Customer Reviews

Out of the Darkness

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Tattoo artist Zoe Stoker is frightened after receiving an enigmatic cautionary message from a dead person; allegedly CIA. However that seems calm compared to an assassin who tries to kill her. Cheveyo saves her life, but though she does not trust him she goes with him to a recently created support group, the Offspring; as she is one of the children of psychic parents who participated in a government sponsored experiment (see A PERFECT DARKNESS).

Rand Brandenburg also recently joined the Offspring although he preferred not to. His uncanny gambling skill made him known to those who want the Offspring under control or dead like original experimenter Gerard Darkwell. Rand feels for the wary Zoe, but she knows from her past not to allow emotion to control her as her out of control telekinetic skill sends objects flying; however she also finds him to be the first person she cannot keep outside of her heart.

The names alone are great symbols with Cheveyo, Stoker, Brandenburg and Darkwell, etc. providing hints of a dark urban fantasy landscape. This second thriller is fast-paced with the suspense building up from the first Darkness novel; leading to a hooked audience wanting the next entry yesterday. However, in spite of the terrific overarching saga, the keys to OUT OF THE DARKNESS is the lead couple as he embraced his ability for personal gain while she fled her ability out of fear mindful of the X-Men's Rogue. Fans will root for this couple and have dark thoughts about flying bodily objects.

Harriet Klausner

I liked this book just as much as the first in the series (A Perfect Darkness). Jaime Rush has a way of spinning it all together that you just can't help but to root for the "Rogues." Not as much romance as I expected. A lot of action, and chases. It was almost dizzying trying to keep up with each character's perspective of what was going on. Yet and still I'm a big fan of this series. I only wish that the third book, Touching Darkness, would come out sooner than May 2010! If that is the last book in the series I hope that Jaime Rush gives the Rogues some sort of closure. Not necessary a "happily ever after," but a bit of normalcy after all they've been through.

Over all a very interesting story. I liked it ALOT!

i ordered this book because it is a part of a series. i just loved the book and got in a very timely manner.

The first book in this series was good but I liked this one better! The characters seemed put together better in this book. The whole idea behind this series is what got me started reading these books. Glad I did now because I loved this one!

The 'Offspring' series has its moments of novelty and I did enjoy reading this story. It followed on fairly closely from the previous book, 'A Perfect Darkness', and I wonder if a reader who hadn't encountered the previous book might struggle with what's going on.

Anyway, in this story a few weeks have passed since the events of the first book and the attention shifts from Amy and Lucas, two of the 'Offspring', to a young woman, Zoe Stoker. Zoe is a tattoo artist with her own shop who tries to live a quiet life despite a problem - when she gets emotional or angry, objects fall over or move. She knows she has some kind of telekinetic ability but tries to cover it up.

When Zoe realises she is being watched, thus begins a huge change in her life as it's turned upside down by a group of people known as the Offspring who, like her, have strange abilities. Rand Brandenburg, one of the Offspring, is just passing through, yet Zoe finds herself drawn to him. She knows there's no future with Rand, he doesn't want any entanglements, but as they learn together about the situation of the Offspring, and about the enemy they face, they may find that there are ties binding them that are stronger than they might have expected.

There's quite a lot of action in this book, although there are also parts where the pace flagged a little. The characters from the previous book continue to develop, although I can't work out if Eric Aruda will ever be a 'hero' of a later book. I wasn't always convinced of the likelihood of their continual escapes, plus I got a bit confused about who was related to whom as their parents' stories are discovered, but overall this is a reasonable read. There are clearly other books to come in the series so this story had many unfinished threads.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2010

I enjoyed this book more than the first. I did like A Perfect Darkness I just felt that it took a while to get off the ground but part of that was due to all the information that needed to be given to set up the series. In Out of the Darkness the action starts almost right away and is pretty steady throughout the entire book. I also enjoyed the relationship between Zoe and Rand. They both tried their hardest to stay away from each other and keep up there 'I only care about me' attitudes but I knew it wouldn't last and enjoyed watching them lose the battle against each other. You also meet and learn about a couple new Offsprings. Cheveyo is a mysterious character who helps the good guys but from a distance and only gets involved if necessary. Nicholas is a character that was told one thing but is teetering on the line between sides. Jamie Rush's doesn't leave the books wrapped in a perfect bow. I was satisfied with how it ended but there were still big questions that were not answered and it left me still wanting to know and read more. As far as I can tell the next Offspring book comes out in May 2010 and I'll be adding it to my TBR pile.

I thought it was slow to start, but got better and ended great. I fully enjoyed this book.

OUT OF THE DARKNESS is the second book in the Offspring series which centers on a group of twenty-something's who are the children of psychic parents that participated in a government experiment. These "offspring" have for the most part hidden their abilities and are only now discovering that others of their kind exist. Our heroine Zoë is a great character; interesting, wild looking and a tattoo artist who just happens to be able to move objects with her mind. However because Zoë has no control over her powers she's shut off her emotions to remain a `closeted' telekinetic and not be looked at like some sort of freak.

The first part of this story is super exciting as Zoë's search into her father's past sees some scary, gun toting bad guys pursuing her as she takes off into the Florida Keys. Unfortunately as soon as Zoë is rescued by the sexy and mysterious motorcycle man (what happened to him?) and deposited at a modernized bomb shelter where she meets others of her kind, it fell apart for me and I struggled to finish the remainder of this book.

Inside the shelter Zoë is introduced to several other "offspring" in particular Rand who is able to see into the future and likes what he sees with Zoë. Together the group learns to trust each other as they try to locate more of their kind, improve their powers and determine why "Dark Matter" wants them all dead.

Unfortunately this book just didn't do it for me although in fairness I did buy it on a whim without realizing that it was the second part of a series and I probably would have liked it a whole lot better had I first read A PERFECT DARKNESS and been able to understand the back story and secondary characters better. As it was I was bored with too many bland characters, silly made up slang words (in an attempt at youth and coolness) unnecessary trips out of the shelter to visit grandparents and a romance that took forever to get going. However all the other reviews I've seen have been positive so if you like your paranormal romance with a sci-fi edge, loads of action and some cool chase scenes then you may enjoy Jamie Rush's unique world of offspring. Cheers.

my book was recieved in great condition and in a timely manner I would buy from this company again

If you like your paranormal romance without vampires or werewolves, you'll love this. OUT OF THE DARKNESS combines passion with a page-turningly dangerous plot.