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Like science fiction?  Are you a fan of old school action/adventure stories?  If this is you, Haywire is a must-read book.  This story is science for the sake of fiction, and that’s what makes it shine.  It’s a fast paced novel that doesn’t get bogged down in the technical aspects of space travel or try to sell you on the plausibility of technology that exists in this futuristic look at our world.  The story doesn’t spend time explaining the politics of the future or try to tell a less that subtle cautionary tale of what’s to come.  Haywire is, from page one, a quick moving story about interesting characters.  Space is the setting for this book.  There’s no dull, heavy handed lesson in science or technology to slow the pace of the story.  If you’re looking for an in-depth explanation of space travel, or how wormholes helped humanity reach out into the stars, you won’t find it here.  That’s not what this book is about.  It’s far more grounded in the lives of the characters, and that’s what I loved about it.

When an alien race attempted to invade our solar system, the people of Earth created an army super soldiers who were powerful enough to drive them back to where they came from.  What happened after that is entirely unknown.  100 years passed and no one on Earth knows what became of the aliens or Earth’s super soldiers.  At least, until one of those soldiers returns home.  She is sick with an alien infection, and she is the only one with a chance of stoping the next great threat to Earth.
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This is, by far, one of the more unique genre fiction novels that I’ve had the pleasure of reading.  And while the title implies a zombie based plot, the book is more distinctively science fiction than it is horror.  Set in the not distant enough future, this is at its core a cautionary tale— an all too plausible, “what if” scenario that at first seems somewhat farfetched.  But by the end of the book, odds are that you’ll find yourself no longer considering the events of this book as implausible as they might have first seemed.

First and foremost, Xom-B is the tale of one man’s wide-eyed and innocent discovery.  It’s told from the first person-present perspective.  While at first this point of view was a little jarring and unfamiliar to me, it soon became more comfortable.  I have no doubt that it was the right perspective from which to tell this particular tale.  So much of what happens is made much more effective by the real-time first person point of view, and I think my initial discomfort from the perspective came simply from the fact that so few books utilize this perspective.
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Influx, the latest novel from Daniel Suarez is certain to be another smash hit.  Daniel’s first book, Daemon was a bestseller and foretold technologies that are only currently seeing the light of day.  Modern tech like Goole’s still-in-production Google Glass, and lesser altruistic advents such as the recently dismantled Silk Road.  Part two of Daemon was titled Freedom™, and was another massive success.  This was followed by Kill Decision which proved to be only moments ahead of its time since it dealt with drone warfare and posed a question that is becoming crucial at this very point in time: should automated systems or artificial intelligence be allowed to make critical life and death decisions?

Book number four from Mr. Suarez, Influx, deals with a fictional government agency who’s mandate is to police leaps in technology that are deemed disruptive.  The BTC, or Bureau of Technology Control, is proactive in its efforts, striking at scientist and innovators before they can bring key innovations to market— innovations that are certain to change the world in some profound way.  When such a technology comes to the attention of the BTC, the innovator behind the discovery is offered membership into the unique and secret organization.  But only if he or she agrees to keep their discovery from the world and continues development while working for the BTC.  But what happens when someone refuses?
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Refuge was a five book serialize release from Jeremy Bishop and a host of additional talented authors that is now available in an omnibus edition.  If you tuned in to the series as it was released on a weekly basis, you could buy the books as they were released.  But now that the five book series is complete, the omnibus version is available.  It contains the complete series in a single book, and at a reduced price.

Each book in the series was co-authored by Jeremy Bishop and another author.  Each guest is a talented and accomplished author in their own right, so the tag-team effort insures that each book is nothing short of spectacular.  Book one is written by Jeremy Bishop and Jeremy Robinson.  Fans of Robinson’s work will recognize Jeremy Bishop as the pen name that Robinson reserves for his horror work.  His collaboration with his alter ego is as fun as the book is chilling.  With book 2, Bishop teams up with Daniel S. Boucher.  Book 3 pairs Bishop with Robert Swartwood who wrote The Serial Killer’s Wife and The Calling, among numerous other thrillers.  Book 4 teamed Bishop with David McAfee of 33 A.D. and 61 A.D. fame.  And book 5 concludes the series by pairing Bishop with Kane Gilmour, author of Resurrect, The Crypt of Dracula, as well as co-author of several of the Jack Sigler books.
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I fell in love with the series when I read books 1 and 2 back to back. I had impossibly high expectations when I started reading book 3. To the point where I was nervous… worried that the third installment couldn’t possibly live up to my lofty expectations. Especially after waiting a year for the latest release.

All of my worries were for nothing. Book three was a smash hit that managed to surpass my expectations in every possible way. It was an action packed thrill-ride from beginning to end. But maybe even more impressively, the way book three ties into the events and characters from the earlier releases actually managed to pull at my heartstrings. While the book was an action thriller, it had more than a few touching moments that were brilliantly written.
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There’s something about a detective story that’s told in the first person.  When it’s done right, it just works.  That is, hands down, the case with Grey Lady.  But it’s far more than you classic who done it? mystery.  It’s also a wild ride with a riveting plot that pulls you in at the start and keeps you locked locked within the pages for the duration.  Everything centers around a character named Aristotle Socarides, better know as “Soc” to his friends and adversaries alike.  And while this is book 7 in a series, that shouldn’t prevent anyone from jumping into the series right here.  I haven’t read the earlier books yet (Though they have all been added to my to-read list now).

This a tale of murder, a rich man’s mental break with reality, and the search for the great white whale immortalized by Herman Melville.  What do all of these things have in common?  Not a single thing, unless you’re Paul Kemprecos.  But for an author with his pedigree, they’re the base ingredients for a fantastic mystery thriller than involves lost American history, scrimshaw, hive based drone technology, and cannibalism.
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I have so many things that I want to say but I can’t because I don’t want to spoil this amazing novel for anyone.  So no spoilers here.  It’s enough to say that this book takes the team, and a couple of characters in particular, to some very interesting and unexpected places.  Adding to the fun, Omega takes what we know about the series so far— and some of the characters— and just turns all of that on its ear.  There’s some really brilliant stuff that you wouldn’t expect to see surface this far into a well-established series.

Of course we get the requisite gun toting, ass-kicking that we expect from our favorite special-ops team, and a few things are revealed that threaten to make us look back at the earlier books in an entirely different way.
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