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Saturday, September 6, 2014

Book Review: Premonitions by Jamie Schultz

Premonitions
by Jamie Schultz

Mass Market Paperback, 384 pages
Published July 1st 2014 by Roc

TWO MILLION DOLLARS...

It’s the kind of score Karyn Ames has always dreamed of—enough to set her crew up pretty well and, more important, enough to keep her safely stocked on a very rare, very expensive black market drug. Without it, Karyn hallucinates slices of the future until they totally overwhelm her, leaving her unable to distinguish the present from the mess of certainties and possibilities yet to come.

The client behind the heist is Enoch Sobell, a notorious crime lord with a reputation for being ruthless and exacting—and a purported practitioner of dark magic. Sobell is almost certainly condemned to Hell for a magically extended lifetime full of shady dealings. Once you’re in business with him, there’s no backing out.

Karyn and her associates are used to the supernatural and the occult, but their target is more than just the usual family heirloom or cursed necklace. It’s a piece of something larger. Something sinister.

Karyn’s crew, and even Sobell himself, are about to find out just how powerful it is… and how powerful it may yet become.

In Premonitions we follow a small crew of thieves in an alternate future who work primarily as retrieval experts contracting to steal back items that have been stolen.

There is some excellent world building and introduction to the primary characters with significant focus on Karyn and Anna. Karyn sees "slices" of the future that enables her to direct her crew in achieving their objective and if she says duck, you better listen or your head just may no longer be balanced between your shoulders. However, Karyn is significantly affected by her hallucinations much like severe schizophrenia and constantly struggles to remain sane using a very expensive drug from the black market that is also starting to affect her abilities. The story follows a major heist for a client that cannot be trusted and all the subsequent ripples that drag the crew into a job with a major payout, but at what cost?

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. The premise is very intriguing and the actual storytelling is as well. My issue was with Karyn, I had difficulty liking her character and really felt much more empathy towards Anna who constantly struggles to maintain her gruff exterior while caring for Karyn. This is not a fun read, nor is it overly dark, but there are moments of humor and an interesting storyline that managed to overcome my initial dislike of Karyn. The ending was satisfying with just enough open-endedness to set the groundwork for future tales and I am intrigued enough to venture into the next offering to see what happens with these characters next. I received this book via NetGalley.

3.75 Sheep




DeniseZ 

About the Author:
I grew up on the frozen Arctic tundra of Wisconsin. Now I live in Dallas. Like the official bio says, I got a couple engineering degrees, because I thought I’d be an engineer when I grew up. Turns out Lennon was right, though—life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.
For years, I thought my favorite color was green, but it turns out that all that time it was really red.
My wonderful wife makes my world go round. My ridiculous dog helps.


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