Sins of the Sister. Zari Reede, author (Black Opal Books, 2018) Lana has been looking for her twin sister, Dania, who was abducted three years earlier. In the opening scene, Lana meets the sex traffickers who she’s been pursuing, thinking they’re somehow involved with Dania’s disappearance. But there’s another candidate too, a mad gamer who carries his role-playing too far. Lana knows her sister’s alive because she can sense how her captor tortures her and abuses her sexually. If he’s the role-player, he’s bent on “cleansing” the girls he captures for Mother before killing them.

My first impression was that this story is really creepy, but on the Goldilocks scale, it’s probably just right. It could be a model for anyone wanting to write a horrific crime story. The plot moves along as the reader follows Lana’s pursuit of clues and her missteps. Parallel stories are found about Dania’s two potential captors; Lana’s friendship with Favor, her martial arts instructor; and her romantic feelings in her love-hate relationship with Norris, the cop who seems to have given up on finding Dania. The characters seem like real people—creepy villains, misguided teens, and good people with flaws, all examples of the wide spectrum of human behavior.

On one hand, this is a mystery/crime story with Lana playing the role of the PI (she inherits an agency). The connection Lana has with her twin adds a bit of paranormal flavor. The point of view (POV) flips back and forth between Lana and the gamer at first. That might be a bit disconcerting to some readers, especially when they’re inside the monster’s insane mind, but as a reader I always enjoy the use of this technique. Readers will know who he is before Lana does, which suggests this book is also a thriller. The parts involving the sex trafficker, whose POV isn’t shared, is more a standard mystery with interesting little twists and one major one.

I won’t dwell on the cast of characters. There are so many, which makes this novel complex and interesting. The writing is superb. Let me include one quote I hope to always remember: “…in the river of life, relationships pooled up in eddies, sometimes churning forever, while others swept around the bend, lost except in the memory of those who once cherished them.” That’s a meta-theme for this novel: relationships. I’ll write no more about it. You should just read it…and enjoy the story.

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Comments are always welcome.

“Detectives Chen & Castilblanco Series,” the NYC novels. In The Midas Bomb, terrorism and Wall Street excesses go hand-in-hand, with an evil genius lurking in the wings. In Teeter-Totter Between Lust and Murder, Castilblanco is out to prove that Chen is innocent of murder. In The Collector, the detectives find that sex trafficking and stolen art provide an unusual mix. And in Family Affairs, Castilblanco helps some family members who are in trouble. All these ebooks are available on Amazon and Smashwords and the latter’s affiliated retailers (Apple iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.). Current, pithy, and exciting, this is great summer reading!

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

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