Mihir's Thoughts: Double Cross by Carolyn Crane

After Mind Games, the exciting debut by Carolyn Crane, I was very excited to see where the next book would take Justine and the rest of the Disillusionists in wake of the events of the first book. After reading both books, I feel the author does give out some clue in the title with regards to the plot of the book.

Double Cross opens up with Justine taking up her role as a disillusionist real seriously. She is scheduled to disillusion her newest target, a person who makes cannibals out of sleeping normal people, as she goes about her activities. Due to an accident, she oversteps her boundaries and is placed in a situation wherein she has to accelerate her usual modus operandi. She however has been having a few doubts about her work, whether she really should be doing anything about the imprisoned people, her ability to rid herself of her fear is coming at someone else’s cost. Around the same time, a parallel plot thread which opens up is the fact that there is a group of people who have been named as Dorks that are hunting and killing High-Caps, i.e. people with high mental powers like Otto and Packard who have abilities to alter people’s thoughts, wishes, and lives. Thus these dual plot threads are introduced to the reader, and then further more events occur to add to the thickening plot.

All these and much more mayhem occurs in Midcity this time around. There are a lot more revelations about the power of disillusionists, Otto and Packard, their feelings for Justine, et cetera. This book largely dwells on the past feud between Otto and Packard. There’s also the love triangle which gets established between them and Justine which is very reminiscent of the LOST triangle between Jack, Kate, and Sawyer due to similar character personas. Justine is once again the only narrator and in this book, she has been cured of her phobias, however, she ruminates on the “justice” which the disillusionists have been dispensing. The debate over whether her and the rest of the crew’s actions are justified and should they even be doing what they are doing forms a large part of her crisis. Also thrown into the mix is her confusion about the feelings she feels towards the two Alpha males in her life. There’s also the manhunt for the Dorks as they are getting rid of people who are near and dear to Packard, and Packard mostly wants to be done with them. Largely the book has various things going on whilst it rushes towards its fantastic conclusion.

The book’s plot whilst engaging, had a couple of noticeable issues, namely the romance factor is upped this time around. There are no more than three characters who fall in love and then drag the plan into a different direction thanks to their feelings. There's also Justine's quibbling over the morality of her work which strengthens the plot, but can be a bit irritating to read over and over. There’s also the plot threads which, though multiple in number, have been finely coalesced in the end. In the review for the first book, I had remarked that the fine balance between plot exposition and pace was slightly off-key and since it was the debut book it wouldn't be much of a problem. The problem is still present in this book, however not to the same degree; it has improved. The book also has a very powerful ending which helps overcome all shortcomings of the book and makes the reader anxiously await the third and last book in the trilogy.

In the end, Double Cross manages to one up Mind Games in terms of its plot, characterization, and plot reveals. It also manages to overcome the middle book syndrome by having a strong plot with a clear cut resolution, and while it does have its faults, the book will grab your attention and have you reading it with anticipation in regards to its twists. Heartily recommended for fans of the series and for people who want to read a decent urban fantasy series. I think the author will have to be in top form as expectations will be sky high for the third book which will also be the end of The Disillusionists Trilogy. Hold on to your reading chair folks, I expect Carolyn Crane to churn out another winner and end the trilogy in an emphatic fashion.

Mihir's Thoughts: Mind Games by Carolyn Crane

I think I’m always behind the curve when it comes to the Urban Fantasy genre; another title which I got clued much later than its release was Mind Games by Carolyn Crane, first in the The Disillusionists Trilogy. This book has been getting high praise from various sections, but me being me, never got around to reading it. Though, I was able to rectify this situation a few weeks ago when I read both her books back to back. I then came to know of the unfortunate news that she has parted ways with Spectra. But the author has said that she will be releasing the third book with another publisher.

Going on to Mind Games, the plot opens by introducing us to Justine Jones, a resident of Midcity [a vague Midwestern US city] who tries to live a normal life, but has one very big problem on her hands. The fact that she’s a hypochondriac who thinks she has vein star syndrome, a disease wherein the person has no idea when it will strike but whenever it does, the results are almost positively fatal. She is on a date with a guy called Cubby. However midst her meal she happens upon a person from her past who had swindled her father. She tries to tell the couple with him about it but to no avail. Not thinking much about it, she carries on with her date, and is later met by the same couple who offer her a tantalizing proposal.

Intrigued, but wary, she decides to meet their leader, a certain Sterling Packard who shows her how to discard her fear out of her body (quite literally). Then he hands her an invitation to join his team of disillusionists who are an undercover vigilante team who handle criminals by manipulating their fears and thereby shutting them down in more ways than one. Justine accepts after an initial period of doubt, and is immediately set her first task, but little does she know of the grim future ahead.

Mind Games is an absolutely terrific read when you consider the plot and its implications. Here is a superhero book which calls upon people to channelize their fear and somehow utilize it to affect people whom they target. I absolutely loved this concept, and was thrilled by the author’s execution of it. Justine Jones as a character is fun to read about, her neurosis, her fears, her thoughts are generously laid bare across the book for the reader to get an intimate hold of the person she is. Also, she's the sole POV voice of the story and if she weren’t so interesting I believe this story would have fallen flat. The overall plot is set into motion, and in the latter half of the book we find out what has actually happened previously in Midcity and what is currently going on. The author has inserted a very crucial mystery in the story in regards to Sterling Packard, the leader of the Disillusionists. This mystery propels Justine and the readers through the plot, and in the end with the revelation, the climax becomes that much more exciting to read about. The author has also done a very good job with her world building as she brings to life Midcity and its denizens. There is also enough humor inserted to make this book a little less dark than the subject matter is, and its via Justine's monologues we get several funny moments.

Drawbacks to this story are few but present. The first niggle I noticed was that pace of the book suffers from all the exposition it contained. Now, this is a very crucial balance; too little explanation and the story seems contrived, too slow and the reader would be hard pressed to finish the story. In this regard, Carolyn Crane got the balance a bit askew, but this being her debut book one can hardly fault her for it. There’s also an inexplicable attraction for Justine towards another main character who had yet to be introduced in the story, and after the first 4-5 times being mentioned, it can be a bit annoying. I believe the author was using the build-up as per the story requirements, and this move does pan out when the character is finally introduced to the readers. However this again could have been done with a bit more subtlety.

Overall Mind Games is a terrific addition to the Urban Fantasy field, and the way it's written, it has a little bit of everything for most of the genre readers except Vampires, Werewolves, and other such wanton critters. This should easily count as a plus point especially since 90-95% of the books feature them. A good debut book which takes a slightly unusual route via its plot and magic system, Carolyn Crane is definitely an author to look out for in the future with whatever she chooses to write about.