Review: Mind Games by Carolyn Crane

Title:  Mind Games
Author:  Carolyn Crane
Series:  The Disillusionist Trilogy, #1
Publisher:  Spectra
Release Date:  March 23, 2010
Pages:  371
Rating:  ★★★★★

JUSTINE KNOWS SHE’S GOING TO DIE. ANY SECOND NOW.

Justine Jones has a secret. A hardcore hypochondriac, she’s convinced a blood vessel is about to burst in her brain. Then, out of the blue, a startlingly handsome man named Packard peers into Justine’s soul and invites her to join his private crime-fighting team. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime deal. With a little of Packard’s hands-on training, Justine can weaponize her neurosis, turning it outward on Midcity’s worst criminals, and finally get the freedom from fear she’s always craved. End of problem.
Or is it? In Midcity, a dashing police chief is fighting a unique breed of outlaw with more than human powers. And while Justine’s first missions, including one against a nymphomaniac husband-killer, are thrilling successes, there is more to Packard than meets the eye. Soon, while battling her attraction to two very different men, Justine is plunging deeper into a world of wizardry, eroticism, and cosmic secrets. With Packard’s help, Justine has freed herself from her madness—only to discover a reality more frightening than anyone’s worst fears.

Mind Games was definitely a book that I could not stop reading. It is labeled as urban fantasy, but I found it very different and unique. I find the characters in here more like superheroes. Justine Jones suffers from vein star syndrome and it rules her life completely. She fears of death and everytime she has to go to the hospital just to check it out and she cannot stop. She just wants it gone and to be able to live a normal life.

One night she goes out to dinner with her boyfriend, Cubby at Mongolian Delites and meets the mysterious and sexy, Sterling Packard. Packard offers Justine the ultimate gift, to be free of all of her fears. At first Justine does not like what she has to do to be free of her fears but she cannot resist. Justine becomes a part of Packard's disillusionists, team of paid vigilantes who spread and use their anxieties against criminals who escaped justice. Justine soon finds out that Packard is stuck in the restaurant, Mongolian Delites and what finds out what lies he has kept from her and binds her forever.

I thought everything was so interesting and when reading this I thought this would make an awesome tv series/movie. All of the characters are very likable and also the storyline was great and couldn't stop reading. I liked that each one of the disillusionists were different. I liked Justine. She is strong and just longs to be a normal person. At the beginning I found that she complained way too much but by the end of the book she truly wants to do what is right and help people. And Packard is a mystery of himself. We don't really know too much about him except he is really secretive. You never really know what that guy is thinking.

"I don't see how I could possibly move a napkin with the power of my mind," I say. "All will be revealed." "Did you just say, 'All will be revealed'?" He looks up. "Yes." "Who says, 'All will be revealed'?" "I do," Packard says. "Just perform the task."

There is hot tension between these two characters that is hard for them to resist. They are just drawn to each other. I have a third character that I really ended of liking quite a bit, Otto Sanchez, who is the chief detective and is a smart and capable man, like Packard I really never know what Otto is thinking. He is still a bit of a mystery that I hope to learn more about in the next book. He scares me sometime. He ends up being a target for Justine and some of the things he said made me think if he knew who Justine really was.

Overall, this was a fun and great read. I am looking forward to picking up a copy of the next book in the trilogy, Double Cross. If you are looking for an urban fantasy series that is very different and unqiue and also has no vamps, shifters, fae, you name it, then you really should give Mind Games a try.