Memory Zero

Spook Squad, Book #1

By Keri Arthur

ISBN# 9780440246589

Author’s Website:  https://www.keriarthur.com/

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

Police detective, Sam Ryan, was called to a shady part of town after her shift by her partner.  A partner that has been missing for weeks.  And, when she finally finds him, she finds that he’s been turned into a vampire.  He tells her there is a war coming and that humans won’t fight in it, but will be the ones who lose.  He wants her to join him and he isn’t taking no for an answer.  She ends up shooting and killing him, except it’s not really Jack she killed.  However, now she’s being investigated for murdering her partner.

The assistant director of the SIU, aka the Spook Squad, was present that night.  He saw Sam sense the kite creatures, a fairly unknown creature that humans can’t sense until it’s too late.  Now Gabriel wants to keep a close eye on Sam and figure out how she was able to detect the kites.  And, he assigns himself as her bodyguard.

Things are not as they seem.  Especially now that someone is playing with clones.  Can Sam clear her name before Jack subdues her once and for all?

This is not my typical kind of book.  However, I do occasionally go outside my comfort zone for something a little different.  It was an okay read and I would definitely consider delving further into the series.

I do feel like the author should have explained a bit more in the beginning.  For instance, this book takes place in the future … it gave me some In Death (J.D. Robb) vibes.  I also found it strange that according to the synopsis Sam has no memory before the age of fourteen.  This was supposed to be such a big deal that the book was named based on that, yet it was barely mentioned in the actual book.

I did find Gabriel and his twin interesting.  I could see a future relationship between Sam and Gabriel to be entertaining.  Especially with their forced partnership aspect.  Stephan obviously already sees something between them.

I do find the shapeshifters and shapechangers a bit confusing.

And, I’m interested to learn more about the big hirsute stranger that was trying to help Sam.  The two are obviously connected, but he’s a mystery to Sam.

This book took me a bit to get into, but by the end of it, I could definitely see me continuing the series.