I've been reading Shannon McKenna for years and absolutely loved her McCloud series, but when I saw a notice that book #2 of The Obsidian Files, entitled My Next Breath, was soon to be released, I realized that I had somehow missed Right Through Me, #1, and bought a copy immediately. Shannon McKenna seldom disappoints, and in the end, that's true of Right Through Me, but it's the beginning of the novel that had me confused and made me feel as if I'd somehow missed a prequel, which is the reason for my giving this novel a 4-star rather than a 5-star rating. All I can suggest about this initial confusion is stick with it, because you're in for an amazing read.
As the novel opens, we meet the hero, Noah Gallagher, CEO of Angel Enterprises, who is beyond shocked as a sexy and beautiful belly dancer interrupts a Board meeting and begins to perform. He's transfixed by her, something that doesn't go unnoticed by his fiance, who is seated next to him. The exotic dancer is a surprise birthday gift from Noah's younger sister, Hannah, who wants him to lighten up. Once the performance ends, Noah fiance ends their engagement and storms off, but all Noah wants is to see the dancer perform again, just for him. What's not terribly surprising is that during the dance, we learn that Noah has been modified, he's a cross between Cyborg, The Terminator and Robo-Cop, and can read signatures, the energy and even the mood and thoughts of others. We'll soon learn more about just how modified he is. While it comes as no surprise that Ms. McKenna has blended sci-fi aspects into a romance, it took reading the first 5 chapters before I began to feel that I wasn't reading a later novel in a series, rather than the first. Eventually, I got it, and what an amazing read this turned out to be.
Skillfully blending sci-fi and romance is no easy feat, but it is something Ms. McKenna does exceedingly well. We soon learn that the dancer is Caro, who is unmodified but has developed special abilities of her own. She's been on the run and in hiding for the past 8 months, trying to elude the mysterious Mark Olund, another modified human, who needs Caro's abilities to open a safe, and he doesn't much care who he tortures or kills in the process of attempting to kidnap her. Noah is well aware of Mark Olund, who, after undergoing the same enhancements, somehow managed to lose his soul and his humanity in the process. Noah, not yet trusting her, makes it his mission to discover what Caro knows, how she knows it and why Mark Olund is after her.
I will warn readers who take issue with controlling, overprotective, alpha men, because Noah is certainly one of them, but that particular trait is also something I've come to expect from Ms. McKenna's novels, but again, hang in there, because her heroines always have a backbone, and can give as good as they get.
There's lots of action and intrigue to come, as well as a whole lot of off-the-charts heat between Noah and Caro, something else I've come to expect from one of Ms. McKenna's novels, and in Right Through Me, she certainly delivers. There's is also a fascinating cast of secondary characters, including Noah's brother, Asa, his aforementioned sister, and his team of other modified humans--Zade, Sisko and Luke, who I'm sure will have their own novels in the future. I will warn of a small cliffhanger at the end of this novel, which only serves to make me even more eager to read the next novel in what promises to be another gripping, exciting and sexy series.