Detachment Point by Paul Winters
Taking command?
What exactly happens when a person dies? What say Del doesn’t ‘move on’ but instead sees his chance to live again trough someone else’s body?
And then, what would happen to that possessed person?
Peter Barnett is a happily married man anticipating a possible promotion at his job in a business firm. When he suddenly starts picking up the habits and attitudes of the former auto mechanic Del Kenner, Peter’s friends just get uncomfortable, not understanding why he acts and speaks so differently.
Is there any way for things to return to normal?
As useful as it may be to suddenly gain another person’s set of skills, would it be worth suddenly finding your mind latched onto a new style of behavior?
The Last Love Story (The Reversal of Time Series) by S.B. Santiago
Without TV, phones, and internet normal society begins to fall apart. It isn’t long before mail stops being delivered and even newspapers are discontinued. And to make things even better, the government doesn’t really seem concerned with finding answers.
When people start to disappear, finding a reasonable answer for what is going on doesn’t even seem as important as simply getting away. Now I’m not talking something like one or two people going missing. Huge numbers of people, like the entire city of Portland are suddenly not there.
When 17 year-old Rayne suddenly finds that her parents do not return from work, it isn’t long before Lorna, a girl that used to go to school with Rayne before she moved, shows up. Lorna’s home city of Seaside was devastated by the disappearances as well, leaving her alone too. She is now traveling with a couple other young people who have watched most everyone they know get taken away. They take in Rayne and continue on their own personal search for safety.
But just how dangerous has the world become? What dangers lurk just out of sight? With ‘friends’ holding on to their own secrets, will life ever be ordinary again?
Wild Blood- Vampire in the City by Donna Ansari
As the story goes on, Emma learns of the personal stake her sire’s sire holds in the fight involving the invading pack’s responsibility for his late wife’s demise. In fact, the invading lupines proudly claim responsibility for clearing the west cost of all vampires.
Emma befriends one vampire who fled from California, but he (James) is a little weary about meeting up with the vampire leader of New York (Michael). It seems these two have a slight bit of history.
Just like how all vampires may not get along, there could be some resentment and mistrust held by the wolves for their annoying, third person talking leader.
And, to top it all; if vampires and werewolves aren’t enough, by the end of the book there’s some strong evidence of witchcraft. If you liked the first Vampire in the City, you will probably like this one.
Skeleton Key by Jeff LaFerney
Zander set the two of them up together not only because he knows that Erika can probably help Clay with his grieving, but because he believes that Clay can use his powers to help Erika solve the mystery of her missing husband.
The husband’s name is Adrian Payne and Clay is quick to find out he is not a well liked man. No one was mourning when this man disappeared amid-st the chaos and confusion that came, following a train wreck. As he was one of the owners of the train company and may have even been driving the train at the time of the wreck, people who weren’t involved find little reason to doubt he may have simply run off into hiding after the accident.
The only reason that Clay doesn’t latch onto that assumption himself is simple: more than one person close to Adrian sincerely believes that they are responsible for his death. Clay is left to try and solve the mystery even though in every direction he turns he can hear another ‘thought confession’ of someone who finds themselves responsible for Adrian’s death.
And the final problem? Clay is left with his powers allowing him to hear the voice of Adrian’s ghost. He may have been annoying without trying in real life, but as he is dead and almost no one can hear him, he has no reason not to be irritating while haunting someone.
New Blood- Vampire in the City by Donna Ansari
Emma lives alone and works nights for an advertising agency in New York city. One night (or early morning) as she walks to her home in Queens she manages to stop two delinquents that look to be trying to beat an innocent man with sticks and crosses. Her walking home is never peaceful; the next day she missteps into traffic and is killed by a car!
Except she isn’t quite killed, the man she saved the night before is really a vampire who turns her to prevent her death out of gratitude. From here on we watch as Emma gets pulled into the world of vampire politics, the different actions and laws of the differing clans. For one thing, she must prove herself worthy to stand among the Queens vampires by taking specific actions against their Brooklyn rivals.
As the story goes on, Emma finds her relationships with others (sometimes necessarily) changing. As her whole world is thrown upside down, it is interesting to watch how she intends to keep her life from getting any more out of her control.
Loving The Rain by Jeff LaFerney
Before you answer, let me bring up a couple of large problems addressed in this book; would you really want someone to love you if you were left forever questioning whether or not the feeling came from their own free will? Is it worth it to win a game if it only happens because you unfairly made your opponent fail?
And if you were left to watch your best work come to nothing as good rained upon another person, might it not engender a slight amount of hatred, even if you didn’t know your opponent’s full responsibility?
That’s not to say that knowing would make it any better. Could you trust someone if you knew that any feelings of trust might just be what they want you to feel?
I like this book. The characters felt real, and the story left me thinking.
The Unwanted: The G6 Chronicles by Daniel L. Carter
The story follows the early lifetimes of 5 children who were produced as part of an experiment in a secret genetic lab in Chicago. There were actually several of these labs, yet wanting to keep the project a secret, the company funding the project has taken to destroying the labs and killing their non-central workers in the unwanted facilities at any time when they looked to be in danger of falling under public scrutiny. As one of these laboratories is being covered up, two nurses are able to load a car with newborns and escape before they are all killed.
It also focuses on the investigation led by two FBI agents who are trying to figure out what is happening to cause the sudden seemingly-unprovoked killing of these workers. At least in Chicago it doesn’t look like infants were killed, yet investigators are simply baffled as to what the purpose of these deaths could be.
Of course, let’s not forget the great Dr. Tibon Agha here; his wonderful psychotic mind is responsible for a good bit of the fun. A large part of this story is the recounting of past events in his life. While these may not actually give him the right to act as he does, they certainly develop him into an interesting character.
Overall, I’d say this is an enjoyable story. While in a couple of places I was worried it my be ready to go ‘fantasy-religious’ on me, it never did. If we can just ignore the super-human science for a moment, the characters handled situations the same as real people may do.
Sarah's Readings 