Jailhouse Rocked

Okay, I'll try to hold off on talking about how bored I am. I'm sure you're all sick of that, but I can't make any guarantees. That said, onward to the snark.

So Judd has just heard that Nada went to the GC prison in order to get more information about her brother. The person she's visiting is Daniel Nieters, who was sent away for telling someone about God. The discussion about him refers to him as a "Judah-ite" which confuses me because it's the first time I've heard the term and no one bothers to explain it. Is this a backhanded way of saying that Dan was a Jewish convert, a member of the tribe of Judah? If that's the case, congratulations: Ellanjay have finally created a Jewish character who doesn't have a Jewy McJew kind of name.

Apparently Pavel's dad has managed to pull some strings to have the staff of the prison keep Nada in the waiting room until Judd comes, but frankly, I have to wonder what kind of prison system Nicky Alps is running here. Most dictatorships don't allow their imprisoned dissidents to receive visitors.

On the way there, Lionel lays into Judd.

“I have to tell you,” Lionel said, “I don’t like the way this is working.”
“I didn’t ask Nada to come,” Judd said.
“Didn’t say you did. But you’re encouraging her. She’s talking about marriage.”
“So?”
“It’s crazy! You’re not ready for that.”
“Let’s talk later,” Judd said. “I have to get Nada out of there and try to get back to Pavel.”
Lionel stared out the window.
“What?” Judd said.
“When you want to shut people down you always say you want to talk later.”

Frankly in the interest of promoting more Ho Yay in the LB-verse, I'm going to assume that Lionel's so negative about Nada because he doesn't want competition for Judd's hand. But really? Judd not being ready for marriage? He is a legal adult at this point in the series. Can you blame him for wanting to get laid married before Zod takes that away for everyone?

So they finally meet up with Nada and Judd tells her to play it cool, just pretend to be an emotional teenage girl who wants to know more about her brother.

So they finally meet up with Dan, who is described as being swollen and bruised. Those of you who read my blog are probably thinking of the myriad occasions where the YTF ran into the GC and how they don't have so much as a bruise to show for it. The only one whose suffered any lasting damage is Butt Monkey aka Ryan. So kids who read these books: remember you only get hurt if you're a butt monkey or an NPC.

But Dan rather than directly answering the question, which is probably a smart thing to do when in the anti-Christ's custody, instead starts ranting like a crazy person. Before being hauled away, he shouts Matthew 7:7.

“ ‘Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened.’ ”

Nada interprets this to mean that her brother became a believer. But so far, they're not saying for certain, a rare show of ambiguity in these books, though I'm certain they will eventually say whether or not her brother's saved or roasting on a spit.

The chapter ends with Pavel's heart monitor going flat and Judd shouting, "Do something!" I wish I could say I felt something about this character dying, but I reached on down to the bottom of my soul and I felt nothing. And I just made a joke that no one will get. Good times...

Next chapter, Omer apparently has one of those Super-Duper-Special-Awesome satellite phones the same as Buck. He offers to patch Vicki into Illinois so she can call her friends. Omer's mother shows up and begs him to stay, but he says he can't and that he'll leave after helping Vicki.

Next section, apparently Pavel isn't dead, yet. They somehow stabilized him and that's all I really have to say about that section. Again, I know nothing about Pavel except that he's sickly and a believer and therefore, I can't be expected to actually feel anything about this character.

Meanwhile at the schoolhouse, there's more discussion about Chris Traickin about how he overpowered the GC guards and escaped. The YTF are still pretty certain he's a rat, though they still haven't said why. The schoolhouse section ends with Charlie saying that he has a feeling that they need to pray for Vicki. Uh-oh, does this mean something remotely interesting and or exciting is about to happen?

Well if it is, it won't be in Vicki's section. Basically she talks with Omer's mother and Omer tells Vicki that he'll wake her once he's connected her to her friends. Me, I keep wondering what kind of phone tech do they have at this point that requires such a huge amount of work to connect with? Vicki thanked him and headed down the hall. I wish I knew for certain when this book was published. The eBook says 2011, but I'm fairly certain that only refers to the eBook, not the regular book.

In New Babylon, Pavel is well enough to speak and tells Judd that he believes that Zod is going to give him the ultimate healing or for those not versed in RTC-speak, kill him and send him to heaven. He tells Judd that Dan was trying to tell him something and to go to where Dan lives. I'm assuming he means where Dan used to live, because yeah, visiting a GC prison probably wasn't a smart move first time around and it wouldn't be smart second time around.

The chapter ends on a distinctively uninteresting note: Omer is still trying to hook Vicki up with no luck and he says that he'll give Zod another shot when he starts to feel better from the myriad locust stings he's suffered that makes him want to long for the sweet release of death but not be able to get it. If you're wondering, the book doesn't mention that last part: I thought I'd add it in as emphasis.

Also about the post title? Sorry but it is damn near impossible to think of titles for these things so I thought I'd go for a pun. Forgive me.