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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A new direction, June 1, 2010
This review is from: Chimera (Mass Market Paperback)
"Chimera", the latest book from Rob Thurman, leaves the supernatural world of her other "Cal Leandros" and "Trickster" series for something more real world but just as compelling. In "Chimera" we're introduced to Stefan, a young man with Russian mafia family ties who's younger brother Lukas was kidnapped 10 years ago at the age of seven. Long after everyone else but Stefan had given up searching, Lukas is found as a test subject in a strange institution that is experimenting on children. Stefan extracts his brother who no longer recognizes him and what follows is a journey for the brothers to reconnect and find out what was done to Lukas, all the while fleeing the institute who want their subject back, and the Russian mob after Stefan is implicated in a hit on his boss.
Family is a strong theme in Rob Thurman's books and it shows up again in "Chimera", this time as two (nearly) adults who are strangers but related in blood attempt to work out getting to know each other and define their relationship. The situation is complicated by Lukas' emotional scars he has from his time at the institute and his disbelief and denial that he even has a brother. Stefan has scars as well, as part of the reason he searched for Lukas for so long was that he blamed himself for the circumstances that led to his brother's kidnapping.
Rob Thurman may have left urban fantasy for the duration of this book, but the setting doesn't make any difference for this well established writer. Once again Rob Thurman gives us a tale that mixes drama, action, humor and emotion while showing she can write monsters of the everyday kind just as well as those of the supernatural kind.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A question of family, June 4, 2010
This review is from: Chimera (Mass Market Paperback)
"Chimera" is the first book that I have read from Rob Thurman and it did not disapoint. Ten years earlier Stephan Korsak had his brother kidnapped while they were riding horses and ever since he has felt guilt that he could not protect his younger brother from being taken. He is now twenty four and he continued the search for his brother Lukas. In order to pay for the search he has turned to the family business, which was part of the Russian Mafiya.
Finally the search has produced some results and Stephan is off to rescue his brother from his captors. Only to find that he needs to re-integrate himself into the life of a person who does not recognize him as a brother. On top of this, he has also burned his bridges with the Florida Mafiya bosses he had been working with. The chase is on, and Lukas (now 17) has been changed by the time he has been held captive.
Rob Thurman tells a compelling story of the feelings that Stephan has for his brother, and she tells of the wonderment of the young teenager who is now free in the open world. There are several twists and turns, which carry the story forward in a way that is fun to read. There are questions of morality and it shows in both the rough way Stephan has had to become, and the way Lukas has apparently been trained. And how he reacts to his big brother. Together they are on a trip searching how each can survive.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
strong, faster than a speeding Flash thriller, June 2, 2010
This review is from: Chimera (Mass Market Paperback)
A decade ago someone kidnapped young Lukas Korsak. The lad just disappeared from sight with no ransom or any demand. His family grieved their loss as the assumption was he was murdered.
Lukas's older brother Stefan has never forgotten his sibling. Working for the Russian Mafia, he still searches for Lukas when he can. Following a lead, he assaults a top secret human laboratory that brainwashes and genetically modifies kids turning them into lethal assassins. There Stefan finds a teen who looks identically like Lukas adding ten years of maturity to the mental image the mobster has maintained. Freeing the teen, they flee from the facility's leader who sends a horde of transformed young trained killers after them.
Using technology rather than supernatural as the means of conversion, Rob Thurman provides a strong, faster than a speeding Flash thriller. Intriguing that both brothers are killers; yet the older one trusts their DNA and shared past while the younger sibling distrusts everyone as he has been thoroughly brainwashed so that his instincts are to kill regardless of collateral damage. Readers will relish this tale of brotherly love as Stefan tries to save his brother from what the Madhouse did to him, but soon believes he will be Abel to Lukas' Cain.
Harriet Klausner
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