Review – Infected: Shift

Title: Infected: Shift (#5)

Author: Andrea Speed

Publisher:  Dreamspinner Press

Publication Date: May 14, 2012

ISBN-13: 978-1613725061

Available at: Amazon –  Barnes and Noble

From Goodreads:

Sequel to Infected: Freefall In a world where a werecat virus has changed society, Roan McKichan, a born infected and ex-cop, works as a private detective trying to solve crimes involving other infecteds. Between his mutating virus and his rocky relationship with his artist boyfriend, Dylan, Roan has enough problems to solve without taking on other people’s, but that’s the nature of his work. Someone has to look into the case of the murdered trans woman, and if the perp is the dirty cop Roan suspects it is, the police are not the right people for the job. But now Roan has a new obstacle to overcome: someone caught part of his transformation on video, and the media frenzy is making it hard to do his job. One case nets him a hockey team full of new friends. Another leads to an attempt on his life. And Roan’s hustler sidekick drags him on a quest for revenge. With his world and his body both in turmoil, Roan is finding it harder and harder to see the line between justice and vigilantism.

Review:

Although I didn’t read the other books in this series this book stood well on its own. The story was a little fragmented though. The plot seemed to be separated into two stories. The first half of the book has to do with the murder of the trans woman and the second half of the book involves a completely different case that was in no way related. There was a definite disconnect.

Through it all Roan is going through this self-flagellation process for being an infected that’s abnormal in the sense that he’s above normal. He continually tells himself he’s a freak. He believes he’s no good to his boyfriend and he proceeds to alternately destroy his personal life and mend it. He was incredibly self-destructive. He couldn’t see that every time he tried to do something right he ended up hurting himself even more. Roan also lamented over his dead husband more then half the time. I understand that grief over a loved one is never ending, but it seemed rather excessive.

The book did have some redeeming qualities. It’s very well-written. I was drawn into the grim action scenes and the world building was well done. There were a group of hockey players that had me entertained.  There was also a dominatrix with a minor role that I really liked. Holden the sidekick hustler was another character I liked as well. He knew who he was and he didn’t fool himself.

This book had a lot of potential, but it seemed like it just missed the mark. I’m kind of on the fence as to whether or not I should look for more books in this series.

*A free copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley.

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