Moving on to Chapter Five, we have another coincidence with the religious folk: in addition to a Sister who's an expert on the occult, we have a Father who's a conspiracy buff. If this were a novel that takes place in a world that even pretends to be realistic, I'd suspect a trap of some kind, but I'm guessing this is just a nod to the incredible coincidneces of the genre.
Then the Sister joins the protagonists in such a way that I half expected the novel to take a break and "SISTER CECILIA has joined the party" to flash across my computer screen. I could actually see this as a video game, actually...I've heard of worse settings and plots.
Awkward, semi-forced emotional outbursts and quite literal explosions later, the scene advances. Calloway manages to dodge some inconvenient police questions, and delivers a cynical line worthy of myself: "What did I tell you? You cannot go wrong by assuming people are either apathetic or stupid.” True wisdom right there. :)
The chapter goes on to confront the two dark issues of fashion AND racism, and more of the character's histories are revealed. It becomes increasingly obvious that Hawkins and Carter are going to end up together, assuming they both survive. Sister Cecilia doesn't manage to do much to justify her inclusion so far, although amusingly she has more luggage than the other characters who HAVEN'T taken a vow of poverty.
I like this chapter a little more than the others, perhaps because it doesn't barrel along at such a frantic pace. It's about taking a train to Boston. Characters stop, interact, think, and talk. The 'why' questions of the conflict remain elusive, of course, particularly for the antagonists. Why the hell are they going to so much trouble to stop a bunch of random nobodies? You'd think there'd have to be something special about them, or some hidden personal relationship, to merit the lengths the Order goes to take them out.
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