Over the weekend I looked at my huge to-be-read list on my Kindle and chose American Goddesses by Gary Henry.  Two women have found themselves transformed into mighty superheroes after undergoing an experimental medical procedure intended to increase their disease resistance.  It’s an easy transformation physically, but becoming an invulnerable, telepathic, flying human takes a toll on one’s relationships.  Megan finds her friends feel uncomfortable around her and suddenly are no longer available for happy hours.  Trish’s boyfriend feels threatened, and a prank has bone breaking consequences due to her new powers.  Superpowers seem to initially bring out the worst in the women.  Megan’s assertive nature goes into overdrive.  She telekinetically locks down the fridge door so her husband can’t get a beer, melts his weights in a fit of anger, and forcibly hauls him home when she finds him cheating with a reporter.  No wonder her marriage is on the rocks.  Trish saves a jumper, but her method of suicide prevention by repeatedly dropping the guy and scooping him up would probably be frowned upon by psychologists everywhere.

The women mature rapidly though, when a psychic attack leaves Megan devastated and the city of Lawrencedale Kansas (and the world!) is threatened by a subversive organization looking to free an explosives mastermind from jail.  Can the ladies and their newfound super-sisters save the world?  Catch the bad guys and bring them to justice?  Foil the evil intentions of the Russian psychic Melnikov?

American Goddesses reads like a comic book without the pictures.  The style, character development, plot, and themes are all in keeping with those superhero comics and movies we devoured as kids.  Oddly enough, that was the one regret I had with this book.  The good guys were good, the loose ends all tied up in neat, morally satisfying bundles at the end.  It was just too good.  Even though the author tried to make Megan and Trish human with their flaws in the beginning of the book, they came across very much like Superman and Captain America.  Boy Scout heroes, as my niece calls them.  Unfair as it may be, I wanted more.  I wanted dark, ugly, tortured and flawed.  I wanted Batman (not the Adam West Batman, although I loved that series).  Not surprisingly, my favorite character, the one I flipped pages eagerly to catch a glimpse of, was the evil Melnikov.  She’s bitter and eaten up with revenge over her treatment as a youth at the hands of the Soviets.  She was ripped from her family, subjected to psychic experimentation, used as a weapon, and when the government switched gears, she was forced into prostitution and a life of desperate poverty.  But she’s not just a product of a horrible childhood, a woman to be pitied and reformed.  No, Melnikov is evil.  Even without the rough treatment at the hands of the Soviets, she’s selfish, cruel, and ambitions.  She wants the superpowers, wants to rule the world, wants to crush everyone beneath her tobacco stained fingers.  This is a woman I want to see more of.

An enjoyable and quick moving novel.  An excellent addition to your shelf of superhero figures (in or out of their plastic).  Violence and some sexually explicit parts (including a scene of sexual violence) make it probably not suitable for younger teenagers.  Three and a half stars.