"Exciting Urban Fiction female investigator with unfolding paranormal abilities"
Generation 18
By: Keri Arthur
Genres: Fantasy Urban | Thriller Psychological | Mystery Paranormal
Posted: September 13, 2014
Sam Ryan has no memories of her life before age fourteen, when she was placed in a foster care facility. She doesn't know who her parents are, and there are eight people she's never met who are listed on her birth certificate. Sam has left the State Police and is now working for Special Investigations Unit on the Spook Squad. Her partner is Gabriel Stern, who doesn't want to work with her. Gabriel had a prior partner killed and wants to maintain distance from everyone, especially his new sexy partner Sam.
Sam is more than human, although neither she nor anyone else has figured out yet what she truly is. Her powers are slowly manifesting throughout GENERATION 18. Sam is pursuing the truth of her life and her past using her work connections. Sam has an uncanny ability to detect kite monsters, the supernatural assassins who appear to be released to kill particular victims. All of the murder victims come from Hopeworth, a military base that performed mysterious projects and experiments with shifters and changers.
The book inexorably leads toward the conclusion that Hopeworth is related to Sam's elusive past. More questions are raised than are answered in book two, however, leaving me anxious for book three. Arthur does a great job at drawing out the suspense at a good pace, slowly doling out information without revealing too much of the big picture at once.
The Spook Squad books are not as strong as some of Arthur's other series, especially the Riley Jenson and Dark Angel series, which I have true fangirl bliss about. However, as I am such a fan of Keri Arthur from her other books, I am happy to delve into her earlier works such as this. The action is brisk, there is an underlying sexual tension between Sam and Gabriel that keeps things lively, and the mystery of Sam's background and the military's secret killer weapons projects combine to make this an entertaining read. I look forward to reading book three in the series, Penumbra. I hope Penumbra will wrap up much of the ongoing mysteries in this world, as Arthur has said on her website that she wrote the Spook Squad books such a long time ago that she will not be writing any further books in the Spook Squad world.
Book Summary
A serial killer strikes every twelve hours. A vampire takes lives at random. At first glance, these tragic incidents seem unrelated. But Special Investigations Unit agents Sam Ryan and Gabriel Stern trace them both back to a military base known as Hopeworth. Is the murder spree part of a cover-up? And are the vampire killings less by chance and more methodical?
The investigation takes an eerie, personal turn when Sam discovers a connection between herself and the victims—and a clue to her own mysterious origins. With the violence escalating and the danger drawing closer to home, the stakes are raised and the mission changes from seeking justice to ensuring Sam and Gabriel’s own survival. And the one person who seems to hold all the answers—about Hopeworth, about Sam’s past—is a mystery man she isn’t sure she can trust. They share a psychic link through her dreams, and he once saved her life, but he may just be the greatest enemy humankind has ever known.
Read an Excerpt
by: Keri Arthur
Dell
October 1, 2014
On Sale: September 22, 2014
Featuring: Sam Ryan; Gabriel Stern
232 pages
ISBN: 0440246598
EAN: 9780440246596
Kindle: B00JI58T9C
Trade Size / e-Book (reprint)