E.J. Copperman: Same Difference
Fran and Ken Stein #2
There are several things a reader can expect when they pick up an E.J. Copperman book, among them humor, a tight plot and great characters. Also to be expected in each of his series, written as either Jeff Cohen or Copperman, is a high concept premise, and this instalment is no exception. The sibling protagonists, brother and sister Fran and Ken Stein (you get the word play), were not born, exactly, but created by their scientist parents who added a little extra something to the formula. The two of them are remarkably tall and strong, the downside being that they have to plug the USB port under their arms into a charger every couple of days to keep going. This part of the story was, to me, almost extraneous – the rest is so excellent that it needs no embellishment. Fran and Ken could just simply have been tall and extra strong and the book wouldn’t have suffered any. Being Copperman, however, there’s an extra emotional layer here as Fran and Ken haven’t seen their parents since they were children and are still hoping to find them. All signs point to that search being the plot of the next book. Their sense of loss is only lightly touched on here but it’s present and beautifully handled.