The murder of a former cop draws Roan into an odd case where an unidentifiable species of cat appears to be showing an unusual level of intelligence. He juggles that with trying to find a missing teenage boy, who, unbeknownst to his parents, was "cat" obsessed. And when someone is brutally murdering infecteds, Eli Winters, leader of the Church of the Divine Transformation, hires Roan to find the killer before he closes in on Eli.
Working the crimes will lead Roan through a maze of hate, personal grudges, and mortal danger. With help from his tiger-strain infected partner, Paris Lehane, he does his best to survive in a world that hates and fears their kind... and occasionally worships them.
Comment: This book caught my attention because I saw some positive reviews about it in some sites. I got curious and decided to get it. This is the first installment in a already long UF series - Infected - with an m/m romance in it. I don't regret having read it but it wasn't exactly the amazing story I was looking for.
This story present us Roan, an ex-cop now private detective, that is a virus child. He lives in a world where there's a cat-virus around and people can get infected and turn into one of several cat species. As with everything different, infected individuals are looked up with disdain and contempt and often are discriminated by others. Roan however, didn't become infected, he was born with the virus and not that many people survive that, so he's special.
Roan has a partner, Paris, a man infected by the worst cat virus, the Tiger. While Roan has a lot on his plate professionally, he still worries about Paris but their relationship is a loving one and who knows what will happen in the future...
First of all, this book is actually two books in the same edition. I don't know why this happens, according to some other readers, it's not something you are aware of when you start the book, especially with the digital edition. In a way this was what saved the book for me because I admit I struggled a bit in the first book, trying to feel motivated to keep reading.
The world is interesting but the knowledge isn't given easily and in the first book the case Roan and Paris were investigating wasn't very appealing, which lowered my interested in it.
Basically the plots of the books are about Roan's cases and investigating. Somehow everything has a connection to an infected person or where an infected is involved and of course that will offer the reader more knowledge about infected people in general. The plots are very simple, but with clever developments. I just didn't enjoy much of that, especially in the first book, because I think I was too distracted by what was happening and trying to follow everything. I confess I wasn't very focused and that didn't help.
The story is told by Roan, mostly. Not in a first person narrator but everything that happens is through his POV. We also have Paris sometimes, which is good because it allows for a change. Not that Roan is a bad character, in fact just the opposite, he's a wonderful man and professional, but of course some things about him can only truthfully be told by somebody else.
Roan is an amazing character, we can tell he's special, not only because he seems to slowly get some "control" over his change, but he's a naturally good person and of course we want him to be successful in everything.
The relationship between Roan and Paris is a very subtle one. We know they are in love, we learn how that happened, we know about each one's fears bit the hotter scenes between them is kissing. In a way I liked this, that the author didn't insert a sex scene every chapter. But the fact they are an established couple makes me loose the appeal of falling in love and I kind of would have liked to see that instead.
Now I do have to be honest here. We are aware of a situation that might change things in the future. In fact, I know it will happen, I've read the blurbs of the following books. I'm not certain how to positively deal with that and I don't feel very eager to keep reading despite the promise of good things. It's just that I saw wonderful romantic and heartfelt scenes here and I don't think I want to deal with change. But Roan is a great character and I feel invested in him. Oh decisions, decisions...
I feel conflicted. I might read the second book one day but right now I'm on denial.
The world building is interesting, of course there are some parts where I feel the author is slightly repetitive but this is the type of book that if you can get into right away fine, if not it can become boring. As far as imagination goes, I liked it, but the execution wasn't always what I expected.
Nevertheless, it was positive enough for me.
Grade: 6/10
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