Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Spin, by Patricia Cornwell {ends 1/24}

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

“All right, let’s see what we’ve got here,” I begin surveying what looks more like the cockpit of a military aircraft than any law enforcement vehicle I’ve seen up close and personal.

Barely 300 miles on the odometer, and I have a feeling my Secret Service-inspired chariot with its new-car smell is another prototype like almost everything else, including Carme and me. The mileage probably is from racetracks, test-driving ranges, and for sure I’ll never figure out and manage all the systems without AI assistance, starting with the dark-gray pleathery-looking upholstery.

Based on transmissions I’m picking up in my CUFF, the material is woven with sensors, reminding me of the formfitting skin Carme had on at the Point Comfort Inn. I’m pretty sure my SUV’s smart materials are interactive, that they probably can self-repair, change appearance and are electrically conductive.

Captain Calli Chase finds out that she and her twin sister Carme are scientific guinea pigs. After the first few chapters, they’re both pretty scientifically enhanced, with PEEPs, CUFFs, and ART (their constant AI companion).

Official synopsis:

In the aftermath of a NASA rocket launch gone terribly wrong, Captain Calli Chase comes face-to-face with her missing twin sister—as well as the startling truth of who they really are. Now, a top secret program put in motion years ago has spun out of control, and only Calli can redirect its course.

Aided by cutting-edge technologies, the NASA investigator and scientist turned Space Force pilot sets out on a frantic search for the missing link between the sabotaged rocket launch and her predetermined destiny…a search that someone else seems very interested in stopping.

From NASA to the Chase family farm, to the White House to distant orbits of space, Calli plays a high-stakes game of hide-and-seek with a cunning and ruthless adversary. One wrong move will unleash cataclysmic consequences reaching far beyond the boundaries of Earth.

This is the second book in the Captain Chase series. So far it’s been labeled as book 2 of 2, but it still ended with a cliffhanger. Calli and Carme Chase are twins who have been raised in and around NASA. Their parents both work there, and the girls have been raised to be scientists and astronauts.

In this book, the acronyms abound! Captain Calli is outfitted with lots of personal technology and artificial intelligence enhancements to report everything that she finds and experiences in her work. The technology developments and details are interesting. Unfortunately, the technology and Calli’s internal monologue regarding it all far outweigh the plot.

Overall, I found this book a little more engaging than the first one in the series, but still largely aimless and mostly filled with narration from inside the main character’s head. I’d give it 2.5 out of 5 stars. The scientific details of space exploration and equipment were the most interesting part of the book.

{Click here to purchase. Currently FREE for Kindle Unlimited!}

Becki Bayley reads for fun. She also blogs at SweetlyBSquared.com.

GIVEAWAY:

One of my lucky readers will win a hardcover copy of Spin!

Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Sunday, January 24th, at 11:59pm EST, and winner will be notified via email and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

U.S. residents only, please.

Good luck!

Spin, by Patricia Cornwell

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Book Review: Quantum, by Patricia Cornwell

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

“This is bad, really bad.” I’m not going to sugarcoat it. “Either the ID wasn’t deactivated after all, or something far more nefarious is going on.”

“I guess you can drill down into the metadata or whatever and see if something was tampered with,” Fran says with little enthusiasm, likely thinking such a thing isn’t possible, and she couldn’t be more mistaken. “I sure hope not, but again, what’s the truth about her badge, and why is she dead? Have you had a chance to look at the call sheet I sent you? And the suicide note?”

“Not yet. I’ll take a look when I’m not driving.”

“You want to fill me in on what you’ve been doing since I talked to you what…? Forty-five minutes ago?” she then says. “Not answering emails or your phone. Off the radar. Where have you been and with whom? You get abducted by aliens? You sure you’re okay? You don’t sound happy.”

“I’m headed to a death scene,” I almost snap at her, and that’s not like me. What’s happy about it? Especially this one?

“Something’s happened since I saw you last. You’re in a funk, all right.” Fran cares about me enough that she’s not going to stop until I confide what’s wrong, and I can’t.

Patricia Cornwell has been a recognizable bestselling author for years, so the chance to read the first book in a new series by her was exciting. Unfortunately this book appears to be the first half of one story, with no real conclusions at the end of 300+ pages.

Official synopsis:

On the eve of a top secret space mission, Captain Calli Chase detects a tripped alarm in the tunnels deep below a NASA research center. A NASA pilot, quantum physicist, and cybercrime investigator, Calli knows that a looming blizzard and government shutdown could provide the perfect cover for sabotage, with deadly consequences.

As it turns out, the danger is worse than she thought. A spatter of dried blood, a missing security badge, a suspicious suicide—a series of disturbing clues point to Calli’s twin sister, Carme, who’s been MIA for days.

Desperate to halt the countdown to disaster and to clear her sister’s name, Captain Chase digs deep into her vast cyber security knowledge and her painful past, probing for answers to her twin’s erratic conduct. As time is running out, she realizes that failure means catastrophe—not just for the space program but for the safety of the whole nation.

Brilliantly crafted, gripping, and smart, Patricia Cornwell’s cliffhanger ending will keep readers wondering what’s next for Captain Calli Chase.

Captain Calli Chase and her twin sister Carme could be interesting characters. While Carme is just in the shadows of this book, Calli is the constant narrator. In a disappointing twist, Calli was meticulous in everything she did, and how she explained it all in her internal monologue for the reader. More than 15 pages covered her getting ready to head in to work and her mental meanderings at one point.

Several story lines are left open-ended, including a teaser story about trauma in the sisters’ past, what’s going on with Carme now, a staged suicide, and a missing person last seen with Carme. Calli is supposed to be one of the smartest people around NASA (she says so repeatedly) but for some reason she’s out of the loop during the day this book takes place. While she seems to be finding clues, she never exactly finds out why she’s not included in things she says she usually would be.

Overall, I’d give this book 2 out of 5 stars, mostly just in anticipation that the second book may tie things together more.

{click here to purchase}

Becki Bayley reads for fun. She also blogs at SweetlyBSquared.com.

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