TinaNoir's Reviews > The Devil You Know

I was looking forward to this book major.

The first book ended on such a high note that I expected this book to keep up the momentum.

But the first 60% of the book is really slow. There one moment of decisive action, there is one moment where a presumed dead friend shows up very much alive and a little problematic but those are little spikes of action is what is really a lot of .... domestic minutia.. almost.

This book centers on Maya and Gray. Maya is one of Nina's crew from the previous book. She is the one who has the eidetic memory -- but on steroids. She doesn't just remember words, she remembers smells, intonations, and has super enhanced situational awareness because of how her memory works. She can recall the impression of the space and size of a room, remember the distinct sound of a shoe walking across the floor, how far away it is, the pressure of the foot in the shoe based on sound and memory alone. And her mind keeps and categorizes it all.

Because of her abilities and training she was the petted, cosseted human diary of a very high up member of the Tech Corp --a shady corporation that controls everything. But we know, through epigraphs that start each chapter, that her boss was a closet rebel who had been discovered and killed. And Maya herself had been tortured for information her mind held. Somehow she held out and faked her death and is now underground, living in a new identity.

She has never th0ught of herself as a 'Super' like all the of the crew. They are all super enhanced super soldiers. But Gray, a super soldier sniper, convinces her she is not using all of her potential and that her memory and spatial awareness can translate into something pretty lethal and a huge advantage if necessary.

The book gets a little more fun when they start to train. And it is a blatant Checkov's gun because we know her training is going to come in handy later.

For Gray, he is rejecting his super soldier medial implant and he knows it is a death sentence because no one has ever been able to fix that.

So that is the emotional conflict for them. He is dying and they are on borrowed time.

The book is peppered with all of the people we met and became fond of in the first book with the tw crews girls+ guys all living together like happy puppies, having family dinners and being all ride or die for each other and Ava continues to make her cool Ninja-like appearances. But we meet a LOT more new people.

At about the 60% mark a major plot development happens that affects them all and the action kicks up into high gear and does not look back. The book becomes a great ride and ends, again, on a very high note with a ominous portent for the next book.