The Ocean Dark
Jack Rogan
Ballantine, Jul 27 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780553385182

In a rarely noticed remote island in the Caribbean, the Mariposa cargo ship heads to its meeting with the Antoinette to pick up an illegal shipment of guns. However, the criminal crew mostly from Costa Rica is attacked by deadly apparently amphibious creatures.

When the Antoinette finally reaches the rendezvous point, they find an island littered with broken ships. The crew of almost entirely felons with one undercover FBI agent on board is under siege. A nearby FBI vessel serendipitously follows the Antoinette, but hesitates whether to intervene. While in the States DOD scientists have an idea what is terrorizing the Antoinette, but protocol slows down their assistance. All hell has broken loose in a tiny dot in the Caribbean.

This is an exciting horror thriller as the beasts mount up quite a number of kills even before readers meet the amphibious species up front and in person. The story line is fast-paced with mostly unsympathetic characters like the last survivor on the Mariposa Braulio putting a human face to the terror. Action-packed from the first bloody scream to the last, fans will enjoy this exhilarating sea thriller mindful of the Beast from the Black Lagoon especially over the first third of the novel.

Harriet Klausner

Labyrinth
Kat Richardson
Roc, Aug 3 2010, $24.95
ISBN 9780451463364

In Seattle, paranormal private investigator Harper Blaine seeks a way to liberate her father’s ghost from the Grey maze while concerned with the street violence caused by the vampires but which the cops suspect her. She has no time for cops and undead as she seeks the person who killed her. Also unbeknownst to Harper the Greywalker is that the ancient Egyptian god-king of the asteme Pharaohn-ankh-astet leaves London to pursue her in Washington.

While Harper struggles with her dad’s predicament and her own homicide case, vampire chief Edward Kammerling has vanished. His rival as undead boss Carlos Pires Ataide is dying unless Harper can remove a soul sucking knife from his body. Her under siege boyfriend Quinton and Chaos the ferret have her back; perhaps good intentions is a bit more accurate as truthfully she has their backs.

Harper continues her metamorphosis into a grave paranormal entity in this delightfully evolving urban fantasy. The story line is action-packed as the Greywalker gets further baptism under fire from the ancient one, being in the middle of a vampire surge and seemingly civil war, having cops watch you breathe, and her dad’s predicament. She ponders when she will find time for finding her own murderer. With the apt title, this is a complicated superb entry in an evolving series growing stronger and deeper.

Harriet Klausner

Hell’s Warrior
Jaye Roycraft
ImaJinn, May 2010, $14.00
ISBN: 9781933417554

Less than two decades ago Chicago was in a bloody war between the humans and the vampires. The city’s top vampire Che “Cade” Kincade managed to end the hostilities, but knows how quickly the streets can turn combative. Cade got Mayor Deborah Dayton elected as she ran on a peace platform and so far the blood has stopped flowing.

However, when Her Honor the Mayor is assassinated, Cade, who was receiving a donation from Red the blood whore, is blamed for her murder. He goes into hiding, avoiding the vampires of the city and CPD detectives seeking to arrest him. His loyal energetic assistant Thorvald Sweet the vampire and Red the human witness who can vouch for his alibi are with Cade as he moves from one place to another while trying to determine who wanted the peace movement ended. Cade and Red meet with a vocal anti-vampire group, but as they leave, violence erupts. Trusting no one, Cade continues his mission to keep his city from falling into a bloody conflation in honor of the late woman he loved.

All hell has broken loose in Chicago as it seems a new war is about to occur, but this time the heroic pair who ended the last combat are not there to stop the civil war. Ironically, Dayton’s policy of inclusiveness divided the city. Rotating between Cade’s fifteenth-year along the Illinois River in 1697 when he was different from his peers with a thirst to learn from the Black Robe with tomorrow’s struggles to prove his innocence without harming Red while trying to prevent another cross species inferno. Jaye Roycraft crafts a fangulous sequel to the fangtastic Half Past Hell.

Harriet Klausner

Fatal Circle
Linda Robertson
Juno (Pocket), Jun 29 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9781439156803

Persephone Alcmedi, high priestess of a Cleveland coven, takes care of her grandmother and nine years old foster daughter Beverley. Her boyfriend Johnny the werewolf has groupies sniffing at him and his Lycanthropic band. However, all that seems like child play to Seph when compared with her destiny of uniting the paranormal witches, weres and vampires into a cohesive peace; considering the three groups have an ancient history of combat.

However, the Fairies demand Seph kills her magical bond mate, ancient vampire Menessos. She conceals her ties to the vamp because she knows her coven will react by banning her from using magic so she has few she can turn to for help. Johnny is aware of the tie, but loathes it as he detests her odd friendship with the vampire. The linked pair knows a showdown with the Fairies is imminent and believe to survive they need Johnny on their side against the fairies. However, even Johnny is unsure he can fight alongside a vamp, especially this particular undead.

The third urban fantasy Circle tale (see Vicious Circle and Hallowed Circle) finds the heroine overwhelmed, but not just by her destiny. Seph struggles with a complicated romance with her Were while bonded to her Vamp, a High Noon confrontation with the Fairies or killing her bonded Vamp, and the most difficult mission of all is what to do about Beverly’s upcoming birthday while Granny hovers. Seph and the cast makes for a strong thriller as she and her sidekicks want to insure the monsters don’t devour Cleveland as Maynard G Krebs would have said.

Harriet Klausner

Pathfinder
Laura E. Reeve
Roc, Jul 6 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780451463449

Ariane Kedros is not her real name, but she is a partner of Aether Exploration as well as a Reserve Major in the Consortium of Autonomous Worlds. The Terran Expansion League wants her dead as a war criminal who killed everyone residing inside the Ura-Guinn solar system. Her deadly effort ended the war and led to her new identity enhanced by modern technology.

Now she is considered a hero for saving G-145 by sending a temporal distortion weapon into N-space. The Minoans, the only other known sentient race, is to humans what humans are to horses. They know of her past and the speeded up metabolism that make her the perfect candidate to go to and explore the Builder’s home world; none of them can perform the mission as it would kill them. Wanting to explore the world of another sentient race even one that faded into oblivion Ariane volunteers; that is if the implant proves compatible to her body. However, even in deepest space Ariane cannot elude her enemies as one still stalks her.

In the distant future, mankind has reached the stars, but instead of fighting over a dying ice aged earth, wars are in space and on populated planets. Fans of military science fiction will enjoy the Kedros saga though Pathfinder has fewer battles than previous entries (see Peacekeeper and Vigilante). Courageous yet filled with remorse for the outcome of killing a billion people doing her duty, Kedros still seeks redemption. Pathfinder may not provide that for her, but she hopes it allows her to run from her past of what is acceptable as espionage and civilian deaths if you are with the victors and war crimes if you lose. Though she has doubts re her war time actions, she raises the fairness issue of the grunts take the blame as “rotten apples” for atrocities while those who give the orders receive medals and promotions (think Abu Ghraib).

Harriet Klausner

Terminal World
Alastair Reynolds
Ace, Jun 1 2010, $26.95
ISBN: 9780441018666

The call to the Department of Hygiene and Public Works said a smear fell from above; the dispatcher sends Cultel and Gerber to clean up the probable faller. The pair arrives to see the victim possessed wings; the deceased is an angel who fell from way above in the Celestial levels to the Neon Heights sector of the city Spearpoint. They bring the freaky to Quillon the pathologist.

However, the angel is alive though dying. He was sent to Quillon by the quickest way: a fall from above to warn the only posthuman angel to turn into a prehuman that he is on the agenda from above and a shift is planned. Quillon leaves his home to cross zones in an unwelcoming world beyond Spearpoint for the posthuman will send something horrific to kill him. His contact Fray knows what he was and calls Quillon Cutter. He arranges for him to leave accompanied by Meroka the mercenary who would kill without remorse any creature from above. They flee through a secret tunnel and on a train heading to the Boundary. Quillon fears a Zone Shift assaulting Spearpoint would kill much of the populace when technology fails. He has no hope to prevent it so prepares for the worst until the two escapees meet Ricasso, chief of the Swarm airship armada that patrols the arid tundra planet. However, as he understands their mission, his tiny flicker of faith seems ready to revert back to despair again.

This is a fascinating science fiction noir as each section of Spearpoint seems to represent an era based on the predominant technology; as you go up the levels, the more powerful the gizmos and the less human the residents. Once the former posthuman and the mercenary leave the city, the story line turns more into an exciting but typical futuristic sci fi thriller. Although radically different than Alastair Reynolds’ House of Suns, fans will want to join Quillon’s journey to save Spearpoint from his former comrades in the highest echelon.

Harriet Klausner

The Demon In Me
Michelle Rowen
Berkley, May 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425234686

Nervous Eden Riley starts her new consulting work for the Toronto police department. The psychic has vibes that lead her and skeptical police detective Ben Hansen to a serial killer with a knife who is shot to death near her. Out of the dead person’s mouth oozes a dark smoke that hammers into Eden.

Stunned Eden is farther shocked when she hears a voice speaking to her from inside her brain. Darrak the demon has moved into her body with plans to fully possess it. Desperate to remove the demon, Eden tries an exorcism, but that fails. Instead she cuts a deal with Darrak. She will work on removing a three century old curse that haunts him if he assists her with her love life making it with Ben.

The Living in Eden first tale is an amusing psychic police procedural. Although the plot is thin, Eden more than makes up for it with her possession and vibes as she works her day job as a private sleuth seeking lost items and dogs, and her consulting with the police. Ironically her psychic skills humanize the demon so that Eden is also attracted to him. Readers who enjoy a fun frolic will want to read this entertaining Canadian paranormal mystery.

Harriet Klausner

A Catch In Time
Dalia Roddy
Minotaur, Apr 1 2010, $7.95
ISBN: 9781605421032

A mysterious force leaves people unconscious for three minutes. When they awaken, they remember nothing about what went on during that time and the global population was decimated. The only person to recall what occurred was Laura who saw an energy dimension and a community of Shadows on the other side of the “barrier”. They are the creators for every life form on the planet and responsible for the evolutionary leaps from amoebas to humans.

A second wave causes massive headaches as a dark energy bombarded the world, which made people evil. They become Shaitan and since the energy well is closed, all newborns are filled with dark eyes marking them as the evil Shairan. Older children and adults that were turned by dark energy are recognizable by their darkened eyes. Years later Laura’s daughter Lily is kidnapped by her Shaitan father. Laura and her family mount a rescue and while they are doing this they want to find a way to open the energy barrier so the souls can come in and the dark will leave so that the balance will be restored.

Readers who enjoyed THE STAND will want to read A Catch in Time. Although bizarre religions emerge after the energy waves strike, this is not a religious thriller as the heroine sees through the false prophets. No one believes what she claims she saw during the unconscious state, but she insists the devolution of humanity is happening with dark energy entering people especially babies. Although not fully explained why the waves started, Dalia Roddy provides an intriguing thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Drift
Sharon Carter Rogers
Howard (Simon & Schuster), Apr 2010, $13.99
ISBN: 9781416566533

He is a Drifter currently trapped in a cemetery because his last human tether Simon whom he was with for five years, is buried there. Boy has met two other essences like him, but assumes there are many more out there. One ripped his head off while the other ignored his existence. However, currently he feels the cold because unlike guardian angels, drifters have bodies; he also has mental issues as he does not understand where his species fits in God’s master plan.

Now twenty years old Baby Doll knows her “father” Charlie Murphy took her from her biological dad when her mom lived with him. When her mom died, Charlie “adopted” Baby Doll as his by simply changing her surname to his; no one would challenge a crime kingpin like him. She grows up not sure why she lives in a gilded cage.

When Boy the Drifter meets Baby Doll the daughter of the mob chief, they become immediately tethered to one another. Neither quite understands the connection that binds them to each other, as he has no earthly idea what God wants him to do for Baby Doll and she is fearful of the reaction of the God who controls her life, and what her adopted father will do to Boy. In one week all hell occurs.

Drift is a superb paranormal thriller that grips readers from the onset when we meet Boy who remains tethered to his dead human while meeting two other entities who are Drifters like himself. The story line is fast-paced throughout as the audience wonders what will happen to Boy and his tethered mate Baby Doll, who will prove to be their enemy and finally who will remain standing above the ground as Sharon Carter Rogers provides a fascinating unique thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Velvet Haven: The Immortals of Annwyn
Sophia Renwick
NAL, Mar 2010, $15.00
ISBN: 9780451229182

Annwyn is the Otherworld and mortals are unaware of its existence. The realm is home to all types of supernaturals with the link between that of the humans and that of the paranormal being Velvet Haven, a night club owned by half-breed Rhys MacDonald, whose father abdicated as king of the Sidhe to marry a mortal. Rhys’ shapeshifting cousin Bran, angrily sits on the throne, while suffering from the Legacy Curse that requires him exclusively to mate with the species he loathes humans.

When the ninth murder of a Sidhe occurs and the first female victim, Bran knows he must delay his search for his missing brother, Carden, who vanished into the Wasteland centuries ago. Instead he must focus on stopping the serial killer at a time when his visions show him dead, a victim of a warrior. Since evil initiated on the other side, Bran goes to Velvet Haven seeking a woman to replenish his energy and clues to the deadly predator; unaware that a connected killer is also on the mortal plane. At his cousin’s club he meets mortal nurse Mairi MacAuley whose essence arouses him as never before. She rejects him as she assumes he is a player, but he persists unaware that their attraction could be the cause of his death

With much more going on than described above especially with her friend Rowan and the fallen Suriel for instance, Book One of the Annwyn Chronicles is a tremendous romantic fantasy with religious overtones that will stun readers. The story line is fast-paced from the moment Mairi and Rowen enter the velvet Haven and never stops for even a heart beat. The cast is strong especially the support cast who make the Otherworld seem genuine. Sophia Renwick provides fans with a twisting tale of salvation from even death.

Harriet Klausner