ParaNormalRomance.org

"Orwellian science fiction thriller"

In 2174, the new world order came about because of Acquired Genetic Neurological Syndrome killing over two third of the male population on Earth. Women are in power and the central focus of authority is the council selected on each continent. The regime represses individuals who are less important than the whole and opinions are not tolerated. Most infants are genetically engineered.

There is a k-class of women bred to be perfect assassins; Kay Black is one of the best. When she goes to terminate Angela Potenkin, she finds a recording she left behind telling Kay that she is the product of a breeding experiment designed to bring about the next step in evolution. People like her have psychic powers that manifest themselves at a predetermined time. When Kay's next assignment is to terminate Angela's son, their meeting brings out their full powers and leads them to an underground enclave in Dar es Salaam where people just like them are living in an underground community. Their safety is just an illusion because the head of the North American Council is getting ready to infiltrate the group and use them for her own ends.

It is 1984 all over again with Big Sister keep a close eye on its citizens, ready to kill anyone who threatens the status quo. Kay doesn't understand what is happening to her and reaches out to Aria, a woman working on the council. Something about Kay touches Ana who agrees to help her with her psychic powers and with fitting into the group. J.D. Townsend has written an Orwellian science fiction thriller that is impossible to put down until finished.

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted March 12, 2005

Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted January 25, 2007

Acquired Genetic Neurological Syndrome has killed nearly two-thirds of Earth’s male population, and women have risen to dominate all aspects of life. The Whole Body governs with chilling efficiency; the Ministry of Termination dispatches those who might threaten the world order, or whose usefulness has come to an end. To that end, a select few have been engineered to carry out the clandestine orders of the North American Council — K-Class assassins.

At 19, Kay Black is probably the most talented assassin the Ministry of Births has ever produced. Her career is going brilliantly, although she is troubled by odd shifts in consciousness and vaguely unsettling feelings that she can neither control nor fully comprehend.

Then during an assignment to terminate Angela Potemkin, a renowned scientist with the Central Office for Genetic Research, Kay discovers a mystery about her origins. The information turns her world upside down, and her search for the truth reveals that she has received an inheritance, something that makes her even more dangerous than an assassin.

The trouble is she is not alone in receiving this unexpected gift, a gift that by its very nature will challenge the foundations of power in the world ... if Kay can survive long enough to use it.

Read an Excerpt