”
“Well, it’s worth repeating! Seriously, you can’t take that. Not if you want anyone to listen to you at all.”
“All right, fine.” Henry harrumphed and crossed his arms. “Swing back by my place, then. I’ll take my car.”
“Do you even have a car?”
“Of course I have a car!” Henry looked slightly insulted. “I just don’t drive it much. I like the fire engine better.”
“What are you, five?”
“Easy for you to say,” his friend pointed out. “You drive a police car.”
Carter started to reply to that, stopped, started again, and stopped again. “Jeep,” he corrected finally, though it was almost under his breath. “It’s a police Jeep. And I almost never get to run the lights.”
“Whatever you say Jack.”
I love this dialogue since it would happen on the show. You get to see both the wit, the teasing nature and how they are just friends. Plus it made me giggle thinking of little kids and their love of the emergency vehicles and how that love doesn’t always leave just because you grew up.
But the best thing about the book, the characters spoke to me as being real. In my head, I had every bit of dialogue and characterizations really hit the mark. They were accurate. The only weak spot was in the first introduction of Zane but that was quickly sorted and he too was perfectly written. There wasn’t really a point where something spoke to me as wrong and taking me out of the story.
This book has made me want to watch the entire third season of Eureka (well more the whole series all over from the start). I love how Cris Ramsay incorporated a lot of characters from the various episodes, not just the big characters, and hinted to which episode it was. I was a little thrown off on the timing of things since this happens before the fourth season and the alternate timeline that is the new official timeline thing. It was like when I read a Star Trek book that took place before Destiny after reading all of those. Not bad thing but you have to remember where you were in the timeline.
I simply enjoyed this book. It was great fun. It was exactly like a Eureka episode which is what you want from a tie-in. Something that fits perfectly and uses the characters without cheapening anything.
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