Author: Angel Martinez
Publisher: Pride Publishing
Length: 91 Pages
Category: Paranormal, Fantasy
At a Glance: A fun read and a promising new series.
Reviewed By: Lindsey
Blurb: Kyle Monroe, his irritating new partner and their fellow freaks at the 77th Precinct must learn to work together to stop a vicious murderer that might not even be human.
Kyle Monroe’s encounter with a strange, gelatinous creature in an alley leaves him scarred and forever changed, revealing odd abilities he wishes he didn’t have and earning him reassignment to a precinct where all the cops have defective paranormal abilities.
Just as he’s starting to adjust to his fellow misfit squad mates, Kyle’s new partner arrives. Tall, physically perfect, reserved and claiming he has no broken psychic talents, Vikash Soren irritates Kyle in every way. But as much as he’d like to hate Vikash, Kyle finds himself oddly drawn to him, their non-abilities meshing in unexpected ways. If they can learn to work together, they might be able to stop the mysterious killer who has been leaving mutilated bodies along the banks of the Schuylkill.
Review: If you are a fan of Angel Martinez, this book will definitely not disappoint. The fun little crazy world she has created is something that takes paranormal and adds a whole new (and pretty hilarious) spin on things. Not your average paranormal, that is for sure.
Kyle Monroe is a detective in the 77th Precinct, which handles the crimes involving non-human entities, or unexplainable phenomenon. He wasn’t always in the freak squad. In fact, he hasn’t been there long at all. An encounter with one of the non-human entities a few months prior changes him, or perhaps brings out dormant talents, making him no longer a normal human. He gets transferred and is having a bit of a difficult transition.
Kyle’s talent, just like his fellow squad members, is wonky. They are people that have talents and/or are paranormal, but their powers don’t quite work the way they are supposed to, making them an interesting group of misfits, who happen to be cops—like someone who can teleport objects. Unfortunately, the objects are limited to fruit. Poor Kyle’s talent makes him a pariah from most of his co-workers, and it makes it difficult to truly bond with anyone. Enter Vikash, his new, nearly emotionless, (and gorgeous) partner who is a difficult nut to crack.
Lime Gelatin and Other Monsters is a fairly quick read, with a lot of entertainment: Kyle and Vikash getting to know one another and immediately getting thrown into a case that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, all the while getting glimpses of the crazy that the freak squad is, and having interesting encounters with non-human/paranormal entities such as a jacket with kleptomaniac tendencies.
I was amused by Kyle’s inner-dialogue and he had great character development. Unfortunately, I don’t feel the same about the other characters. They are introduced and we know about them, a few of them interact with Kyle in some way and are around as he and Vikash are working the case and getting to know each other, but I don’t feel the secondary characters were as fleshed out as I would have liked, even Vikash. Maybe because this is the first book of the series and as it progresses the other characters will be more dimensional.
The mystery was interesting and keeps the reader involved, without being the main focus or too detailed, as this book stays on the lighter side. The introduction of the world, and Kyle and Vikash being partnered up, and giving an overview of the 77th Precinct’s freak squad and operations shared a lot of the focus of the book, and I am interested to see what other nasties come out to play in the future.
I definitely recommend this book to someone looking for a fun read with a little mystery and interesting world building.
You can buy Lime Gelatin and Other Monsters here:
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