January (Countdown book)

infobox Book |
name = January
image_caption = 'January' Cover
author = Daniel Parker
illustrator =
cover_artist = Simon Pulse
country = United States
language = English
series = Countdown
genre = Adventure novel
publisher = Simon Pulse
release_date = 1998
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pages = 137 pp
isbn = ISBN 068981819X
preceded_by =
followed_by = Feburary

"January" is the first book in the Countdown series by Daniel Parker (b. 1970). It was first published on December 1st, 1998 [cite web|url=http://www.amazon.com/January-Countdown-Daniel-Parker/dp/068981819X|title=January (Countdown) (Paperback)|accessdate=2008-10-10 (English)] .

Plot

The book is divided into four parts, the Prologue, Part I that contains chapters one through five, Part II that contains chapters six through twelve, and Part III that contains chapters thirteen through fifteen.

Prologue

The series starts on January 1, 1999 in a Russian military installation north of the Arctic Circle, five minutes before the countdown to the year 1999 in the Pacific Time Zone. In the midst of a toast inside, the base is suddenly attacked by a very mysterious group of female teenagers. With the stationed soldiers dead, secret weapons contained in the base are launched.

Part I

The series starts with a Prologue in January 1, 1999 in a Russian military installation north of the Arctic Circle, five minutes before the countdown to the year 1999 in the Pacific Time Zone. In the midst of a toast inside, the base is suddenly attacked by a very mysterious group of female teenagers. With the stationed soldiers dead, secret weapons contained in the base are launched.

The first chapter introduces seventeen year old Ariel Collins, Jezebel Howe, Brian Landau, and Trevor Collins in Washington, USA. Just two seconds before the end of 1998, a solar flare occurs, resulting in a power outage.

The plot then moves to New York City, introducing characters Julia Morrison and her boyfriend Luke at a nightclub. At 3:01 AM, about a minute after the secret weapons are launched, Julia, in the midst of watching her boyfriend dancing with someone else finds that the music abruptly stops and the lights turn off. Strange things begin happening, and Julie receives a mysterious vision. She wakes up to find that the person next to her has disappeared and has left a puddle of what seemed to be wet putty.

Moving on, the book introduces twenty year old Dr. Harold Wurf in a hospital in Austin, Texas, where he is on a New Year's thirty-two hour shift. Seven minutes after the launch of the weapons, the hospital, University of Texas Hospital still has power. He decides to check up on an attractive patient he's forgotten about. After a tedious conversation, the patient tells him that she feels very hot and needs some water and suddenly develops strange symptoms. But soon enough, she melts into a black puddle before his eyes. Harold Wurf is consumed by terror, and runs out of the room only to find out that absolutely everyone has vanished, leaving articles of clothes and thick black puddles.

At last the plot moves to Jerusalem, Israel, introducing eighteen year old atheist Sarah Levy who decided to study in Israel and her brother Joshua Levy on a bus with their granduncle Elijah. Ten minutes after the launch, and after learning about the sudden blackouts of major cities around the world, Sarah is left with a bus filled with silent prayer. A radio reports that there has apparently been a massive solar flare. Elijah suddenly begins babbling about a prophecy on a scroll but becomes ill and sure enough, disintegrates into a black puddle. With everyone except for Sarah and her brother reduced to piles of blood, pus, blackness and clothing, the bus becomes out of control.

Meanwhile, back in Washington, fifteen minutes into the new year, as the four teenagers begin suspecting the launch of a nuclear war caused the outages, Ariel's ill tempered father comes back to their house early. Entering, he finds a large supply of empty beers and four drunk teens. He begins to throw a fit when he suddenly collapses. Sure enough, he melts into a puddle.

Part II

After nearly twenty-four hours of unconsciousness, Sarah wakes up in a crash yard, nearby the bus she was on, with her brother taking care of her. Josh believes the world is falling apart, but Sarah have a very hard time believing him.

Chapter seven introduces punk-like George Porter and very obese Eight Ball, two sixteen year old teenagers jailed for hot-wiring a car on New Year's Eve. Three days after any adult over twenty disintegrates, the two are found starving and thirsty in a jail cell, on the verge of cannibalistic ideas. Out of anger, George kicks the hard metal cell door, cracking a few bones in his right foot and loosening a screw. While in immense pain, Eight Ball manages to knock out the screw from it's place and squeeze through the door. But instead of helping George through the door, Eight Ball runs off.

In the midst of a fight between Julia and her drunk boyfriend in their New York City apartment, Julia acts on impulse and runs away from him. She only makes it to the bottom floor when she is confronted with three 'love' searching thugs. Luke manages to catch up to her with a bottle of booze. After a negative conversation, Luke fatally bashes one of the three with the bottle. He then decides that they should leave the city and go west, where Julie wanted to go anyway, even though Luke thinks her visions are 'pretty wild.'

Back in Texas, Harold finds himself extremely overloaded with teenage medical issues, barely having received more than a trinkle of sleep over the past week. After a few quickly solved cases, the teenagers start believing he has the magical power to heal. Harold realizes that there isn't much he can do to make them believe otherwise, so he just goes with it.