Blood of Eden
Blood of Eden by Tami Dane
Sloan Skye #1
This mind-blowing
new series introduces Sloan Skye, and ambitious intern at the FBI's
paranormal unit, where the usual rules of crime fighting don't apply...
Sloan has a sky-high IQ, a chaotic personal life, and a dream: to work for the FBI. Her goal is within reach until an error lands her with the FBI's ugly stepchild: the new Paranormal Behavioral Analysis Unit. She'll get to profile criminals, but the pool of suspects is a little more...diverse. Yet even as Sloan tackles her first case--a string of victims, all with puncture wounds to the neck--she can't silence her inner para-skeptic.
To catch the killer she'll have to think like one. That means casting aside her doubts, and dealing with the bizarre nightmares that started with the job. But the strangeness is only beginning, as Sloan pieces together the shocking truth about a case that's more personal than she ever would have guessed.
Sloan has a sky-high IQ, a chaotic personal life, and a dream: to work for the FBI. Her goal is within reach until an error lands her with the FBI's ugly stepchild: the new Paranormal Behavioral Analysis Unit. She'll get to profile criminals, but the pool of suspects is a little more...diverse. Yet even as Sloan tackles her first case--a string of victims, all with puncture wounds to the neck--she can't silence her inner para-skeptic.
To catch the killer she'll have to think like one. That means casting aside her doubts, and dealing with the bizarre nightmares that started with the job. But the strangeness is only beginning, as Sloan pieces together the shocking truth about a case that's more personal than she ever would have guessed.
Sloan is incredibly smart, and her dreams of working for the FBI are finally about come true, only things don't go quite as she planned. She's tasked to work with a new paranormal unit whose job is to find criminals that aren't quite of the human variety. Of course she is more than a little skeptic, but the bills need paid, so she reluctantly accepts the position and starts on a case that involves victims with puncture wounds on their necks. Then some strange things start happening, and she can't quite ignore the signs that things that go bump in the night may just be real.
I'm really on the fence about how I feel about Blood of Eden. The concept was rather intriguing, but while reading it, I was very easily distracted by other things. There just wasn't anything going on that would grab a hold of me. In fact, there seemed to be a little too much going on at once, which made it difficult to follow at times. Off the top of my head I can think of at least 4 different sub-plots in addition to what I think was supposed to be the main one. To make matters worse, there were many moments of inconsistencies, as well some very unrealistic behaviors/events. To keep from spoiling things, I'll just list one early example. Sloan is supposed to be an Intern, fresh on the job with a new unit in the FBI, yet she is treated as anything but. The woman has had absolutely no training, but she is sent right out into the field, and put in VERY risky situations. It just struck me as quite unrealistic to say the least, and unfortunately that was only the first of these types of issues.
I really loved Sloan's character at first, but the further I got along in the book the more annoyed I became with her. I mean she came across as fun, a little nerdy and quite quirky, which are attributes that really endear me to characters. However, some of her behavior just did not make sense, especially when her supposed high intelligence is taken into account. She seemed completely oblivious to the things that were starting her right in the face, and more than a little reckless in ignoring dangers. Then you add in the cat and mouse game she was playing with one of the agents, which is supposed to be rather taboo. I would have respected her a little more if she had of either gone into things with him full forced, or completely backed off. Yet she did neither and continued on a path of wishy-washiness. It just seemed rather inconsistent with the strong character we met at the beginning of the book.
As I'm looking back over what I have written, I realize that it may look like I couldn't stand the book, but in the end it was entertaining as long as I was willing to suspend a little disbelief. Even so, I still think Blood of Eden could have been a whole lot better if things had of been condensed or more focused on only one or two things. That being said, I still think I will check into the next installment, because I feel there is a lot of room for potential here, especially as Sloan finds her way. (And of course, I want to see more of the yummy JT). So in the end, I'd recommend Blood of Eden to anyone who enjoys reading about a fresh-faced character that has just been thrown into the middle of the paranormal and getting to see whether they will sink or swim.
(Received a copy from the Publisher)
Rating:
Blood of Eden (Sloan Skye)
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