Review: An interesting premise...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 14, 2012
But a slightly flawed execution. Right off the bat was an irritant that stuck around for the whole book: the lead character's name, Jasi. How do you say that? Jah-see? Jazzy? Jay-zee? Jay-see??? URGH. I know it is a small thing but being able to really get into a character can't happen if you can't pronounce their name. Take a hint from J.K. Rowling, and have the character pronounce her name to somebody or write it in an author's note or SOMETHING!Whew! Now that that's off my chest, on to the book. The premise of the book is that in the Canadian version of the FBI (appropriately known as the CFBI), there is an entire division composed of PSI teams. These are teams with agents with special abilities - Jasi is a Pyro-reader or something like that, meaning she can smell smoke and get into the perp's head. Others in her team include Natassia, a Russian victim empath, and Ben, a (presumably) Canadian victims empath. There are levels of PSI talent, 5 being the lowest measurable level and 1 being the pinnacle; Ben is a 3 because his visions are sporadic and he cannot always depend on getting one, while Jasi and Natassia are both 1s. Although accepting a PSI division within the FBI requires suspension of disbelief, it's woven into the story into such a way that it seems believable. There is conflict about the PSI talents, which rings very true to me, and it is implied that the revelation of a PSI talent can cause rejection by friends and loved ones (like the Mutants in X-Men and related universes).I have to knock off some, though, for some plot looseness and irrational actions by the team. Jasi at times behaves like a 15 year old, not the 25 year old she is supposed to be. She made some decisions that were both unwise and against any sort of law enforcement protocol. I know she has to get into the bad situations somehow, but sheesh, just have the bad guy conk her over the head and kidnap her or something. Don't make her walk into a bad, bad, bad situation willingly! lolI also think the author could've tightened up some of the action with a little more showing instead of telling, but overall she did a really good job with that. Although the flow of the story was confusing at first, after a few "pages" I began to understand the way the story fit together temporally (the story of this novel is told as Jasi's dream while she lies in a near coma due to blood infection. She is reliving a case). Once you get that, you understand where things fit. Given this conceit, I think it would have been appropriate and needful to interject moments in the "now" into the story of the "then."I would give this 3.5 stars, with .5 stars knocked off for the unpronounceable name and 1 star for the plot issues mentioned, but since I can't do that, I'll say this book is good enough to round up to a respectable 4 stars.Recommended. No explicit sex though it does come sorta close at the end, and very little bad language.Also, understand that even though this is the 2nd novel, the events Jasi is dreaming took place before the events of the actual first novel. That confused me for a bit.