Review: Death, Heat and Las Vegas - Another Adventure for The Serial Crimes Task Unit
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 23, 2014
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.Mercurial Dreams, the third book in the Dreams and Reality series by Hadena James, begins shortly after the events in Elysium Dreams, the previous book, ends.  Filled with well-established characters, Ms. James takes us further into the personality quirks of heroine Aislinn Cain and really introduces us to best friend-ally/foe Malachi Blake, an interesting character on his own.  While you might be able to read this installment on its own, I don’t really recommend it as you will miss all of the character building which has taken place in the previous two installments.Home on some “down” time, partly due to a lack of cases and partly because they needed a break, Aislinn “Ace” Cain is cranky due to feeling “jipped” over the last couple of serial killer cases which were solved before she and her team could get there to solve them.  She's also angry because her air conditioner has been broken for almost a week and it’s freezing cold in her house.  She's waiting on it to be "repaired".  Playing video games and watching BBC movies on television is keeping her busy until the SCT (Serial Crimes Tracking Unit) gets a call and head off to Death Valley.  Heat, thirty-two dead bodies, and the lights and people of Las Vegas have no idea what’s headed their way.Once again Ms. James drew me into Aislinn’s world and kept me turning the pages to the end.  Already having established Aislinn, Lukas McMichael and Gabriel Reece, Ms. James further develops Gabriel Hendricks, Aislinn’s boss and the team’s leader.  She also re-introduces Malachi Blake, who is both friend/ally and occasionally competition to Ace.  We also get a little more insight to Michael, the fourth member of the SCT unit, and the least known character in the book.Ms. James does a good job developing Gabriel’s character, I already liked him from the glimpses we have seen in the previous books and this installment made me like him even more.  While he’s Aislinn’s boss, he’s also her “friend”, he sees her value as both a person and as an employee.  His backstory; particularly why he was selected to head the team, is quite interesting and the verbal back and forth between him and Ace is lots of fun.  Ms. James also does a good job developing Malachi Blake, and I have to admit that even though I know he’s a psychopath, I found him dark, handsome and seductively dangerous.While the mystery of how the thirty-two bodies got into Death Valley, and who killed them is present throughout the entire story, there are no real clues and Aislinn and her team are somewhat stumped.  No need to fret though because as usual Aislinn is a danger magnet and there is more than plenty of action and crime for them to solve in a city like Las Vegas.  Plus there's the fact she's intrigued by the possibility of discovering a case of "The Plague" because after all "Plague Happens".Will Aislinn and her team discover one, two or three serial killers before they get to go back home?  Will Aislinn and her team manage to conduct an investigation without someone being injured? You’ll have to read Mercurial Dreams to find out.  I loved it and can’t wait to read Explosive Dreams, the next installment in this series.