Review: Cain's Blood by Geoffrey Girard @Geoffrey_Girard @TouchstoneBooks

 

Cain's Blood by Geoffrey Girard

Publication date: September 3rd, 2013

Pages: 352

Synopsis:

When clones of infamous serial killers escape from a secret government facility, it's up to a former Army Ranger to stop them.. with the help of a teenage killer clone.

The DNA of the world's most notorious serial killers--including Ted Bundy, The Son of Sam, and The Boston Strangler--has been cloned by the US Department of Defense to develop a new breed of bioweapon. Now in Phase Three, the program includes dozens of young men who have no clue as to their evil heritage. Playing a twisted game of nature vs. nurture, scientists raise some of the clones with loving families and others in abusive circumstances. But everything changes when the more dangerous boys are set free by their creator.

A man with demons of his own, former black ops soldier Shawn Castillo is hot on the clones' trail. But Castillo didn't count on the quiet young man he finds hiding in an abandoned house--a boy who has just learned he is the clone of Jeffrey Dahmer. As Jeffrey and Castillo race across the country after the rampaging teens, Castillo must protect the boy who is the embodiment of his biggest fears--and who may also be his last hope.

"A wild peek-through-your fingers scare ride" (Paul Tremblay, author of The Little Sleep), Cain's Blood melds all-too-plausible science and ripped-from-the-headlines horror into a stunning work about the potential for good and evil in us all.

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Review:

I received an e-copy of this book from the publishers on Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

When I received this book, I was so anxious to dive right into it. As I read I just became more and more enamored with the story and the overall general story line. I started discussing it with various family members and describing as much as possible without giving away EVERYTHING (we don't take kindly to spoilers in this household), and actually got quite a few people interested. Sadly, I had no way of loaning them my copy since it was an e-copy. Low and behold, I actually found a physical copy of the Cain's Blood/Project Cain ARC in one of my local used bookstores. Now I have a copy to loan out!

This book is a thriller the likes of which you have never imagined. Cloning, after the success over a cloned sheep named Dolly, has become a full-blown obsession for the U.S. government. The government and a biotechnological company called DSTI takes cloning a bit further and starts cloning children out of serial killer DNA in order to isolate the "anger gene" in a macabre experiment of nature vs. nurture. Taking some of the child subjects and placing them into loving homes as well as abusive homes they study the roll of a pre-dispositioned serial killer in their different environments.

The creator of the program is unsatisfied with how the overall project is going decides to free some of his creations on the world. The clones of Albert Fish, Ted Bundy, David Berkowitz, Jeffrey Dahmer, Henry Lee Lucas, and Dennis Rader are allowed to give into their murderous desires and run a muck. In comes the problem solver, black ops soldier, Shawn Castillo. He is set to capture and/or kill the teenagers as soon as humanly possibly. Despite being trained to do as he is told, Castillo buckles under the idea of having to kill teenagers, even if they are criminally insane teenagers.

While on the trail of the escaped subjects he comes across a cowering boy in an abandoned house and finds out he is yet another clone of Jeffrey Dahmer. Having no idea what else to do and hoping Jeffrey may have some insight he wouldn't normally have he takes the boy along on his journey, always weary of the fact that the innocent boy sitting beside him in the car could flip a switch at any moment and become one of the most notorious serial killers of all time.

I have been reading a lot of paranormal books recently and was glad to take a break from all that and get into something a little more realistic. This was a scary read. Not scary like, crazy zombie monsters, but scary in the fact that it is entirely possible for this to truly happen. Genetic testing and experimentation are alive and very much well in the United States. It is not a stretch for the government to use it to understand some of the most fearsome killers of all time. This book was so, so, so good! The adult version Cain's Blood opposed to Project Cain is very graphic and has some material that I would definitely not recommend for a younger audience. For the younger ones, stick to Project Cain.

Cain's Blood is a realistic read that sheds light on the human condition. It explores the ever debatable question of nature vs. nurture and gives it teeth. Why are we the way we are? Is it where we grew up or how we are designed genetically? Is a clone of Jeffrey Dahmer destined to be the nightmare his genetic host was, or is there a chance that good or bad, violent killer or innocent victim, that it all comes down to conscious choice?

Explore Cain's Blood's work of literary horror and thrills, that will have you flinching in shock but begging for more.

Review: The Returned by Jason Mott

The Returned by Jason Mott

Series: The Returned #1

Publication date: August 27th, 2013

Pages: 338

Synopsis:

Jacob was time out of sync, more perfect than it had been. He was life the way it was supposed to be all those years ago. That's what all the Returned were.

Harold and Lucille Hargrave's lives have been both joyful and sorrowful in the decades since their only son, Jacob, died tragically at his eighth birthday party in 1966. In their old age they've settled comfortably into life without him, their wounds tempered through the grace of time... Until one day Jacob mysteriously appears on their doorstep--flesh and blood, their sweet, precocious child, still eight years old.

All over the world people's loved ones are returning from beyond. No one knows how or why this is happening, whether it's a miracle or a sign of the end. Not even Harold and Lucille can agree on whether the boy is real or a wondrous imitation, but one thing they know for sure: he's their son. As chaos erupts around the globe, the newly reunited Hargrave family finds itself at the center of a community on the brink of collapse, forced to navigate a mysterious new reality and a conflict that threatens to unravel the very meaning of what it is to be human.

With spare elegant prose and searing emotional depth, award-winning poet Jason Mott explores timeless questions of faith and morality, love and responsibility. A spellbinding and stunning debut, The Returned is an unforgettable story that marks the arrival of an important new voice in contemporary fiction.

Available at:

Review:

I received an e-copy of The Returned from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When scouring the listings on NetGalley for some books that were fresh and new and had gotten a lot of buzz, The Returned was at the top. I immediately requested it and waiting to hear if I had gotten it. Meanwhile, my boyfriend had entered a giveaway and won a paperback ARC of the book. I glared at him for his luck and was almost coming to the realization that I'd have to borrow his copy if I were going to read it when the approval e-mail came. I was so excited and dived right into the book.

This book opens on a world where dead loved ones are started to return. They are not digging out of their graves like mindless zombies, they are being placed in random areas all over the world and set to journey back to their families by any means necessary. The government, seeing the sudden rise of dead people being reported returning, set forth to start collecting the Returned and getting them to their families.

One such story of this occurrence is with the Hargrave family who suffered a loss nearly fifty years ago, of their one and only, eight-year-old son. Much to their shock, and in the case of Harold mistrust, Jacob is returned to them after being found wandering the shores of China. Lucille, like most other grieving mothers, takes Jacob in no questions asked. Harold is a bit more resistant and keeps their Returned son at arm's length.

Eventually, the government notices more and more Returned are coming back and the population is swelling. Unsure what this means for their world, they start forming concentration camps (essentially) for the Returned. Harold and his son wind up in just such a camp as their small town is slowly swallowed up by the imprisoned Returned camp.

It is only a matter of time before one side breaks. The living, sick of sharing their world with those who had died, or the Returned, who are mistreated out of fear and confusion. What will remain of the world once these two groups of people start to wage war between each other?

While reading this book, I made the mistake of skimming a fellow book blogger's review. I was curious what I was in store for while reading it and I found her statement that "this book is slow so if you like a lot of action quickly in a story, it may not be for you" to be emphatically true. I am the type who likes things to happen proto. The slow build just drives me insane and causes me to lose focus quickly. It is probably why it too me so long to read this book when normally it takes me no time at all to consume a fine work of literature.

While this book was not particularly to my liking, there are some fine points. The writing itself is an overwhelming example of the author being a poet. The environmental and emotional descriptions were lyrical and melodious. They made me want to close my eyes and see the world he created for his characters in vivid color. The plot overall was another fine attribute. Who would have even thought about this sort of premise without it evolving into something religious? Surely not me.

Jason Mott put his poetic skills to use in the heart-wrenching symphony of The Returned. It is meant to feel like a slow, deep breath that is held in the chest until the very end, where in a gust, it all spills out of one's body and we are left feeling the ache of our own loved ones who will never return.

Review: Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout @JLArmentrout

 

Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Series: Lux #3

Publication date: December 11th, 2012

Pages: 370

Synopsis:

No one is like Daemon Black.

When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn't fooling around. Doubting him isn't something I'll do again, and now that we've made it through the rough patches, well... There's a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.

But even he can't protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love.

After everything, I'm no longer the same Katy. I'm different... And I'm not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take is discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I'm capable. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won't turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we're stronger... and they know it.

Available at:

Review:

Oh my goodness. How I have waiting to dig into this book. I requested it not long after I finished Onyx and have been waiting patiently for the library to fill my request so I could find out what happened with Katy and Daemon. As I also read Shadows around the same time that I read this book, it gave me a unique perspective on Dawson and his love for Beth. I was giddy with anticipation as I opened the book and started to read.

When we left off in Onyx, Dawson had just come home after a particularly fearful encounter with the splinter organization of the Department of Defense, Daedalus. Of course, there was to be expected some changes in Dawson's character. He was no longer the happy-go-lucky boy that he once was. He no longer mirrored Dee's thirst for interaction with humans. He was moody, morose, and uneasily quiet. The only time he did speak was in his declaration to free Beth from her captors. This idea was met with resistance, what with Katy's recent entrapment in their facility. Dawson was not to be swayed. The family had to make a choice. Follow and aid Dawson in is task or let him do it on his own and risk losing him again, this time permanently.

A couple of fiends from their past resurface and the Luxens and Katy must decide who they can trust and how to handle the delicate positions these people have in their lives. They can't just run around flashing people with their deadly beams of light without the possibility of consequences resurfacing, right?

As with all the books in the Lux series, there are always consequences for every single action they take. Mostly, their lives consist of trying to hammer out a normal life while keeping their less than human identities a secret and keeping themselves together. We always seem to lose someone important in one fashion or another in each of the Lux series books. Tragedy seems to follow Daemon and Katy no matter what they do.

I absolutely love this series. I have never read anything so unique and awe-inspiring. From the moment I read Obsidian, I knew I would be hooked. Now that I have completed Opal and have to await the release of Origin, I somewhat wish I had waited until the newest book was out before diving into the series. I hate the wait! I am a strong believer in instant gratification, so waiting for a book in one of my favorite alien romance series is sheer torture! What more can I say about Opal besides the obvious praises of it being yet another great installment in the series?

Opal continues the trials and tribulations of a charismatic alien and a introverted quasi-human. It breaks hearts with every page turn and addicts its reader to the a fictitious story that almost seems real. Opal is the third book in a series that everybody should read before the Department of Defense deems it classified material and banishes it to the bowels of Area 51. Hey... who says aliens are all that fictitious?

Review: Shadows by Jennifer L. Armentrout @JLArmentrout

Shadows by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Series: Lux #0.5

Publication date: Feburary 21st, 2012

Pages: 179

Synopsis:

The last thing Dawson Black expected was Bethany Williams. As a Luxen, an alien life form on Earth, human girls are... well, fun. But since the Luxen have to keep their true identities a secret, falling for one would be insane.

Dangerous. Tempting. Undeniable.

Bethany can't deny the immediate connection between her and Dawson. And even though boys aren't a complication she wants, she can't stay away from him. Still, whenever they lock eyes, she's drawn in.

Captivated. Lured. Loved.

Dawson is keeping a secret that will change her existence... and put her life in jeopardy. But even he can't stop risking everything for one human girl. Or from a fate that is as unavoidable as love itself.

Available at:

Review:

I read this book at the second most perfect time one could. Of course, the obvious best time is at the very beginning before diving into the other books of the series. I knew it was about Daemon's brother and I honestly didn't see Dawson playing more of a roll than just some back story. I figured I would just read it once I finished with the series as a fun side story. Well, Opal features a LOT about Dawson and I chose to read Shadows right before I jumped into Opal. Wise choice, really. A wiser choice would have been to stay with Shadows and go through the books in order but... I digress.

Shadows starts with Dawson and Bethany meeting and falling in love. Their relationship almost seems too easy when you compare it to the relationship between Kat and Daemon. I almost like the teasing insults between Kat and Daemon to the confessions of love and devotion from Dawson and Bethany. Bethany is the first human to form a relationship with the mysterious Luxen people. Her relationship with Dawson causes the Luxen to be completely up in arms and resentful of Dawson rocking the boat, so to speak. Why can't he just fall for a nice Luxen girl, they demand, instead of essentially mixed species dating?

I see Daemon's hatred of humans in Shadows and it really makes me want to go back through the first two books I have read and watch how his opinion slowly changes. How ALL the Luxen change due to Dawson's romance with Bethany. Do they become more accepting? More resentful? More cautious? I seem to remember some of these changes when they were made obvious but not with the same fine-toothed comb analysis that I could possibly do after reading this prequel.

Of course, I liked Shadows. Was there any doubt? While it didn't feature my favorite book blogger character, Kat, it still had some Daemon snippets and I got to acquaint myself with a new book boyfriend, Dawson. It was very similar to Obsidian but Kat and Daemon definitely have more fire between them that is irresistible. There were some sexual innuendo in the book that made me choke on my drink once or twice. All in all, another A+ for Jennifer L. Armentrout's witty and robust writing.

Shadows is the perfect beginning to a perfect series. It sheds light on situations in the sequential novels that the reader may not have gotten without it. It features a less than prominent character and shows how significant his appearance in the books truly was. Masterful.