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shannon_cocktailsandbooks's review against another edition
Let me start by saying I have read everything that Suzanne Brockmann has written to date and have love everything. That being said this book is no exception.
In the not too distance future , a new highly addictive drug name Destiny is making its rounds. It promises to reverse aging and to bring strength and vitality to users. It is extremely expensive. On Destiny it is very likely that you become violent and can loose your mind,even your life.
Shane Laughlin is a current blacklisted Navy Seal without a job and no chance of finding one anytime soon. He applies for testing on neural integration at the OI (The Obermeyer Institute helps train the people with potential and harnesses their powers for good) While waiting to hear if he gets accepted he meets Mac at a bar. Mac "Dr Michelle Mackenzie" is rough,strong-willed, high-strung with the special ability to seduce men. Shane seems to enhance Mac's powers and in spite her resistance, he is also determined to become a significant part of her life.
Next we meet Stephen Diaz, Mac's partner who is also a agent with the OI. He is able to do telepathic connection with people. Now meet Dr Elliot Zerkowski, research analyst, who Diaz has been in love with for years. This surprises Elliot.
Next we meet Anna who is looking for her little sister Nika who has been kidnapped because she is a potential for OI. Enter Dr Joseph Bach who vows to Anna to help her find and rescue Nika.
This is a very different story line from what is usually written by Brockmann, very enjoyable. I will definitely re-read this in the future.
Reviewed for Cocktails and Books by Becky.
In the not too distance future , a new highly addictive drug name Destiny is making its rounds. It promises to reverse aging and to bring strength and vitality to users. It is extremely expensive. On Destiny it is very likely that you become violent and can loose your mind,even your life.
Shane Laughlin is a current blacklisted Navy Seal without a job and no chance of finding one anytime soon. He applies for testing on neural integration at the OI (The Obermeyer Institute helps train the people with potential and harnesses their powers for good) While waiting to hear if he gets accepted he meets Mac at a bar. Mac "Dr Michelle Mackenzie" is rough,strong-willed, high-strung with the special ability to seduce men. Shane seems to enhance Mac's powers and in spite her resistance, he is also determined to become a significant part of her life.
Next we meet Stephen Diaz, Mac's partner who is also a agent with the OI. He is able to do telepathic connection with people. Now meet Dr Elliot Zerkowski, research analyst, who Diaz has been in love with for years. This surprises Elliot.
Next we meet Anna who is looking for her little sister Nika who has been kidnapped because she is a potential for OI. Enter Dr Joseph Bach who vows to Anna to help her find and rescue Nika.
This is a very different story line from what is usually written by Brockmann, very enjoyable. I will definitely re-read this in the future.
Reviewed for Cocktails and Books by Becky.
scubacat's review against another edition
4.0
Brockmann takes her traditional Navy Seal and jumps him several decades into the future in this new take on her typical books. In this world of paranormal psychic abilities, Shane seems strangely out of his league as a top-notch Seal and it's interesting to see that he can't really be the hero compared to his smaller and less-trained counterparts because he doesn't have their "superpowers." I liked the new spin for this book, although I certainly hope this doesn't mean she stops writing her Troubleshooters series! I did enjoy just about all the new characters, however, and I would really like to read more about them in the next novel.
lynseyisreading's review against another edition
3.0
This is only my second book by Suzanne Brockmann (I've also read book one in her long established Troubleshooters series about a Navy Seal team) but I'm going to go ahead and assume that she follows the same pattern in all of her books of running three simultaneous romances in each novel. There's a main one, the one mentioned in the blurb, but there are also two others that get almost the same amount of page time. I have to confess, I don't love this approach. The laws of probability state that you're likely going to love one of the romances much more than the others, and so the inordinate amount of time it takes to get back to that thread of the plot will probably get on your nerves, as it did for me. It also means there are a lot of sex scenes, although the main couple do steal the show on that front. The other problem with having so many romances is the fact that it made the book very long. Over 500 pages.
I predicted I would enjoy this more than the Troubleshooters book I'd read because of the fantasy sci-fi woo woo elements in it which is more my thing, but I actually ended up rating it one star less. And the reason for that wasn't the the genre or world-building (I did really like those as predicted) but because none of the three romances did much for me, unfortunately. There were some sweet moments here and there, especially from Shane, but Mac (Michelle Mackenzie), his love interest, was largely unlikeable and very against starting a relationship with him which sometimes made her seem quite rude considering she'd already slept with him on the first night they met. The second romance was a gay relationship, a story of heretofore unrequited love, which was surprisingly sweet since I don't usually read any m/m stuff, and the third was the least explored, and yet showed the most potential for me, and that was between the leader of the Obermeyer institute and the victim in the crime the story revolves around.
The Obermeyer Institute is a place where Greater Thans (this is Brockmann's name for those who, in this future society, have been found able to access higher percentages of their brain functionality and have developed extra abilities such as telepathy, telekinesis, accelerated healing, not ageing, etc) work and often live, and also the command centre for their operations which mostly consist of taking down Jokers. Jokers are the members of society who have overdosed on a new killer drug out on the streets called Destiny, which as well as providing eternal youth- its main lure for the rich and vain- also appears to be giving them symptoms that could rival a Greater Than's abilities, only without any of the common sense and restraint to go with it.
Like I said, I enjoyed this aspect and the whole idea of us not using our minds to their full potential, and I think this will keep me interested enough to try the next book in the series. And hopefully, with less world-building to take care of, Brockmann can concentrate more on providing us with at least one (or even better, three) really nice romances to sink our little teeth into.
3 Stars! ★★★
Review Copy: Received from the publisher for an honest review
I predicted I would enjoy this more than the Troubleshooters book I'd read because of the fantasy sci-fi woo woo elements in it which is more my thing, but I actually ended up rating it one star less. And the reason for that wasn't the the genre or world-building (I did really like those as predicted) but because none of the three romances did much for me, unfortunately. There were some sweet moments here and there, especially from Shane, but Mac (Michelle Mackenzie), his love interest, was largely unlikeable and very against starting a relationship with him which sometimes made her seem quite rude considering she'd already slept with him on the first night they met. The second romance was a gay relationship, a story of heretofore unrequited love, which was surprisingly sweet since I don't usually read any m/m stuff, and the third was the least explored, and yet showed the most potential for me, and that was between the leader of the Obermeyer institute and the victim in the crime the story revolves around.
The Obermeyer Institute is a place where Greater Thans (this is Brockmann's name for those who, in this future society, have been found able to access higher percentages of their brain functionality and have developed extra abilities such as telepathy, telekinesis, accelerated healing, not ageing, etc) work and often live, and also the command centre for their operations which mostly consist of taking down Jokers. Jokers are the members of society who have overdosed on a new killer drug out on the streets called Destiny, which as well as providing eternal youth- its main lure for the rich and vain- also appears to be giving them symptoms that could rival a Greater Than's abilities, only without any of the common sense and restraint to go with it.
Like I said, I enjoyed this aspect and the whole idea of us not using our minds to their full potential, and I think this will keep me interested enough to try the next book in the series. And hopefully, with less world-building to take care of, Brockmann can concentrate more on providing us with at least one (or even better, three) really nice romances to sink our little teeth into.
3 Stars! ★★★
Review Copy: Received from the publisher for an honest review
tamreel_stitches's review against another edition
1.0
Set in a depressing future the heroine was very unlikable.
thegeekyblogger's review against another edition
5.0
Won from Library Thing Early Reviewers
Challenges: Men in Uniform, Mystery/Thriller
Overall Rating 5+
Story Rating 5+
Character Rating 5+
First thought when finished: This packed a punch and it's one that I won't recover from lightly!
What I Loved: Born to Darkness is like 2.5 romances in one with some kick ass action and a little paranormal ability to increase it all! I don't know if it was my mood (Moody Reader Alert) or just the shear genius of Suzanne Brockmann (my first time reading her)but this book just clicked for me on every level. I must warn you that it could double as a weapon as it is quite lengthy BUT it is a super fast read. At the end, I was like I want more. The last book that made me do that was The Discovery of Witches. So needless to say, I just flat out loved it.
Final Thought: Can I give Born to Darkness a 5 plus? This book was just completely unique to me and I DEVOURED it :)
Seriously this review almost came down to this: Born to Darkness is a PNR (paranormal romance), PNT (paranormal thriller), and kick ass ride that will keep you mesmerized from beginning to end. I have no better way to put this but I at least tried LOL.
Challenges: Men in Uniform, Mystery/Thriller
Overall Rating 5+
Story Rating 5+
Character Rating 5+
First thought when finished: This packed a punch and it's one that I won't recover from lightly!
What I Loved: Born to Darkness is like 2.5 romances in one with some kick ass action and a little paranormal ability to increase it all! I don't know if it was my mood (Moody Reader Alert) or just the shear genius of Suzanne Brockmann (my first time reading her)but this book just clicked for me on every level. I must warn you that it could double as a weapon as it is quite lengthy BUT it is a super fast read. At the end, I was like I want more. The last book that made me do that was The Discovery of Witches. So needless to say, I just flat out loved it.
Final Thought: Can I give Born to Darkness a 5 plus? This book was just completely unique to me and I DEVOURED it :)
Seriously this review almost came down to this: Born to Darkness is a PNR (paranormal romance), PNT (paranormal thriller), and kick ass ride that will keep you mesmerized from beginning to end. I have no better way to put this but I at least tried LOL.
tarrant's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent semi medical, fantasy, urban thriller. Unique.
janiecrouch's review against another edition
4.0
Listened to it on Audible while training for a marathon. I liked it, but it was *really* long. It's really three different relationship stories in one book. But I loved the concept of people with "super powers" because they can access more of their brains.
craftingrama's review against another edition
5.0
I can't decide between WOW and WHOA. TOTALLY AWESOME BOOK ( I was supposed to be doing housework but couldn't put the damn book down *sigh*