REVIEW: “Laser Visions” by Kaje Harper
ABOUT:
Biology professor Roman Janz was walking across campus and planning his next plant-collecting trip to Brazil, when something stung him on the neck. And now… now he’s wandering in the dark, in the blue, floating, disembodied, and confused. There has to be a good explanation, if he can just find someone, anyone, he can actually talk to about it.
Xavier Faulkner is intelligent, creative, and made millions when he sold his tech-security company. But all his wealth and skills couldn’t keep his sister Tam from being poisoned by food contamination. She lived, but her health was damaged, and her job as a cop is gone. In the antebellum house he moved them to, Xavier hopes to find both a distraction and maybe a purpose for their lives. But the old house seems to come with strange noises, and odd blue lights, and maybe― if Xavier isn’t just going crazy― a naked guy, walking away into the blue…
REVIEW:
It’s the near future, Roman Michael Janz, ex-soldier and now an associate professor in biology, is drugged and kidnapped. Strangely, in his semi-consciousness, he is able to find a blue light and he spirit-walks right into the house where Xavier Faulkner and his ex-cop sister temporarily reside. Xavier, who has become a millionaire after selling his security company, sets up the house with his sister, Tam, while working with the FBI to reveal an illegal organ transplant operation. Tam is in need of a kidney transplant and with Xavier’s money they are the perfect bait. Xavier and Tam become Roman’s only connections to human world and the three of them need to unravel the mystery of what has happened to Roman before time is running out.
This story opens straight into action. I found it rather chilling…a kind of situation that can drive someone into complete helplessness. Being drugged and practically prepped as an organ donor, while still being somewhat semi-conscious (Roman could still hear people talking around him) is totally a frightening situation for me. I think for Roman being an ex-soldier helped him to never lose his cool, trying to assess things, looking for a way out. If it were me, I would probably just go straight to depression.
Personally, I think the story lacked the ’emotional connection’ that I usually feel when it comes to Kaje Harper’s stories. While I commend the author for her innovative details on astral projection/spirit-walking, I must admit that my eyes glazed over during those explanations — all the things that Roman did to keep traveling outside his body, I mean. Those moments went straight over my head. I think it had something to do with my lack of favoritism over anything slightly sci-fi in my reading.
I also thought it reduced the opportunity to know more about Roman’s background. Throughout the book, Roman felt distant. I would love to know more about him. An ex-soldier turned associate professor in biology, that is intriguing, right? I know that Roman is trying to find out more about what is going on with him, but if only those technical aspects of spirit-walking were spent with Roman opening up himself to Xavier in a more personal way, I could feel more sympathetic towards him. The technical aspects, while good, made the story feels clinical.
In addition, the resolution of the illegal operation, after everything that Roman had been going through (as well as the other kidnapped people) was not satisfying for me.
As always, reviews are subjective and those issues I am having might not be as significant to other readers. Kaje Harper is one of my favorite MM authors because she focuses on plot and characters and relationship-building rather than smut and the erotic side of this genre. So, I would still recommend this to those who like a plot-driven story with a dash of sci-fi and mystery in their read. Besides, it is being generously free and in a good length, you have nothing to lose, right?
RATING: 3.5 STARS
BOOK INFO:
Title: Laser Visions
Author: Kaje Harper
Publisher: Goodreads/Self-Pub
Length: 79k
Release Date: July 22, 2014
Purchase Links: Multiple formats are available at MM Romance Group.
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