Promises Broken

The 4400 #4

by David Mack

4400 taken, 4400 returned. All were given startling new abilities. Now, if you are willing to risk it all, you too can be extraordinary. Is this what the future intended to ensure the survival of the human race?

Promicin -- which kills half of those who dare to inject it and grants paranormal abilities to those who survive -- is spreading across the globe and threatening to plunge the entire world into chaos.

One year has passed since Jordan Collier and his followers seized control of Seattle and renamed it Promise City. U.S. armed forces have surrounded Seattle, and each day brings Collier and his Promicin-Positive Movement closer to all-out war with the world's greatest military superpower.

However, the real threats are the Marked -- agents from the future whose identities are encoded into body-hijacking nanites. They were sent back to thwart the efforts of the 4400. The last three surviving Marked lurk in the shadows, working in secret as they prepare to deliver a deathblow to the planet.

Caught in the crossfire are NTAC agents Tom Baldwin and Diana Skouris. His son, Kyle, and her thirteen-year-old adopted daughter, Maia, are both more loyal to Jordan's movement than to them. And when the standoff between Collier and the U.S. military explodes into open conflict, Tom, Diana, and fellow agents wind up outnumbered and outgunned.

In the end, the fate of all mankind will rest in the hands of one man: Tom Baldwin.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Tv, Adventure

328 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 3, 2009

About the author

David Mack is the New York Times bestselling author of 39 novels of science-fiction, fantasy, and adventure, including the Star Trek Destiny and Cold Equations trilogies.

Beyond novels, Mack's writing credits span several media, including television (for produced episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), games, and comic books.

Follow him on Twitter @davidalanmack or like his Facebook page.

Reviews

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

As mentioned in my review of The 4400: Welcome to Promise City, I had watched the 4400 TV show through all four seasons only to be hugely disapointed at the cliff hanger ending resulting from cancellation. This is the second and final book to close out the story line of the show, and I thought it succeeded very well.

The last book struggled to advance the plot line very far, mostly because it got bogged down in trying to remind readers on where all of the characters are now...and there are a lot of characters. This novel, written by a different author, concentrates instead on a few key characters and thus satisfactorily ties up all the loose ends. Still, the book would probably not be enjoyable for those that have not followed the events of the TV series...just too much history would be missing to really understand what is happening here. Surprisingly, for a TV tie-in novel, I found the writing to be true to the characters, very readable, and the plot was full of appropriate action and suspense. A quick but engaging read. I'm glad I took this road and can now look back at my 4400 experience fondly instead of with daggers in my eyes.

[Chris Greensmith · Rating 1 out of 5]

"The world did not belong to Jordan Collier. Thanks to promicin, the world belonged to everyone."

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably the best of all the 4400 novels done so far. It is absolutely crammed with action and suspense with nothing less than the survival of almost all of humanity at stake.

There are still three of the Marked around, and they have their own agenda, duping Dennis Ryland into helping them. Diana is having problems with Maia who has become thirteen years old, defiant and ends up a runaway of sorts. Kyle has become rather unbalanced what with his Cassie alter-ego. Marco has developed an ability to teleport, and Tom is still debating whether or not to take the promicin shot.

Jordan still has Promise City, but the U.S. government has decided that it doesn't like that arrangement, so it calls into action attack planes, ships, tanks, specially-developed troops and regular troops. They are set on a path of genocide against anyone with a promicin-caused special ability, and that includes killing men, women and children.

Jordan and his people try to defend their territory against almost over-whelming odds. At the same time, the Marked are carrying out their plan which would end up leaving maybe 98% or so of humanity quite dead. So Tom, Diana, Marco and the others have to figure out how to defend Promise City, keep themselves from being killed by U. S. government soldiers and, at the same time, figure out what the Marked are up to, where they are, and how to stop them.

Quite and handful and it makes for exciting reading.

It also is a good example of the concept of fearing what we don't understanding and, out of that fear, developing the desire to totally destroy that thing we don't understand.

[Corey Lamb · Rating 3 out of 5]

After greatly enjoying "Welcome to Promise City", I wasted little time grabbing a copy of this conclusion to one of my favorite series. I really wanted to give this novel a four or five star review, but I just couldn't. "Promises Broken", while enjoyable in its own as a successor to The 4400, failed to deliver the grand exit that I felt this series deserved. Or course, there was much about this book that I did like, enough to recommend it even to fans of the series. However, some of the main characters felt out-of-character in various points, the overarching plot veered (in a not-so-pleasant way, in my opinion) from what was initially proposed in the television series, and one of the principle "rules" (if I can be so bold to call it) of the series' main protagonist is shattered in the final chapter (I won't reveal what, as it is a major spoiler). The moment was interesting, and seemed to be the logical progression of the scene, but it felt so...wrong, for lack of a better word. Not a bad read, but a vastly underwhelming finale that almost squandered its potential. 3 stars.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Highly recommended read if you watched the TV and were left wanting more. This and book #3 do a great job tying up loose ends of the story arch.

My main complaint (which, to be fair, is somewhat a relic of the TV show) is that virtually every single named female character was either 1) a love interest 2) a literal child or 3) was killed to further another characters arch. It was pretty disappointing to read as the few women who weren't originally romantically entangled with the lead men shifted that direction with absolutely no benefit to the female character.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

i was a bit disapointed in "welcome to promise city" because it did little to advance the story. promises broken however was a great read. it ended with a cliff hange but it was a far more satisying clifhanger than tthe shows. i woulld of course be thrilled to find out what happens next to my favorit promicin positives. i will be very annoyed if there is never another 4400 installment.

[Rob Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taking full advantage of its written form, this book takes on a more epic turn to the previous book (and the TV series) to portray a lot more death and destruction. Like the previous book, it doesn't shy from shaking up the status quo that was previously set and sets up further adventures nicely, however it ends on a cliffhanger that (just like the show) annoyingly hasn't been resolved since.

[Robbie Dell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this story!

The story, the characters and the science are extremely satisfying to a science nerd like me. I hated when the series ended, at least the books continued the story and satisfied my desire to know more about what happens. Sadly there are no more books, but there is possibly a reboot scheduled on the CW...YEAH!

[Sini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Start interesting, but some things at end doesn´t make that much sense. Like Shawn waking up Heather from basically death by giving others life force.

But ending about Tom not being meant to have power really made me want to read more if there is continuation somewhere.

[Saphire Aqua · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars because the story was good enough but the characters felt extremely OOC, characters that should have been done with magically returned, and the romances were kind of weird like between characters that had 0 interest in each other before??

[Nick Bowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another open ended cliff hanger, don't start writing if you don't know how to finish a story. In reality the author probably wants another commission to keep on writing, but it evidently hasn't happened.

There must be fan fiction that picks up from this point...?

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. Tied up lots of loose ends with the TV series and did actually end. But it left it hanging and open to a whole new saga! What did Tom do? Will there ever be any more 4400 books????

[Candice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wrapped up the TV show.

[Debbie Brown · Rating 1 out of 5]

Doh, ended on a cliffhanger. But getting there was good so I can ignore the last few pages

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why does it leave me with a cliffhanger!!!! Are there more books? I need to know!!!!

[Mikael Kuoppala · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second half of a duology of books to offer closure to the cancelled TV-series "The 4400," "Promises Broken" does what it can given the scope of the saga it needs to finish. The book's predecessor "Welcome to Promise City" by Greg Cox was a bit lost and did obviously too little for the bigger picture. On the other hand it had the task of getting the readers back along for the ride. David Mack picks up where Cox left off and turns the pace up.

I've read Star Trek books by both Cox and Mack before, and have noted that Cox is a stable, by-the-books author whereas Mack is an innovative, highly ambitious weaver of stories with scope and substance alike. He does a fine job with "The 4400" as well, but it's nowhere near as complex and rich as his Trek outings. Trek lit is a paradoxical thing; it's based on a TV-series, but its authors tend to have a passion for writing for the franchise, often resulting in some truly amazing fiction. Many of my very favorite novels are Star Trek books. But these two "The 4400" books have more of the assumed media tie-in fiction feel. They are- especially "Promises Broken"- written with skill and even insight into the characters, but they seem to be more about doing what they need to and less about offering something unique and creative.

All in all "Promises Broken" is still a pleasant revisit to the world of this uneven but likeable saga, and it's a solid enough finale the series never got on TV and always deserved. For a viewer of the series, both this and its weaker predecessor are recommended reading for sure.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty good book, but only for fans of the 4400 show, who watched through season four's conclusion. (I don't think it stands alone, without the show.) The show was cancelled before there was closure, and two books were written to bring us a bit more of that. The first book was "The 4400: Welcome to Promise City." You really need to read both, but if you read this one without the first, this author does fill in necessary details so you won't be utterly confused. This book is allegedly "the true end of the series," but I'll say this: I have a BIG hunch that this author is hoping to be commissioned for several more 4400 books!

[Andi S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

¡Qué decepción! leí este libro y el anterior (Welcome to promise city) en busca de respuestas y nada, termine justo como cuando termine de ver la serie. Un desenlace estrepitoso, un desarrollo de personajes pésimo, con unos cambios de personalidades muy bruscos (¿Tom y Diana? ¡Por favor!), todo acompañado de una trama más bien, predecible.

Siento que el escritor abarco muchos más temas de los que podía manejar (oh sorpresa, el fallo típico en toda la serie) y al final, no pudo desarrollarlos de forma correcta. Si este libro tenía la intención de darle un final a los fans de The 4400, y de paso, compensarlos por la abrupta cancelación de la serie, al menos en mi opinión, ha fallado.

[Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you enjoyed the 4400 series on fx, then the two-book series (Promise City ad Promises Broken) provide a nice visit back to that world, a strong closure for the story lines at the end of the TV series, and the same fast-paced action and scifi idea exploration that made the TV series fun. It also has an ending that could be the basis for further novels, without being a cliff-hanger. I'm glad I read them; they were worth my limited reading time.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is the last book written about the 4400 but the end is left in such a way that the story can continue. Great series if you are/were a fan of the TV series. All the characters are the same as in the TV show. Although Welcome to Promise City and Promises Broken are written by two different authors, they have both done a good job of keeping the continuity between the characters and the overall style the same.

[Number Two · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable book, but definitely weaker than "Welcome to Promise City". Characters aren't really like their versions from the tv series, especially Tom and Diana, there are also small mistakes. (For example Kyle was not controlled by The Marked in the show, it was something different.) But the ending...BUT THE ENDING! Oh my Rassilon, I love and I hate it. I love it because it was great, 100% style of tv series. I hate it, because once more I didn't get the definite end of the story itself.

[Kris Russel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real treat for fans of the show. Wish they would have made this into a movie to conclude the series. Of course when I say conclude... The reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars is because it ends with a cliffhanger. *frustrated growl*

[bumblethunderbeast · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this because the series was cut after 4 seasons and left with a cliff-hanger; the writing was clearly for a television show--action based and the nuances brought by the actors were absent. But I'm glad to have some closure after watching all 4 seasons.

[Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good and exciting addition to the story line. My only gripe is that the personality of the characters isn't quite in sync with the prior book, but it's still a good read. I just wish they would have continues writing these books, because there's so much more story to go.

[sjams · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was pretty irritated with how the show went, so I'm glad I got a chance to see a little more of it.

[Rich · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a mess.

The 4400 was a great television series, but this book is just way too over the top and silly.

Truly this is a sad way to end such a great storyverse.

[Afsana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed readuing this book- it was a light book and been a while since I read the others may have to go back and watch the series again

[Angela]

2nd series finale books. Read second.

[Sebastiaan Torenhof · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good ending to the series... but not THE end...

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice book.