"Maverick's blend of cyberpunk, suspense and romance is an irreversible hook"
In WIRED, L. Roxanne Zaborovsky, a reclusive freelance
computer programmer and her lover, wire crosser Mason
Merrick prevailed over the evil time anomaly specialist
Leonardo Kaysar preventing him from recovering a critical
code that Roxy had yet to write. In revenge, Leo had shot
Roxy's roommate Kitty Gibbs in the heart right before her
eyes. Kitty had died in Roxy's arms. But that was not the
worst of it. Kaysar had spliced a few wires and somewhere in the future
Kitty was very much alive but not at all well, although she
didn't know it. In Katherine Gibbs' new reality this was the
happiest week of her life. She had the perfect job, the
perfect friends and the perfect fiancé (Leo). The problem
was that none of it was real, but a perpetual loop she
relived over and over as each new week began. Roxy, Mason, his partner Louise Sheffield and her intern
from the future, Vesper having discovered Kitty's timeline,
attempt to break through the wall that separates them to
recover her. The problem is that the new Katherine doesn't
know any of them and refuses to be rescued. A different
approach is needed. Roxy and Mason cannot go to her as they
have already been through too much and their timelines were
too intertwined with Kitty's. They couldn't risk losing each
other again. The job required someone with know how but to
whom Kitty wasn't connected. Louise calls in her brother,
Walter, a time anomaly specialist who goes by just "Q." "Q" follows Kitty's scripted week carefully discerning when
she has "free" moments that he can infiltrate. At first he
insinuates himself into her time as a psychiatrist, and
attempts to get her to think for herself, to resist those
actions that went against her instincts, and to remember
their visits as part of this Pavlovian experience. But it
isn't long before his objectivity is compromised. He hates
lying to her and even more he hates that with each new week
she does not remember him. Based on a childhood of loss he
and his sister had religiously eschewed relationships, now
he was falling in love with a woman he was almost certainly
doomed to lose. But even if he lost her forever he could
not, would not leave this beautiful, intelligent, fiery
woman to this zombie like existence, a mere puppet in the
grand machinations of an evil genius like Kaysar. Maverick paints quite a picture of this complex charade. Not
only is Kitty reliving her life each week but there is a
whole cast of Kaysar employed characters who relive the week
with her from Monday's workday to Friday's engagement party.
From "best friends" to chauffeurs these are the people who
must keep her week on track. It's wild to see how some of
them improvise to pull her back in line as her true
personality begins to emerge and resist, while others
struggle with the ethics of their assigned role. It's mind
boggling to say the least. What I really love is the fact that Kitty's true
consciousness is in there fighting for supremacy all along.
She is not merely the center of two men's tug of war and
slowly begins to realize that her whole "happy" life is a
sham. "Q" of course is the kind of hero we can't help but
adore. Though his untried heart is almost sure to be broken,
he is willing to risk it all, even his very life, to
liberate the courageous woman he admires, respects and loves
with everything he is. Of course the biggest obstacle is
that the longer it takes him to extract Kitty the more
likely Leo Kaysar is to notice that something is not quite
right. Though I'm not partial to one or the other, I thought it
should be pointed out that unlike WIRED, IRREVERSIBLE is
written in the third person point of view. Perhaps it is
because the story is told from the hero's perspective, or
perhaps to strike a balance between the cyberpunk futuristic
aspect and the romantic one. I can't really say but it
definitely gave this tale a different flavor from the first.
Whether or not this makes a difference will be up to the
individual reader. For me it's all about the story and what
an incredible story this is! Unfortunately even though the
file on Kitty is now closed, Vesper has gone missing as has
Leo and the gang now realizes that their past, present and
futures are all tied up with Kaysar's. A scary thought but I
suspect they'll all turn up soon in yet another story. I
sure hope so. Liz Marverick has this reader irreversibly
hooked on her incredible blend of cyberpunk, suspense, time
travel, and romance.
Reviewed by Leslie Tramposch
Posted October 14, 2008
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**A PNR Staff Recommended Read** Katherine Gibbs is engaged. Engaged, popular, gorgeous, and living a life of sheer perfection. This is her best week ever. The trouble is, it's manufactured. She'd lived this week over and over and doesn't know it. L. Roxanne Zaborovsky, Katherine's best friend, is outside looking in. Once again Kitty's life is being stolen away by a man as twisted as he is brilliant. This time, there's something Roxy can do. The barriers of time are like the walls of an apartment -- or the bars of a prison -- and they can be demolished. She just has to start the jailbreak. Walter "Q" Sheffield is hot, smart, and just the man to free Kitty. A time-anomaly specialist, he can split seconds, erase hours and make the most of a minute. The one thing he can't do? Relationships. But hate and revenge have Kitty trapped in the vagaries of time, and only love will get her out. And that love must be... IRREVERSIBLE
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