Short & Sweet Reviews: [Blog Tour] Review: Vacant by Alex Hughes + Giveaway

Title: Vacant
Author: Alex Hughes
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Mindspace Investigations #4

Mass Market Paperback, 336 pages
Publication: December 2, 2014

Source: I received a review copy from the author in exchange for a honest review/blog tour.

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Nothing ruins a romantic evening like a brawl with lowlifes—especially when one of them later turns up dead and my date, Detective Isabella Cherabino, is the #1 suspect. My history with the Atlanta PD on both sides of the law makes me an unreliable witness, so while Cherabino is suspended, I’m paying my bills by taking an FBI gig.

I’ve been hired to play telepathic bodyguard for Tommy, the ten-year-old son of a superior court judge in Savannah presiding over the murder trial of a mob-connected mogul. After an attempt on the kid’s life, the Feds believe he’s been targeted by the businessman’s “associates.”

Turns out, Tommy’s a nascent telepath, so I’m trying to help him get a handle on his Ability. But it doesn’t take a mind reader to see that there’s something going on with this kid’s parents that’s stressing him out more than a death threat.

Vacant is the fourth book in the Mindspace Investigation series, and it doesn’t look like this series is slowing down. The series just gets better and better with each installment; growing leaps and bound in terms of world building and character growth/development. And from what I can see in this latest book, Vacant, is that from here on out, this series can only go up.

Vacant picks up a few weeks after the events in Marked, everything been quite calm on the police and Guild front and even Swatz is doing much better from his heart scare. But of course too much of a good thing never lasts long. A date night for Adam and Isabella turns bad when a solicitor picks a fight with them and 10 minutes later ends up dead…and the first and only suspect is Isabella. Things go from bad to worse when Isabella is investigated for police brutality and Adam is called out of town to help on an FBI case involving an attempt kidnapping of a 10-year-old boy. But the trouble doesn’t stop there as Atlanta’s Big Boss and an old archenemy of Adam are out to get him, or worst kill him.

Vacant took a different route from the previous book in which Adam was mostly working alone and on a case separate from the police department and Guild. Adam is usually always with Cherabino, working either with a case for the department, Guild, or a combination of both; so it was nice to see him out of his element and taking the lead. With Adam’s drug history and being a telepath people see him in a certain light and in a way discriminate him/categorize him before they even get to know him; they also make decisions on his behalf whether he likes it or not (wage, how he handles his money, and for a time he wasn’t even allowed to drive). In Vacant, readers saw a different Adam, one with more freedom, more acceptance, decisive and respected. Adam had a lot of challenges this time around; both physically and mentally and the occasional self-doubt or feeling of hopelessness but at the end of the day Adam persevered and got the job done. It was a really nice change, and I loved seeing his growth…this better version of Adam.

Overall, Vacant was a very fast-pace read; the story pretty much hit the ground running within the first couple of pages and didn’t let up till the end. I also really enjoy the plot and how it connected to the overall arc of the series. Even though I knew who all the baddies were early on in the story, it didn’t take away any of my enjoyment as I still found myself riveted and unable to flip the pages fast enough. With Cherabino and the usual cast of characters back in Atlanta and Adam out in Savannah, readers were presented with a whole new group of characters, and I must say I loved them all. From Tough but lonely kid Tommy, Agent Jarrod and the entire FBI crew to charming Quentin (Tommy’s dad); they all made a lasting impression that I hope we’ll see more of them in future books.

Vacant is a stellar addition to the series and with how the book ended, I can’t wait to see what Hughes does next with the world and characters. This is by far one of the best Sci-Fi series I’ve ever read and I can’t recommend this book enough. Read this series if you haven’t already, and start at the beginning with Clean, you won’t be sorry! Now, bring on Mindspace Investigation #5!

VACANT CLUE

In addition to fun blog posts, interviews, and exclusive excerpts, fans will have a chance to solve a mystery during the month-long VACANT blog tour! A “Clue-like” checklist is available to download from the author’s blog, here,to be marked off as readers visit stops along the tour schedule. Somewhere on participating blog posts will be clues (clearly marked) that will eliminate specific “Location”, “Weapon”, or “Suspect” options. At the end of the tour, a rafflecopter entry form will help Alex choose a grand prize winner amongst all who correctly guess “who dunnit?” based on the remaining options.

US/CAN/UK ONLY

The author is generously giving away an audiobook copy of one (1) Mindspace Investigation novel (winner's choice) to a blog reader. To enter please fill out the Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alex Hughes, the author of the award-winning Mindspace Investigations series from Roc, has lived in the Atlanta area since the age of eight. Her short fiction has been published in several markets including EveryDay Fiction, Thunder on the Battlefield and White Cat Magazine. She is an avid cook and foodie, a trivia buff, and a science geek, and loves to talk about neuroscience, the Food Network, and writing craft—but not necessarily all at the same time! For all the latest news and free short stories, join Alex’s email list at http://bit.ly/AlexsList.

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