Rob Chandler, regaining consciousness, realizes he’s somehow been involved in a horrendous car accident. In pain and unable to move, he has no memory of his identity, or how the hell he'd gotten on that deserted desert road in the middle of nowhere. He has little time to contemplate his situation when he sees an 18-wheeler barreling down on him. The truck swerves, crashes, and plows into Chandler’s already decimated car. Then, as if his luck couldn’t get any worse, he watches a 30,000 volt high-power line drop from a telephone pole into his mangled car, hanging suspended mere inches from his head. Still alive, something at a molecular level changes Chandler. Past enemies converge in a small desert town in Arizona, with one singular objective in mind … to kill Rob Chandler. What they didn’t expect was coming up against Rob’s new, strange, mad powers. From small town America to high-society of Baden-Baden, Germany, join Rob Chandler in this high-tension, paranormal thriller that doesn’t let up until the very last page. Mad Powers is a full-length, 70,000 word novel. Originally a short novella called Tapped In, this newly integrated, three-part story kicks off what’s sure to evolve into another best-selling series.
With books of this genre, mystery/thriller/paranormal/sci-fy, you expect a degree a predictability and this one hit most of the usual stereotypes. The main character is in a terrible accident that causes him to have amnesia; however, he develops the ability to read and influence the mind of others (of course he is in great shape, good looking, knows all kinds of martial arts and weapons...). Then there are the evil organization(s) that want to kill/capture/recruit him and of course the long lost love interest who hasn't given up hope for him. Add to the the "exotic" locations; Arizona, Washington DC, and Baden-Baden. Oh, one more thing...we must have the evil genesis planning some type of diabolical plot for world domination. Yes, it's all there and more. Where the story really starts to go south is that his ability to read/influence minds extends to animals; not just emotions of fear, or kindness but conversational like "How's it going today Ed....not bad Wilber, and you?". Of course once you get to Baden Baden you have to have Nazis (in a story like this you can't go to Germany without having Nazis), Not just world domination Nazis...but blood drinking, deep underground ceremonial Nazis.
The truly sad part is that this is book 1 of a series...oh I can't wait.
I do read mystery books from time to time and as I liked the Scrapyard series, also by this author, I figured to give the story a shot. Glad I did, a GoodRead with gratuitous action, suspense and intrigue enough to be considered a page turner. Thanks, I look forward to the next book.
Agent Chandler wasn't your typical spy hero figure. He's competent, skilful, and decorated, but his motives were lacklustre, and his narrative too convenient. Either he's a masterful tactician, or was well endowed with plot devices, which was probably his greatest power.
What a ride! Imagine waking up trapped in a car wrapped around an electric pole with your memory gone. Not only that but now you read minds. I read this book in one day. Could not put it down. It is a must read!
Competently written and engaging. I would read more by this author if the storyline were less formulaic. At 15% it started to fall into the usual sterotypes and tropes, by 30% it was knee deep.
In no way bad, but very much a thriller-by-numbers and not different enough to spark my interest.
Really not sure about this one. Meh. 2.5 I think I am going to read the next in the series because it sounds like there is something bigger going on w/his powers. I just don't see how he will function in the future if he has to top off every 24 hours or his power will literally kill him.
DNF. I am more than halfway through the book, and I just can’t do it anymore. It started so good, but it quickly devolved into some spy game novel rather than paranormal. The characters are stereotypical, and so is the plot aside from the powers. Overall, I am pretty disappointed.
I was thankful to download this novel when it is was available on Amazon Kindle for free for a short period of time [back on July 15, 2015] and boy was I glad I did!
I love paranormal thrillers but there are so many written by so many different authors and I had not heard of this author before but thought I would give it and/or the author a shot. At the time I downloaded it and got to read it I did not realize that he had written a second novel in the series called Deadly Powers and that is on my list to read for sure!
This paranormal thriller is able to speak volumes [through fiction] of what could be very well going on in our world today, minus the main character's ability to read minds or influence the minds of others. Often times it takes fiction to get truths across and this book delivers that very ability which allows the reader to feel secure and be fully engaged in the story line as if the reader was right there around the next corner. Each character was brilliantly brought to life as though I had known them for quite a while. The main characters each have their own amazingly clever abilities with them being fun and witty and having to work together in a mission they were brought into. Other characters in the novel (with some of them being dangerous ones) have personalities that kept me flipping the pages quicker and quicker because I never knew what was going to happen next, which, of course, is great for a novel and is nonpredictable.
Each scene was perfectly planned out, and I can see whereby Mark McGinnis is probably a good reader himself which allowed him to do the research (whereby he had to do quite a bit for this superb read) to make this novel a winner! I can't wait to read DEADLY POWERS! I can tell right away by the way this author writes that he will deliver more so if you are all hesitant about choosing to read anything by this author... don't delay!
Action! Adventure! Urban Fantasy! No, not with the fae folk, or overt magic, but a preternatural ability to listen in to another mind and even influence it. And all because of a horrific auto accident and a close encounter with high voltage. So now Rob must 'tap in' at least once a day to maintain all of his biological functions as well as this new ability. Oh, and he is a trained and experienced operative with a complicated past. Soon he is recruited and prepped for an assignment by a multinational covert organization even though the recruiters are unaware of his new abilities. End of potential spoilers. Unusually imaginative with a sound, fast-moving plot and intriguing characters. Caught me by the ears and forced me to finish it in one hot summer day. Paul gives an excellent performance which is invested with the excitement, fear, urgency, or whatever is indicated. He also provides depth to characters who are already well drawn. Purchased in Whispersync for cheap courtesy of Book Gorilla.
It's nice to be able to enjoy a well written story. Mad Powers is one of them. While I don't quite buy into the basic premise behind "tapping in" it's a neat idea. The characters are likable and I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series. I would have given this a 5 star review except for the way the story ended. It sort of shut down in mid stream as if the author was anxious to stop writing. It seems to me that it was a bit abrupt. Otherwise it was a fun read.
Electricity is a wonderful tool and deadly when misused but what happens when you are trapped with your head inches from a high voltage line for hours??? Find out and see what the effects do to this ex-cia agent and how he uses his new abilities, especially when recruited by the President to help stop some modern day Nazi's bent on global domination through the stock market.
I have read most of the Scrapyard Ship series, and enjoyed them; but Mad Powers is definitely a step forward. It's great to see an author progress so far so quickly. I also appreciate the additional editorial work on this book. I just read a Brad Thor thriller, and this was a great chaser. I see good things for Mr McGinnis in the future!
This book was quite different from what I usually read. Some parts were a little slow, but all in all pretty good. Of course the ending leaves you wanting more. Will look for the next book in the series.
This was a nice change of pace for me after reading mostly st books on space and warfare. I would love for more of this story as it left it open to be continued.
I found myself actually thinking this was a reasonable thing to happen and kept reading to see what he would think of next . Left wanting to read more.