Murder is a Competition

Inspector Thomas Sullivan (Sully) may be up against his toughest case yet. Four serial killers are preying on Capital City ahead of the 23rd Galactic Winter Games. In a sick competition of their own, each is carrying out a number of murders under the watchful eye of the Mastermind. Will Sully and his faithful sidekick, Sarah stop them before the Winter Games are canceled?

Sivils’ fifth novel in The Inspector Thomas Sullivan Thriller Series, Death’s Cold Touch tells the story from Sarah’s point of view. Though chronologically only seven years old Sarah is a clone whose body is that of a fully matured late twenty-something-year-old woman. While struggling to suppress her childish ways she proves to be an outstanding detective. Her DNA enhancements allow her to accomplish things traditional humans have forgotten how to do and more.

I applaud Sivils for having Sarah tell us the story. To me, it rounds out the duo and provides an entirely different perspective of Sully. Of course, all the usual supporting characters are entwined it the tale.

5 out of 5 stars.

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Enron In Space

Thomas Sullivan is back and the case is tougher than any other. How can he prove his client’s client is innocent when so much corruption is being thrown around like candy? Not only is an innocent man on trial for his life but so is the entire justice system of Beta Prime, Capital City, and the Planetary Alliance.

Sivils’ fourth novel in The Inspector Thomas Sullivan Thriller Series, An Innocent Man takes a hard look at a previous real-world case involving Enron and placing it 500 years into the future. All of the characters you have grown to love are back. Each plays a special support role to help Sully solve the case. Even if justice is served it can come at a great cost both financially and to the lives of those involved.

This book is everything you expect from a Thomas Sullivan thriller. Lust, greed, power, money, corruption, and all that goes along with those and more. Sorting out the truth can mean blurring the lines.

5 out of 5 stars.

 

Sully’s Story

Young Thomas Sullivan wants to be a Space Marine. After a harrowing boot camp followed by a grueling tour of duty, he is sent off to school to join the Shore Patrol as a cop. An accident left him with a cybernetic eye, left hand, and right fingers. His blunt truthfulness gets him ousted. And, so begins the life of Sully as an Inspector for the Alliance police force.

Sivils first novel in the A Thomas Sullivan Futuristic Noir Thriller series, The Fractured Man: A Hardboiled Noir Thriller From The Future is actually the first in several prequels to his successful series, The Chronicles of Inspector Thomas Sullivan. It is his best work thus far. This book is meant to give us Sully’s backstory. It is very well done.

We read about Sully as he is first recruited into the Space Marines. His potential is noted from the very first. But, politics gets in the way. Sully is always on the side of justice. He tells the truth. Since he refuses to bend he is given the worst possible assignments after ending up as an Alliance cop. The only problem is that he keeps solving these cases regardless of who gets caught.

I absolutely love these futuristic gumshoe stories. And, I’ve really enjoyed Sully’s story. Sivils has me hooked for sure.

5 out of 5 stars.

Twisted Sister

Inspector Sullivan is suspicious when he is called upon to take his team to a prison located on a desolate moon. They are asked to investigate murders that appear to be unrelated other than the lack of motive and evidence. The penal system has its own internal investigators. So why pull the Inspector off-world to usurp their authority?

The gang leaders within the prison are nervous about these murders as they weren’t sanctioned by any of them. For you see, even though there are gangs they still have a code of conduct to which they adhere. And, the thought of an outside investigation happening on their turf challenges their ability to control the prison.

Markeson, Sully’s immediate supervisor is thrilled to send the team off-world. Sarah, the clone with enhanced abilities always makes him nervous. Being a dirty cop and having incorruptible staff snooping around is an annoyance he is happy to relieve himself of even for a short period of time. Who knows? Prisons are dangerous places. Accidents happen.

Sivils’ third novel in the Inspector Thomas Sullivan series, Grey Sky Blues does not disappoint. The writing has become more complex as the supporting characters personalities are expanded. Sivils peppers just enough clues throughout to keep you guessing without losing interest. One could read this book as a standalone since there is enough information about the past intermingled along the way.

Sarah’s past was explored in more depth and it was nice to see her character evolve and mature. We also find out much more about Father Nathan. He isn’t officially part of the team but is called to the prison on business at the same time as Sully. And, Bones, the coroner, is becoming more than a background character. Detective Sergeant Josephson really surprised me with how quickly he has mirrored Sully’s techniques.

Without a doubt, this is the best in the series thus far. The ending was a complete surprise and opens a world of possible sequels. Sivils can’t write fast enough! I am hungry for more.

5 out of 5 stars.

I received this book for free from the author. This in no way affected my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

One Cool Detective

Cruz is thrust into the role of private detective by his life-long friend, Run-Time. Before, he was classified as a laborer who spent most of his time restoring hovercars. Their mutual friend, Easy Chair Charlie has been gunned down in a shootout with police. Or, did something else happen that was made to look that way?

From the moment that Cruz accepts the case of Easy Chair Charlie someone tries to kill him. He solves the case almost instantly but the shootings continue. There is more to the case than one originally thought.

Other cases come his way and word quickly spreads that Cruz is in business through his frenemy, Phishy. He hopes his newfound profession will sway his future in-laws’ opinion of him. He has hired Punch Judy, a former felon with bionic arms as his secretary/office enforcer.

Dragon’s first novel in the Liquid Cool Cyberpunk Detective Series, Liquid Cool is a fun read and a real page-turner. It is well written and edited. If you like detective stories in a futuristic setting, this is the book for you.

The story has layers upon layers of mystery that must be uncovered to get to the bottom of Easy Chair Charlie case. It seems that almost everyone connected tries to lead Cruz in a different direction. Cruz has a lot of street smarts and is an expert at nonconforming. He tends to see what others often miss.

The ending is satisfying though there was no way to have known from the information provided how it would turn out. I personally like to be able to cobble the clues together and guess at the who done it. That won’t be the case when you read this book.

It is also a long book that takes several chapters to get you engaged. Don’t give up on it though. It’s worth the read.

4 out of 5 stars.

I received this book for free from the author for review consideration. This in no way affected my opinion of the book or the content of my review.