Review: Good read, but with dark rape& brutality fantasies
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 23, 2013
The first (assassin) part of the story is reasonably good psychodrama, with some interesting characters  building.  Then we find out that there is an agency  (Holis) that determines human lives.  We are not told whether Holis is a god or an alien race or a technology, merely that it is the next thing to all powerful and it has a plan or a will and intervenes to make humans do as it likes.  In the second part of the story, the place of Holis is taken over by The Manipulator, which is again unexplained - but probably a technology. This time, the Manipulator makes people stupid, petty and willing to put up with anything; any mental or physical punishment, no matter how ridiculous.  That gives the author a chance to air her domination, brutal beating and rape fantasies: the Manipulator apparently sees to it that rapists and sadists get to have their way without the victims raising a hand, before, during or after - except to whine a bit to each other.  Still, it is not a bad read, good characters (including multiple-personality character development), with some action and suspense. The prison part gets a bit boringly repetitive and one grows increasingly annoyed at the incompetence of the characters and their unbelievable relationship dynamics that, presumably, are the fault of the Manipulator. There is enough to make one want to read the second book, especially as the first ends without any resolution but, unless it is very cheap, I doubt I will bother.