January (Countdown) (ISBN 068981819X)

Awesome, one of my favorite books ever!:
As soon as I finished this book I ran out and got the second and third books, and I got the rest as soon as they came out! Countdown is my favorite series ever. I was sorry it ended at #12 but it was a great ending. Everyone should read this series!

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Count Down was a series i picked up in the library just for the fact that I was bored and 12 130 page books looked like something to take my mind off things at night. And they did, for the first 4-5 books. Then the plot slows, the only characters who show a lasting spark are George and Julia who are the only real respectable characters in the whole series, and everyone else is busy doing each other or getting drunk or getting so high they can't even think straight. The plot was really stupid at first (people just dropping dead in a pool of black goo? I mean come on!) but then in book 7 the whole thing is explained and it was interesting. The whole shpeel with the chosen one was interesting enough but the "demon" was stupid. I didn't like the fact that Parker rushed through book 12 just like that, there was no depth to the ending and he rushed his conclusion. Overall I give it three stars only for the good twists he has.

The best beginning to a series:
This book has got to be one of the nest I have read in a while. It keeps you on the edge of your seat while you read from chapter to chapter. If you like suspenseful books about the end of the world this series is perfect for you.

Count Down: January:
This is the first book in a 12 book series that takes place in the year 1999. In this book, everyone over 21 begins to die. Will everyone under 21 make it through the year? A great book and a great series. Of course, what happens in the year 1999 didn't really happen. And it's far fected. But, an interesting series, anyways.

Great Start to an Interesting Series:
Between December 31, 1998, and January 1, 1999, things start going wrong all over the world. It begins with a group of young women in hoods and robes taking over a mostly-deserted military installation in Russia. Throughout this twenty-four hour period, blackouts rage through the United States, Europe, Asia, and beyond. As teens everywhere are celebrating the start of a new year in style, everyone over the age of twenty seems to either disappear, or worse--dissolve into a puddle of steaming, black goo. What the heck is going on? Why are all of the adults and very young children suddenly gone from Earth--and how will the teens that are left cope? Added to the mix is that some people in the 19-22 range who survived the first round of deaths now seem to be succumbing to whatever happened, dying off like everyone else. There's Ariel and Brian and their group of friends in Babylon, Washington, spending days getting drunk until they can figure out what to do. There's Julia and her abusive boyfriend, Luke, in New York City, trying to figure out what's going on. There's twenty-year old Dr. Harold Wulf, youngest resident at the University of Texas Hospital in Austin, Texas, who takes advantage of the situation to feel like a hero. We have eighteen-year old Sarah Levy, who along with her younger brother, Josh, are visiting their granduncle, Elijah, in Jerusalem. And last but not least, we have George Porter, a teen spending time in the local jail in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for hot-wiring a car. As the book progresses, we get glimpses that all of the above teens, from all walks of life and in all different parts of the world, are destined to play a part in figuring out what happened on New Year's Day, 1999. As signs point to a deeper meaning than terrorists or global warfare, each teen sets out on a destiny that will, very likely, mean the difference between life and death. Definitely a great start to an entertaining series, I'm looking forward to reading February, book two. Highly recommended!