A review by reginaexmachina
Chimera by Rob Thurman
4.0
I was a little worried about this book since I love Rob Thurman's Cal Leandros series to itty bitty pieces. However, I wasn't impressed with her Trickster book. Thankfully, I thought it was definitely the same caliber as her Cal books.
It starts off where you meet Stefan, a young man who's father was involved with the Russian mafia and soon followed in his fathers footsteps. He hasn't exactly climbed very high in the ladder though and does simple bodyguard duty for a local boss in Florida. But what keeps Stefan going is really Lukas, his younger brother. The thing is though, Lukas has been missing for around ten years. One Christmas they were playing around as kids and the next moment Lukas is gone. Stefan keeps searching even though his father's given up long ago. By a stroke of luck one of the men Stefan's hired to help the search finds a lead. Miraculously Stefan seems to have found his long lost brother. But those ten years have changed Lukas in unimaginable ways. His past in the mafia will soon be put to good use when he's soon not only on the run from his brother's kidnappers but from the mafia as well.
The book starts out slow but builds in pace. It had some really great fight scenes with Stefan trying to keep Lukas safe too. Towards the end it slowed down again and lagged a bit but the ending was great. You may be like me and figure it out too, but there's a little twist to the end. Not bad, but to me it seemed well hinted at. I've been hearing the author say that her sales aren't doing well lately and needs this book to do well for her to continue writing. I picked this book up the day it was out to support her and I wasn't disappointed. It had great action and the author's signature snarky dialogue. I'm crossing my fingers that it does well because I'd love to read a sequel. I highly recommend it to people who've liked her Cal Leandros series, or to fellow urban fantasy fans who haven't tried her yet.
It starts off where you meet Stefan, a young man who's father was involved with the Russian mafia and soon followed in his fathers footsteps. He hasn't exactly climbed very high in the ladder though and does simple bodyguard duty for a local boss in Florida. But what keeps Stefan going is really Lukas, his younger brother. The thing is though, Lukas has been missing for around ten years. One Christmas they were playing around as kids and the next moment Lukas is gone. Stefan keeps searching even though his father's given up long ago. By a stroke of luck one of the men Stefan's hired to help the search finds a lead. Miraculously Stefan seems to have found his long lost brother. But those ten years have changed Lukas in unimaginable ways. His past in the mafia will soon be put to good use when he's soon not only on the run from his brother's kidnappers but from the mafia as well.
The book starts out slow but builds in pace. It had some really great fight scenes with Stefan trying to keep Lukas safe too. Towards the end it slowed down again and lagged a bit but the ending was great. You may be like me and figure it out too, but there's a little twist to the end. Not bad, but to me it seemed well hinted at. I've been hearing the author say that her sales aren't doing well lately and needs this book to do well for her to continue writing. I picked this book up the day it was out to support her and I wasn't disappointed. It had great action and the author's signature snarky dialogue. I'm crossing my fingers that it does well because I'd love to read a sequel. I highly recommend it to people who've liked her Cal Leandros series, or to fellow urban fantasy fans who haven't tried her yet.