Chimera by Rob Thurman

The official back jacket blurb for Chimera:



From Rob Thurman, national bestselling author of the Cal Leandros Novels, comes a sci-fi thriller that questions what makes us human, what makes us unique …

…And what makes us kill.

Ten years ago, Stefan Korsak’s younger brother was kidnapped. No one knew who took Lukas, or why. He was simply gone. But not a day has passed that Stefan hasn’t thought about him. As a rising figure in the Russian mafia, he has finally found him.

But when he rescues Lukas, he must confront a terrible truth–his brother is no longer his brother. He is a killer. Trained, brainwashed, and genetically transformed into a flesh-and-blood machine with only one purpose–assassination. Now, those who created him will do anything to reclaim him.

And the closer Stefan grows to his brother, the more he realizes that saving Lukas may be easier than surviving him…

I love Rob Thurman's Cal Leandros series. Action-packed, unpredictable and the series reels a reader in with dark ease. It's fair to imagine looking up from a Leandros book and realizing it's way past midnight, and your alarm is set for six a.m. Even knowing that, you'll read on.

I felt a little diffident about Chimera before I read it. The elements didn't appeal so much to the kind of fiction I usually picked up. Russian mob? eh. I read it anyway, because I trust Thurman's writing. Nowhere, not even on her recently ongoing renovated website, has she disappointed when it came to the writing.

And in Chimera she killed.

Thurman's writing reaches a new level of awe, a depth that produces layers of emotion in a reader from cover to cover. Everything blended seamlessly and excitingly together -- the characters, the plot, the twists and those scenes of touching emotion, heartache and rawness that make the read unforgettable. 

 Her writing in this book also had its moments of gorgeous luminosity --

 ". . . I opened my eyes and raised my head to see blond hair haloed by oscillating red and blue lights. . . The car jerked to the left as the blazing lights careened off to the right. I went with them, pulled along in their wake until I was lost. They flew around me, brilliantly glowing butterflies. I soared with them long and far until I sailed off the edge of the world. . . "

-- combined with heart searing humor:

" Five hours later, I nearly lost my brother again.

It was in a public restroom. Forget the eye-watering stench of the flowery disinfectant that was worse than the smell it was meant to cover up. Ignore the tile colored a puke green that made your stomach heave and gave you a desire to check the bottom of your shoes.  Concentrate instead on puffy white feet, one in a cheap loafer, one bare and twisted to the side. Take a look at those as they show beneath the stall door. White, white skin splotched with purple veins and resting in a puddle of blood so fresh that the warmth of it steamed against the icy tile."

My overall assessment? Edgy characters, a plot that twists and turns at every page, an unexpected ending that's both startling and satisfying. . . Five stars. Easy.