Trial Run

Back Cover

Dr. Gabriella Speciale has assembled an international team of elite scientists with one goal in mind—to create and control out-of-body experiences that transcend the limits of time and space.  Reese Clawson’s mind-bending experiments aim to explode the boundaries of human consciousness—and annihilate the opposition in the process.

When a terrifying discover and a string of failed tests threaten to dismantle both programs, the key to survival may reside in the mind of a gifted grad student whose unsettling dreams have thrust him into the center of a dangerous battle for control.

As the threads of perception and reality become tangled and time itself twists in unexpected directions, one warning remains clear:  what you don’t know can kill you.

Review

If you’re a frequent reader of my blog, you know that I love suspense novels.  It is definitely my favourite genre.  I was greatly interested in reading Trial Run, the first in the new series, “Fault Lines”, by one of my new favourite authors, Davis Bunn (who also has the pen-name, Thomas Locke).  As you can tell by the description on the back cover, the premise was interesting and unique, and guaranteed a bit of action, so I was ready for a fast-paced, breathless read. 

However, as I started reading the book, I quickly became lost in the frequent scientific jargon and lengthy explanations behind the “out-of-body experiences” and “mind-bending experiments”.   At times, the heavy scientific dialogue between characters started to feel too much like reading a textbook.   I can appreciate needing a strong and believable theory(ies) for a sci-fi novel in order to capture your audience’s attention and convince them there is the slightest possible chance that “this could work!”  However, the deep and technical explanations and suppositions were just too much for me, often flying right over my head, and leaving me disconnected from the story. 

On the plus side, the cast of characters in Trial Run was widely varied and just plain fantastic.  With their different nuances and the hints of their (often) dark backstories, Davis Bunn created a very intriguing lot of individuals to help round out the story.  I hope that many of them, particularly Charlie and Gabriella, make appearances in future novels in the series as they contributed quite a bit to Trial Run. 

Don’t get me wrong – as mentioned earlier, I’ve become quite the fan of Davis Bunn, having recently read The Patmos Deception and Emissary (the sequel to Emissary is coming out in January!).  But this time, unfortunately, Trial Run didn’t quite hit the ball out of the park for me.

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.  This is my honest review.