Stepping a little out of my normal genre of military science fiction, I was asked to read and review a slightly different type of book. This is a detective story filled with crime and mysteries as you would normally expect. But, this story is also very, very interesting and really held my attention. Surprisingly, I like the book very well.
Detective Gerald Bryce is, of course, a cop. That’s his job and he does it well. But, he’s also special. He’s an empath. Now what does that mean? Well, he can sense the feelings of others around him just like you or I can see, hear, or smell people around us. That just about makes him perfect for his job. He can tell when a person is lying or is feeling guilty. He can tell when someone is have martial problems, had a argument with their significant other or is just in a bad mood. His special ability isn’t always welcomed by those around him. Some people think he can read their minds, which he cannot, but his empathic ability makes it very easy to tell what is on someone’s mind.
He’s just been assigned to a new case, one where a billionaire has just been killed. The wife is in a room awaiting questioning by the police. She’s very distraught as expected, but she is also something else. It doesn’t take long for Bryce to speak with her and then he tells his Chief to arrest her for murder. Now his problems have just begun. I don’t typically like to read murder mysteries or “who done it’s” because the plot usually follow predictable patterns. In this book, there’s no doubt about who did it, it’s just how are you going to stop them from doing it again and again? And then you throw in the idea that this has been going on all during human history.
The writer describes his main character, Det. Gerald Bryce, pretty well. We get to know who he is, what he’s like and understand some of his problems that come with his special ability. We know that he’s not superman and that his ability is only passive, but we wonder how in the world an empath like him could ever wind up divorced? And then, it seems like he doesn’t want to realize that he is truly divorced. That part was pretty strange.
So, should you, like I did, step away from your military science fiction books and read this one. Yeah, do it. You’ll find yourself just as intrigued with this story all the way to the end. And thats good for any book. Good job, Mr. Reed.