Red
From Publishers Weekly
Summers (Off Limits) occasionally stumbles in this intense series launch, a futuristic paranormal romance set in an ecologically desolate 2160. Gina Red Santiago, the lone woman in the elite international tactical team commanded by the grandfather who raised her, travels off-duty to Nuria in the Republic of Arizona to investigate a woman's mysterious, brutal death. Gina doesn't believe in the rumors of supersoldiers, vampires and werewolves created by a sec...
Buy Red at Amazon
US $47.98
When a grisly murder occurs in her jurisdiction, Gina “Red” Santiago is determined to ferret out the killer. Only one problem – the powers that be deemed it an attack by an animal and closed the case. If Gina wants justice for the victim, she must work outside the system.
The best place to do that? The fringe town where one hunky Morgan Hunter happens to be sheriff. The lawman does things to her long-dormant libido that she doesn’t quite understand, but cannot deny. Good news? Morgan has equal difficulty resisting Gina…
Meanwhile, the killer strikes in Morgan’s town under their noses. Worse, the villain makes it clear he has targeted Gina next.
I first discovered Jordan Summers’ talent through eBook publisher Ellora’s Cave. When the request to review her upcoming Tor Paranormal Romance book came to me, I jumped at the chance, having loved the stories I’ve previously read by this author.
I wasn’t disappointed. RED is a fantastic paranormal romance that is all at once dark, hopeful, and sexy. Our kick-butt heroine has no trouble protecting herself, putting her on a more than equal footing with the hero. The result is a stimulating courtship in which Morgan finds himself constantly challenged by Gina, who easily keeps him on his toes.
Of course, Morgan is no slouch either. The reigning Alpha of the region, Morgan takes his role as leader of his pack of shape shifters very seriously. He is the epitome of a good Alpha shape shifter – sexy, tough, noble, and empathetic. He may not be perfect, but that just makes him more realistic. There is no doubt, however, that he is the perfect mate for Gina. Watching him convince her of that is only half the fun…
I mentioned earlier the story is dark, and I want to stress that there are indeed some very dark passages in the story. We are reading about a serial killer, after all. The parts of the story told from the murderer’s perspective are written in first person point of view, putting you inside his head, showing the reader in no uncertain terms how demented the villain is. I also need to point out for the squeamish that these scenes do include some sexual contact while in shape shifted form while the killer is attacking his victims. There is NO intercourse in these scenes, however, simply some contact designed to demonstrate the twisted way this man views his victims. He believes they are in love, but ultimately his lust always turns into blood lust rather than the sexual kind, leaving a trail brutalized of bodies in his wake. These scenes will make the reader very appropriately uncomfortable, but they definitely add to the story. And really, should anyone BE comfortable while reading a murder scene?
In RED, Jordan Summers gives her readers an intense story with compelling characters who effortlessly endear themselves to the reader from page one. With a suspenseful plot as important to the story as the romance, the author has crafted a complex story that is easy to love.
**Courtesy of Wild on Books**
Red is a paranormal romance, but it is also a science fiction thriller, an action/adventure and a mystery. The story is told from the first person and third person point of view. And, get this; the first person voice is that of a male serial killer. So, Ms. Summers combined approximately four genres and told the story from two different points of view! How clever is that?
We are immediately taken inside the mind of sociopathic serial killer who has stalked, befriended and is giving his latest prey a ride home. The killer does go through a physical metamorphosis and there is a violent death involved. There is however no rape. I thought it was brilliant the way Ms. Summers told the story from inside the killer’s mind and we were able to visualize the scene through his warped perspective. The first person chapters with the scenes where the killer is scheming and immersed in his psychotic ramblings are short, they do not overtake the overall storyline.
The setting for this story is in the not too distant future in a world that has been ravaged by war. Society is divided into “Republics” taking up 70% of the land mass and the rest of the world is a no mans land. There is an electromagnetic barbed boundary fence around the southern half of the North American continent to keep out `unknowns’. The world’s population is divided into `pureblood knowns’ that are tagged with a computer chip indicating which Republic they belong too and the `unknowns’, who are essentially considered hostiles. There is also a group called the `Others’, who are purported to posess special abilities, however their existence is not confirmed. The International Police Tactical Team (IPTT) was formed after the war for the purpose of patrolling the borders of the Republics for unknowns and keeping peace. Murder has been all but eliminated.
We meet Gina “Red” Santiago a highly trained veteran of the elite IPTT in the middle of a firefight near an abandoned building in the desert. Her second has fallen in battle and she has called in for back up but they haven’t arrived. Through a series skilled and cunning battle maneuvers Red manages to dispatch the hostiles despite being seriously outnumbered. When help does arrive it becomes evident that she is considered an `outsider’ as far as the IPTT members are concerned. Her feeling of alienation has been a factor for her entire life experience.
Red has heightened senses that have enhanced not only her abilities as a warrior but also as a tracker. Following the firefight she leads a skeptical team to a woman’s dismembered body. The team leader, an arrogant, rude `chauvinist’ type of character concludes that it was an animal attack and dismisses her death. However, Red senses this is not the case and is bent on finding out the truth for the young woman and her family’s sake. So, on her own time and without back-up she sets out to the town of Nuria, a border town that is policed by Sheriff Morgan Hunter.
Hunter is an Alpha male, rugged, handsome and a battle-honed soldier. Unknown to anyone outside of the people of the town who are members of his pack, he is a werewolf. Morgan is the respected Alpha who protects his people in the tight knit town where Red, unexpectedly finds greetings of welcome when she anticipates hostility and suspicion because of being with IPTT. The attraction between Red and Morgan is instantaneous, and animalistic but the sexual tension between these two strong characters builds throughout the book. Red doesn’t understand her attraction to Morgan all she knows is that the draw comes from something deep inside that she doesn’t understand. This isn’t a story where the heroine and hero have sex up front, however when they finally do it is a cataclysmic coupling. There is a theme of significant deception written into the romantic plot causing major conflict in the development of their complex relationship.
While the romance between Red and Morgan arcs through this story, there is a mystery subplot with respect to the insane killer that is full of surprising twists and turns. The other plot device, I found wonderful was the way Jordan wove the “Little Red Riding Hood”, fable into the story and if you decide to read this book I think you will too.
Nuria is an unusual town full of people with dark secrets and power. I will say that one of the secondary characters `Raphael Vega’, plays a pivotal role in what proves to be a harrowing climax. This guy is mysterious and charismatic with `special’ abilities. I hope we see more of Raphael in the subsequent stories of what is to be a three book series. The other secondary characters are equally strong including a corrupt politician with insane ideas as to how the world should be `ruled’.
While yes `Red’ is fiction, it touched me deeply as Ms. Summers gives us a look at a post apocalyptic world. IMHO it is a thrilling, unique page-turner that I would highly recommend for anyone who enjoys a cross genre read. Sadly I have to wait until June 2009 to see what will happen to Gina Santiago and Morgan Hunter next!
“Red” is the beginning of a mainstream, paranormal/urban fantasy series by Jordan Summers who has also written for Ellora’s Cave and Harlequin Blaze so I knew to expect a pretty spicy read…and I got it! But paranormal fans should be warned that this series is a bit dark and broody and takes place in a future version of the United States.
Gina is a cop on the International Police Tactical Team (IPTT). She lives in a Northern America ravaged by wars and now divided into strictly controlled territories. Each ‘citizen’ must be tagged. No tag, no citizenship and no services. For years, rumors of Others have abounded–warriors created in government labs and then destroyed when they became more than their creators intended. Of course, these are just stories told to children and not reality. And even if they HAD existed, they don’t anymore…right?
Morgan Hunter is the sheriff of a sleepy border town in the Arizona Territory. He’s actually more like the big, bad wolf sheriff since most folks in his town belong to his pack. He prefers quiet without visitors and no single females can enter any pack territory unless they are ‘claimed’ within three days…too many fights among unmated males. So when Gina shows up to investigate a suspicious death with possible ties to his town, Morgan knows she’ll make some noise in his quiet town. But it only takes a sniff for him to realize something Gina herself doesn’t know. And now the two will need to work together to bring down a crazed murderer who truly ‘hunts’ his prey.
The beginning of the book really grabbed me as the story begins inside the head of the killer. His thought processes and enjoyment of his ‘fun’ is pretty darn creepy. Summers slowly builds her characters and their motivations through first person POV. Early on each chapter change results in a character change and these gradually come quicker and quicker as the plot and action build. The attraction between the main characters is pretty hot and Summers’ experience writing erotic love scenes shines through.
The first person POV didn’t give me any problems at first, but as the story continued and the action built I began to feel ‘distanced’ from each character. I’m not sure if it was the quick changes in scene and character or something else, but it became a struggle to feel any connection to the hero or heroine. The hero is very much the Alpha wolf whose character became harder as the story progressed. And the heroine made some pretty stupid moves for an experienced cop. Then Summers began to weave the ‘bad, power-hungry politician’ part in and it felt a bit jarring to me. Finally, the identity of the bad guy was almost written in neon fairly early on (at least for me). That made the mystery portion of the story rather a bust. I’ll still probably read Jordan Summers next book in the series, “Scarlet”, to see where this is going, but “Red” isn’t one for my keeper shelf.