S.P.I.R.I.T. Division

Shifting Isles #2

by G.R. Lyons

Honorary Detective Asenna Shyth has an inexplicable gift: She can sense extreme suffering so well that the victim's injuries even appear on her own body as the crime is being committed. Hidden away in the offices of Hawkeye Insurance and Personal Defense Agency, Detective Shyth uses her gift to help track down rapists and murders before they can complete their crimes. Yet, a serial murderer continues to elude her, vanishing from every crime scene without a trace of evidence left behind: no DNA, no fingerprints, and not a single surviving victim to identify the killer. With a growing list of unsolved cases, Asenna Shyth races from vision to vision, trying to stop this mystery killer before he strikes again.

332 pages, Paperback

First published June 23, 2015

About the author

G.R. Lyons stumbled into writing as a form of trauma recovery when traditional therapy wasn't working.

Then the story ideas just kept on coming.

Pulling from a vivid imagination as well as real-life experience as a trans man, a sexual assault survivor, and a person living with mental illness, Lyons has written multiple, interconnected series set within his fictional world of the Shifting Isles.

When not writing, Lyons can be found belly dancing around the house, studying anarcho-capitalist philosophy, buried in his never-ending TBR pile, or working out at the local CrossFit gym.

Reviews

[Fay MMBookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow This is fantastic book. I've laughed and shed tears and enjoyed the ride with the characters of this book. Brilliantly written by an awesome author, the series gets better and better. This has a HUGE surprise waiting for you to read that'll blow you away.  What happened 4 years ago? This is a big question as Chief Benash with Asenna and Charlie try to solve murders that's been happening in New Haven.
A grown Asenna is now an honorary detective working at New Haven branch. Asenna was special as she could feel the pain and terror of victims dying.
Detective Charlie worked at the Hawkeye Agency office behind his desk, lonely and waiting for something. Loosing his mind to a memory of Saira he would never see again. He needed answers like yesterday . lol  What happens next is an amazing story.  I'd gladly recommended this to readers you'll love it.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 beautiful shining stars

A wonderful series but I'll have to take these books slow. It is apparent as the author added in their bio that these books are therapeutic in writing them, but that can also make them very very heavy.

I might be years upon years behind in discovering the wonderful writings of G.R. Lyons, but goodness, I cannot resist his world building. [I kind of want to steal it as a Tabletop RPG background setting.] We have a built world of fragmented islands, seven major deities, and some problems that are universally human faced by people who are "human" in a sense. It is more accurate to refer to them by island nationality because of the biological differences between the societies. Magic exists, but so does technology. Freedom exists, but so does absolute tyranny. We really cover the whole spectrum.

The first mistake I made coming into this series: it features a couple, but this is not a love story. It's a dramatic mystery and story of survival and recovery. We continue the legacy Benash built from the first book, only to add in the perspectives of his SPIRIT detective and his son-in-law. Together, Lyons build us a family of sorts who need to learn from each other and rely on each other to move forward past their individual trauma and catch a serial killer. Prsonally, I was not shocked by Asenna/Saira's big amnesiac reveal. I guessed it as soon as Charlie discussed the circumstances of his deceased wife's passing, his particular phrasing in that she was "gone," and a few pages later with Asenna and her amnesia. Perhaps this is why Lyons spent very little time in the reveal and moved forward with our plot.

While the aforementioned parts of the story were not necessarily negative, this one might be. I am just not that attached to the characters going in. When books works chronologically in a series, I usually expect to want to read the next one based on what I just read in the last one. Every book in this series is almost completely standalone, save for the fact that the author's complex world tends to make a lot more sense if you have the previous experiences from different parts of it. Each main protagonist tends to be different, but I predict they will all be subsequent generations within this single family line. Book 1: Benash. Book 2: Benash's daughter, Saira. Book 3: Saira's son, Graeden. So on and so forth. And as much as I like the world, it's a bit emotionally tough to take on a whole new generation of cast along with the dark themes that permeate this series.


I am personally going to continue this series, but after a break from it. I look forward to more from the Shifting Isles world.

[Cee Zin · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first read the blurb for this, my interest was caught immediately. I began this book thinking that I was going to be reading a story of an adept individual... someone whose given talents leaned towards the intangible... in a word... fey. I was wrong... I got sooooo much more! Holy cow!.... what an emotionally charged, toe curling, roller coaster kind of ride...

To start... some basics. This opening doesn't just catch your interest... it hits you over the head, kidnaps and holds you hostage... demanding to be read! I was emotionally engaged, mentally invested and sitting on the edge of my seat by the end of the first page and totally hooked by the end of the first chapter. The writing style is clear, concise, descriptive... it effectively conjures up corresponding images... powerful images... enhancing the words laid down to perfection! Expressive, emotionally evocative and well crafted... this is a reader's dream! I found the main characters, Asenna and Charlie, as well as the supporting cast, both intriguing and well written... their development fully realized. (This includes the characters undetectable to the human eye... lol)

To quote a few bites of the blurb.... "Honorary Detective Asenna Shyth has an inexplicable gift: She can sense extreme suffering." She lends her unusual abilities to the grim task of identifying and catching murderers before the completion of their crimes in the hopes of saving the victims. "Yet, a serial killer continues to elude her"... and "with a growing list of unsolved cases, Asenna Shyth races from vision to vision, trying to stop this mystery killer before he strikes again."

This is a deliciously intense read... bits of paranormal/mystery/thriller/science fiction... all blended together seamlessly. In some sense this is also a story of family, of love... strong, enduring, eternal love... the kind that rises above daily life and the human condition. Edgy, rich, gritty.... the author spoon feeds it all to the reader, doling out information and clues in a way that keeps you coming back, eager for each morsel... bite after bite.

I don't know that I am adequately conveying the scope of this book... the richness of it's depth.... the emotional hold I felt... the levels/layers I perceived... but I thoroughly enjoyed this read! It's appeal, strong and sure, hits the heart hard and fully engages the mind...