RedDevil 4 by Eric C. Leuthardt

In the year 2053 technological advancements have made vast and wondrous strides. Neuroprosthetic implants allow for instant contact and up-to-date access to news and information, medical advancements mean almost instantaneous diagnoses, and one scientist has almost succeeded in creating artificial intelligence. But some do not see this as advancement. Some believe this new world is an abomination. Religious leaders prompt followers into very public and sometimes violent protest while the other side of the spectrum would see everyone connected in one vast network. In the midst of all of this, a series of murders has the police baffled. Three similar crimes all at the same time in three different locations. And in each case the killer was apprehended. There's no doubt the cases are connected but can the police figure it out before there are more deaths?  

This tv season I've gotten completely hooked on Fox's new sci-fi police procedural Almost Human. All along I've been longing for something along those lines to read as well and Eric C. Leuthardt's RedDevil 4 seems to be exactly that!

Apparently Leuthardt is a neurosurgeon. I admit this was something of a concern for me as a reader - I've definitely come across some professionals who are easily able to plot and write great fiction while integrating their profession and knowledge into the story but I've also read others where the focus becomes too much on the author's day job and less on the actual storytelling. Fortunately Leuthardt seems to have the balance down pat. Be warned, though, the science is quite heavy in this one; there was a lot that went over my head in terms of actual explanation behind the tech and the drugs. On the flip side, the actual mystery is really intriguing and in spite of the complicated dollar words (I'm exaggerating a little) the plot moves rather quickly.

Sections alternate between a number of characters, especially in the beginning with The Chameleon, Hagan, both of the Devrons, Krantz, etc. The character list does whittle down some as the various victims start to fall! And the crimes (and the descriptions of the scenes) are pretty brutal.

All in all, RedDevil 4 is a smart debut and a great futuristic twist on a classic police procedural theme.

Rating: 4/5

Safe With Me by Amy Hatvany

All it took was one instance to change the lives of so many people. One minute Hannah was the mother of a boisterous teenage girl, the next minute all was lost. Hannah consents to donating Emily's organs and learns that one of the recipients is another teen on the brink of death.

Maddie Bell has been sick most of her life. In and out of hospitals, she's never faced the normal ins and outs of being a teen. Then she receives a much needed liver transplant. For the first time, Maddie is healthy and able to do the things normal teens do - like attend school. It may seem like nothing for a girl who's faced death and survived, but Maddie is about to learn how brutal high school can be.

Olivia thought she'd met her prince charming in James Bell but she couldn't have been more wrong. By the time she realized just how bad things could be, though, it was too late. Now that her daughter is out of the woods, Olivia thinks she might finally have a chance to start again.

While Hannah and the Bells are undeniably connected, their meeting seems fateful. Hannah is the only one who suspects that Maddie was one of the people saved by her daughter's organ donation, and she fears the truth may cause the Bells to reconsider her friendship. For someone who's only recently begun to come out of her shell since her loss, Hannah believes their meeting is fortuitous and for Olivia, Hannah may be exactly the friend she needs in her own tough situation.

I've been hearing praise of Amy Hatvany's work every since her debut, Best Kept Secrets, hit shelves in 2011. Any time a ton of my blogger friends are all raving about an author, I feel it's my duty as a reader to see what the fuss is about :)

Hatvany certainly seems to have a knack for building strong and thoughtful characters while also tugging at a reader's heartstrings! Her characters are warm and compelling and the story is issue-y without being overwhelmingly so. (Easy to swallow for someone who may avoid those kinds of reads, in other words.)

Rating: 4/5

Top Ten Tuesday: Best Fantasy Books

I've decided to jump on board with Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week the topic is: favorite fantasy novels.

1. George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series - I'm not going to list the books individually, then my whole list would be GRRM!

2. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle - who doesn't love this book?!

3. Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier - this should be another series listing for me but I'll go ahead and put down the first Sevenwaters book since it hooked me to Marillier's work.

4. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clark - oh, such a fabulous doorstopper fantasy!

5. The Sworn by Gail Z. Martin - my first book by Martin and another that hooked me to an outstanding series and author.

6. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman - urban fantasy at its very, very best. It's the first in a list of London based urban fantasy that I completely adore!

7. London Falling by Paul Cornell - like this one.

8. Sixty-One Nails by Mike Shevdon - and this one :)

9. The Spirit Ring by Louis McMaster Bujold - I will beat this book over people's head until it's back in physical print. Kidding, but it is a fantastic book.

10. Dreams and Shadows by C. Robert Cargill - so dark and deliciously wonderful.

Oh, I could go on and on and on with this list!

Two Sisters by Mary Hogan

Hi, readers! Today I'm a stop on the TLC book tour for Mary Hogan's Two Sisters.

Muriel has been keeping secrets her whole life - things she knows about her mother, things she knows about her sister... And the truth is that although neither of them have been especially affectionate with her, she's never, ever revealed what she knows to anyone. When her sister arrives one afternoon for a surprise visit, however, Muriel is faced with the biggest secret of all. One that will have devastating results. Finally Muriel will have to face the truth about her family and the things they've all been keeping from one another. 

On the one hand I found Two Sisters to be something of an easy read. I was quickly swept up in the story through Hogan's somewhat breezy style. Her imagery in particular was beautiful. But the actual story itself was an emotionally rough one for me. I have three sisters, all quite a bit younger than me, and a brother as well, so the that any siblings would have such an awful relationship with each other or with their parents was hard for me to read.

And my first instinct really is to say that this whole family is pretty much awful. No, they aren't physically abusive to one another, but for the main character (Muriel) to literally question why no one loved her is truly painful!

Hogan's adult debut does give the reader lots to think about, especially with regards to family relationships. This is yet another read that I can't truly say I enjoyed - it was just too heart wrenching for that.

Rating: 3.5/5

To see the rest of the stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here.

For more on Mary Hogan and her work, you can visit her website here. You can also like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.

The Sound of Broken Glass by Deborah Crombie

Morning, readers! Today I'm a stop on the TLC book tour for Deborah Crombie's 15th Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James title, The Sound of Broken Glass.

It begins with a dead lawyer in a hotel room. He'd been tied up and strangled, left behind for the housekeeping staff to find. Gemma and her partner, Melody Talbot, are assigned the case and soon discover that the dead man had been involved in an altercation at a local pub the previous evening. Whether it has any bearing on their case is yet to be determined but it does lead them to a local musician, one Gemma and her husband know through mutual friends. 

Meanwhile, Duncan has yet to return to work as the couple's young foster daughter struggles to acclimate to her new environment. And while staying at home with the kids has its rewards, Kincaid questions just how long his position will be waiting for him. 

I was only introduced to Crombie's series last year with the paperback release of No Mark Upon Her. I'd noted then that there was some reference to previous series installments and while it was something of a stumbling block it was nothing I couldn't overcome. The same is true here. Having read the previous book I did have a bit of an easier time but there are a lot of continuing - minor - plot lines involving characters.

And yet I'm discovering that's one of the things I enjoy most about these books. Clearly I need to do some catch up reading, but with just two books under my belt I really feel like I'm beginning to know these characters quite well. It's a little like being invited into someone's home. It's warm and welcoming, and I love that Crombie pays such attention not only to Duncan and Gemma, but to their friends and colleagues as well. All of the little details that make up their lives add to the richness of the series.

Another aspect I enjoy is the nature of the series as a whole. Crombie's plots are well thought out and the series seems to straddle the gap between cozy and something harder. The murder scenes aren't too detailed to really ick out a cozy reader but they're enough to satisfy fans of the darker stuff as well, which makes this a series that I think appeals to a broad spectrum of mystery fans.

Rating: 4/5

To see more thoughts on the book, be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here.

For more on Deborah and her work, visit her official site here. You can also like her on Facebookand follow her on Twitter.

New Releases 3/11/14

Some of the new titles hitting shelves this week are:

Watching You by Michael Robotham

The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh

The Dead of Summer by Mari Jungstedt

Death in Reel Time by Brynn Bonner

The Fell Sword by Miles Cameron

Night of the Hunter by R. A. Salvatore

The Lost Sisterhood by Anne Fortier

Stone Cold by C.J. Box

The Accident by Chris Pavone

Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler

The Detainee by Peter Liney

The Raven's Shadow by Elspeth Cooper

Night Broken by Patricia Briggs

Be Careful What You Wish For by Jeffrey Archer

Mentats of Dune by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson

Liv, Forever by Amy Talkington

The Mirk and Midnight Hour by Jane Nickerson

Resistance by Jenna Black

Ruins by Dan Wells

The Edge of the Water by Elizabeth George

New on DVD:
In Fear
The Book Thief
Inside Llewyn Davis
Out of the Furnace
Homefront

Pre Pub Book Buzz: Sweetness #9 by Stephan Eirik Clark

Ooh, catch up posts from the weekend. This week's (or last week's technically) book I'm super stoked about is Stephan Eirik Clark's debut, Sweetness #9, due out August 19th from the folks over at Little, Brown and Company.

Here's the Goodreads description to whet your appetites:

Fast Food Nation meets The Corrections in the brilliant literary debut T.C. Boyle calls "funny and moving."

David Leveraux is an Apprentice Flavor Chemist at one of the world's leading flavor production houses. While testing Sweetness #9, he notices that the artificial sweetener causes unsettling side-effects in laboratory rats and monkeys. But with his career and family at risk, David keeps his suspicions to himself.

Years later, Sweetness #9 is America's most popular sweetener--and David's family is changing. His wife is gaining weight, his daughter is depressed, and his son has stopped using verbs. Is Sweetness #9 to blame, along with David's failure to stop it? Or are these just symptoms of the American condition?

An exciting literary debut, SWEETNESS #9 is a darkly comic, wildly imaginative investigation of whether what we eat makes us who we are.

Sounds good (and more than a little timely), right?!