This is a little bit different book than what you normally get from Mr. Lozito. It’s a good story, but the main character kind of rubs me the wrong way. It could be that the main character, Nathan (Nate) Briggs, is a thieft! Now, I’m not necessarily against him just because of his occupation (or former occupation, as you’ll read), but he has a kind of attitude that doesn’t set well with me or anybody else for that matter. In my opinion, he seems to think he’s the center of the universe and everyone around him should defer to his ideas and opinions. He does mellow out towards the end somewhat so that’s a good trend.
As I mentioned, Nate is a thief and he’s after something that he’s been trying to acquire for a long time. He previously had it, but due to a double-cross by his partner, Flynn Roman, he lost it and was subsequently imprisoned in a very vile and dark place in a third-world country. He managed to escape, but not after several months in captivity. He definitely blames Flynn for this experience and hasn’t worked with him or seen him since then. Except here he is now attempting to steal the same artifact Nate is after.
In his current pursuit of the *Extractor*, he ran into Flynn’s apparent new partner, a young, strikingly beautiful brunette woman who was going to cause Nate problems. He found out quickly when she pointed out Nate to a group of Security Guards telling them he had tried to molester her in the ladies restroom. Of course that wasn’t true, but now the chase was on. Nate had to get away from the area and the best way to do that was via some kind of transportation. He eventually finds a bus heading somewhere other than where he was at so he jumps on it. This is where the world changes very differently for Nate and several other people.
It just so happened that Nate had observed another young looking women on his run through a parking lot. She seemed to be running from someone herself, but he had no time to rescue the lady. He needed to rescue himself so he jump on this bus only to find the same young lady jumping on the same bus. Then to make matters worse, Flynn and his partner, Serena, also got on the bus. It turns out the first young lady is an alien named “Quickening” and she’s not that young. In fact, she’s dying!
In dying, Quickening some how infuses everyone aboard the bus with her DNA. It definitely knocks them out and they wake to a very different and strange situation. They find themselves aboard an intergalactic starship whose Captain is named Kaz. He’s very powerful and it takes Nate awhile to learn that. Nate also doesn’t want to accept their situation, but he’s eventually given enough proof by Kaz that he has no doubt he and his other unfortunate humans are not any where near Earth any more nor are they likely to get back for a long time.
This is where the adventure starts. It seems that when Quickening infused her DNA into each of the unsuspecting humans, they have now become wanted persons by aliens in the galaxy. When it comes down to it, this is nothing more than corporate politics, but in order for something to happen, Qickening’s DNA must be extracted from the humans. That has to be done while they are alive or so it seems, and that’s a good thing. Obviously there has to be someone or something after the DNA. He happens to be a very powerful warlord that doesn’t appear to have any limits when it comes to capturing the four humans. It’s Kaz’s job, actually a contract that he has to deliver these humans to another entity. It would have been a pretty simple job if it wasn’t for Nate seeming to want to be the boss of everything. His attitude seems to be the problem that causes most all their other problems. He just won’t keep his mouth shut even though he doesn’t know what’s going on.
I got to liking the story towards the end. I didn’t see how this would turn into a series, but through the twist and turns during the latter part of the book, I can see where it might be an interesting series if I can get past Mr. Briggs attitude. Book 2, “Forgotten Empire”, is available on Amazon and I’m, reluctantly, adding it to my reading list. I don’t see how the title of this first book, “Space Raiders”, has anything to do with this book. I hope the second books title fits a lot better.