Nalini Singh's "Slave To Sensation" is her first book in the paranormal romance Psy-Changeling Series.
Although there were parts I skimmed, overall I found the book and its premise interesting enough that I've already requested the next book in the series from my local library.
Sascha Duncan is a highly placed member of a ruling Psy family and, at her mother's request, she is working with a "Changeling" to conduct a business deal. The Psy are carefully schooled from birth to not feel any emotion and anyone who doesn't conform to the mold is sent for "rehabilitation" which really involves turning them into a vegetable. Sascha is able to use her mind to conduct defenses to protect her from others knowing what is going on in her mind, her apartment, her heart but emotion is beginning to creep into her life and she knows the fact that she is "defective" can not be hidden much longer. Her biggest fear is being sent for treatment and losing herself.
The Changelings on the other hand exude emotion -- They are part animal/part human. Lucas Hunter is head of a pack that Sascha has been sent to conduct business with. As their work throws them together, Sascha has a difficult time with the passion she begins to feel (in her dreams) for Lucas. Lucas, who has been taught to hate the Psy and is currently using this business deal as a way to hunt for a Psy serial killer who is murdering Changeling women, finds himself attracted to Sascha in a way that disturbs him deeply.
Sascha and Lucas have been given different priorities by their own societies as to what is to come out of this business deal. Bascially, they are trying to extract information from each other in subtle ways. Will Sascha be able to hide the "defects" (emotions) she is currently feeling and will Lucas be able to curb his attraction to Sascha - a woman who is not supposed to feel anything? You'll have to read for yourself their discoveries as they form a coalition to hunt for a Psy serial killer. Both their lives will never be the same again! pazt
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
"Ellery Queen Presents Great Mystery Novellas"
Janet Hutchings edits "Ellery Queen Presents Great Mystery Novellas" with stories from five mystery novelists. A couple of the stories were a little too strange for me but Robert Barnard's "The Lost Boy" caught me totally unawares with the ending as well as Ed Gorman's "Out There in The Darkness" and that's what I like in a mystery -- the challenge of figuring it out and sometimes being surprised when I haven't! This was the perfect book for nighttime reading before bed! Other authors included Ruth Rendell , Joyce Carol Oates, and Clark Howard. pazt
Saturday, August 10, 2013
"Suspect"
"Suspect" by Robert Crais features LAPD cop, Scott James. I've been reading Crais' "Elvis Cole" series in order but couldn't find "Indigo Slam" at the library so purchased it on line and decided I'd read "Suspect" while waiting for it to arrive - good decision!
Crais has woven another great mystery involving LAPD cop, Scott James, who is recovering after being caught in the crossfire of a shootout that killed his female partner. James has lots of physical as well as emotional scars with much healing still to be done. The job he had planned to move into the day after the shooting is no longer an option for him so he's gotten himself accepted into the K-9 platoon and is just waiting to be assigned his police dog. He's still working with a psychiatrist trying to remember more details from the night of the shooting despite the fact that he's not been allowed to be part of the ongoing investigation. However, that is soon to change.....
In the meantime, Maggie, a USMC canine, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan is still healing from wounds she suffered when her handler was killed. The couple who adopted her have recently given her to the LAPD K-9 platoon but the head of the platoon is unsure she's fit for duty. He has his doubts about James, too, but when James refuses the dog he's offered and asks for Maggie instead, he's given a chance to work with her for a few weeks.
That decision turns out to be a turning point for James and for Maggie and they bond while both are healing from their wounds. They have much to overcome but working as a team they begin to play an important role in figuring out what happened the night James' partner was killed and who was behind it.
I found the details about Maggie and how such a canine bonds with their handlerer and was fascinated by all the details of how she smells out scents and detects. The book is worth reading just for those details but it's also a complex mystery that was deeply satisfying to read. Crais has maintained his status as one of my favorite authors! pazt
Crais has woven another great mystery involving LAPD cop, Scott James, who is recovering after being caught in the crossfire of a shootout that killed his female partner. James has lots of physical as well as emotional scars with much healing still to be done. The job he had planned to move into the day after the shooting is no longer an option for him so he's gotten himself accepted into the K-9 platoon and is just waiting to be assigned his police dog. He's still working with a psychiatrist trying to remember more details from the night of the shooting despite the fact that he's not been allowed to be part of the ongoing investigation. However, that is soon to change.....
In the meantime, Maggie, a USMC canine, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan is still healing from wounds she suffered when her handler was killed. The couple who adopted her have recently given her to the LAPD K-9 platoon but the head of the platoon is unsure she's fit for duty. He has his doubts about James, too, but when James refuses the dog he's offered and asks for Maggie instead, he's given a chance to work with her for a few weeks.
That decision turns out to be a turning point for James and for Maggie and they bond while both are healing from their wounds. They have much to overcome but working as a team they begin to play an important role in figuring out what happened the night James' partner was killed and who was behind it.
I found the details about Maggie and how such a canine bonds with their handlerer and was fascinated by all the details of how she smells out scents and detects. The book is worth reading just for those details but it's also a complex mystery that was deeply satisfying to read. Crais has maintained his status as one of my favorite authors! pazt
Thursday, August 8, 2013
"Mad River"
"Mad River" is John Sandford's latest Virgil Flowers novel and the first of the Virgil Flowers series I've read. In fact, I can't remember if I've read any John Sandford mystery novels or not but, if I have, it has been too long ago. I found this one of the "Best Picks" display at my local library and it was one of several mysteries I read while on a 4 day mini-summer-vacation. It just makes me want to read the whole Virgil Flowers series as well as the other series that Sandford has written. You can learn more about Sandford at johnsandford.org or like him on facebook.com/JohnSandfordOfficial.
James Sharp and his girlfriend, Becky Welsh, along with a casual friend, Tom McCall set out to rob a wealthy family for a necklace Becky saw the mother wearing when Becky was working another one of her dead-end jobs. The trio have not been successful in life and James and Becky believe the money they'll get from the necklace will get them to Hollywood where Becky might have a chance to make it big and get them all out of their "dead-end" lives.
However, the robbery ends in a murder and the trio now have a crime spree going through rural Minnesota which means Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Investigator Virgil Flowers is called in just after his return from a relaxing vacation. The investigation has lots of twists and turns and everywhere the trio goes more dead bodies appear so there is an urgency to this investigation but also down time as crime scene data is analyzed and clues sifted through as Flowers and his team try to discover what these teenagers have in mind next.
Virgil does find time to visit his mom and dad since the investigation is near where his dad is pastor of a church. He also manages to reconnect with an old flame from high school and now that they're both divorced there appears to be a mutual attraction.
Sandford writes a great mystery while developing all the characters. I highly recommend this book and I'm already searching out more of his work. I read this one in a day and that was with lots of breaks to spend time with my vacationing family. pazt
James Sharp and his girlfriend, Becky Welsh, along with a casual friend, Tom McCall set out to rob a wealthy family for a necklace Becky saw the mother wearing when Becky was working another one of her dead-end jobs. The trio have not been successful in life and James and Becky believe the money they'll get from the necklace will get them to Hollywood where Becky might have a chance to make it big and get them all out of their "dead-end" lives.
However, the robbery ends in a murder and the trio now have a crime spree going through rural Minnesota which means Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Investigator Virgil Flowers is called in just after his return from a relaxing vacation. The investigation has lots of twists and turns and everywhere the trio goes more dead bodies appear so there is an urgency to this investigation but also down time as crime scene data is analyzed and clues sifted through as Flowers and his team try to discover what these teenagers have in mind next.
Virgil does find time to visit his mom and dad since the investigation is near where his dad is pastor of a church. He also manages to reconnect with an old flame from high school and now that they're both divorced there appears to be a mutual attraction.
Sandford writes a great mystery while developing all the characters. I highly recommend this book and I'm already searching out more of his work. I read this one in a day and that was with lots of breaks to spend time with my vacationing family. pazt
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