SHARP
*BY*
ALEX HUGHES
Sharp Blurb
A
Mindspace Investigations Novel, Book 2
As
a Level Eight telepath, I am the best police interrogator in the department.
But I’m not a cop—I never will be—and my only friend on the force, Homicide
Detective Isabella Cherabino, is avoiding me because of a telepathic link I
created by accident.
And
I might not even be an interrogator for much longer. Our boss says unless I
pull out a miracle, I’ll be gone before Christmas. I need this job, damn it.
It’s the only thing keeping me sane.
Parts
for illegal Tech—the same parts used to bring the world to its knees in the
Tech Wars sixty years ago—are being hijacked all over the city. Plus Cherbino’s
longtime nemesis, a cop killer, has resurfaced with a vengeance. If I can stay
alive long enough, I just might be able to prove my worth, once and for all…
Sharp Review
Sharp was an unexpectedly good read. This is the first book I
Have read by Alex Hughes, but I’m sure this
one won’t be the last.
Sharp is the second book in The Mind Space Investigation
series. It is written in first person POV. The series follows Adam, a telepath,
and recovering drug addict. Adam lives in a post apocalyptic like world where
technology is banned. Sharp is set 60 years after a “tech” war on the planet,
which led to technology being outlawed.
Adam is an interrogator, and investigative consultant for
the police department. He is thrown into a murder investigation involving
someone from his past, while dealing with his addiction, an uncomfortable mind
link with his partner, and falling in love with his addiction anonymous sponsor.
On top of that, his mind powers have severely diminished due to burning them
out on a previous case. Adam won’t give up though, he’s determined to solve
this case, and as his powers slowly return he will risk everything to see this
case through.
This is the second book in the series, and in my opinion a
great addition. I didn’t read the first book CLEAN, but I was able to follow
this story with no problems. The author gives you enough information, and I didn’t
feel lost.
Adam is a flawed character with a lot of issues, but you can’t
help but love him. From what I could tell, he grows a lot in this second book. I
really liked the world building in Sharp; the author did a good job with that. It
was all believable, and fresh. There was some twist in the story that I wasn’t expecting,
and the ending actually shocked me.
I will definitely be picking up the first book CLEAN and the
next installment when it is released.
****4STARS/5
Excerpt:
Guilt
– an excerpt from Sharp, Mindspace
Investigations Book #2
By
Alex Hughes
You
okay?
came Cherabino’s thought again, frustrated. Tap, tap, her mind against mine,
tap, tap, as if she could somehow feel my distress and reacted with impatience
instead of care. Tap, tap, along the long yellow line back to the real world.
I followed that line, hand over hand, inch by painful blind
inch, laboriously surfacing, one overwhelming moment at a time. She kept
tapping. She kept pushing. It was the only thing that got me all the way there.
I woke to the clear view of the floor and my knees, twelve
inches from the bloodstain, my nose overcome with bad smells. I hadn’t thrown
up. I could say that much. And—mind shaking, aching, shivering in reaction
pain, I realized I was back to mind-deaf. My head rang with pain, pain—but no
emotion. I was deaf and blind again.
“You okay?” Cherabino asked.
I shook my head—and immediately thought better of it; the
movement made the world spin.
My eyes caught the victim’s foot, her bare foot on the tile,
and I saw a small tattoo, a circle of wavy lines, neurons, encircling a
stylized S and Q. I sat down hard, on the tile. I knew that tattoo.
I knew that tattoo, and in combination with it the female
mind, or who she’d once been. Her name hadn’t been Hamilton when I’d known her,
but she hadn’t been married. Emily, her name had been. Even through the
overwhelming pain in my head, I couldn’t let go of the thought. Emily had been
one of my best advanced students, years ago. Before it all fell apart. Before
her mind twisted into a knot—into something not an Abled mind anymore. Before
I’d done the unthinkable.
“Are you okay?” Cherabino repeated.
I fought the guilt and the disorientation of seeing Emily
again, seeing her dead. I fought the exposure sickness, the injury. I sat on
them, hard, and built a barrier between us with bleeding fingers. Cherabino
couldn’t know. She knew too many of my failures as it was.
One small knee shuffle at a time, I moved back, away from
Emily. It wasn’t her fault she smelled of urine, dried blood, and darker
things, but it wasn’t mine either.
“Well, did the husband do it?” Freeman asked.
“Are you okay?” Cherabino repeated.
I pulled myself to my feet and fished out my sunglasses over
my now-light-sensitive eyes. “Unless the husband’s an ex-SEAL or something,” I
said in a rasp, “somebody else did it. And now, unless there’s some kind of
emergency, I’ll be in the car.”
Uncaring of reactions, I stumbled out of the devil house,
away from the seat of every failure I’d ever had, down the stupid steep stairs,
and climbed into the backseat of the cop car. I needed to be horizontal. Now.
GIVEAWAY!!
1
copy of Clean (US ONLY) is up for grabs at each tour stop.
LEAVE A COMMENT WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS. THE WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN & NOTIFIED ON MAY 10, 2013
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alex has written since early
childhood, and loves great stories in any form including scifi,
fantasy, and mystery. Over the years, she has lived in
many neighborhoods of the sprawling metro Atlanta area, including
Decatur, the neighborhood on which Clean is centered. Her work is
dark, complex, action-filled and a little funny. Her Mindspace Investigations
series has been called "A fun blend of Chinatown and Blade Runner" by
James Knapp, and Publisher's Weekly called her "a writer to
watch."
When not writing you can find Alex in the kitchen cooking gourmet Italian food, watching hours of police procedural dramas, and humming to delightfully obscure music.
Learn more about Alex and her work at www.ahugheswriter.com.
Places
to find Alex:
Website: http://www.ahugheswriter.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AHughesWriter
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ahugheswriter
Places to purchase:
The Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/Sharp-Alex-Hughes/9780451465047/?a_aid=alehugautofcl-20
