In book 4, Sienna Nealon's story continues. She's an 18 year old metahuman working for the Directorate and has to deal with rejection from almost everyone, or so it seems, mostly because of the things her family had done. Add to the story's drama is the angst of Sienna transitioning from childhood to adulthood. Of course, she's going to make mistakes and bad decisions, but each of these decisions seem to end with someone dead and the lives of hundreds of people affected. I ached for Sienna. I saw a little bit of my daughter in Sienna, and even shed some tears as I read about all the negativity she's encountered from agency people and the harsh things done to her by her family. The ones who should have had her back. Her treatment was so bad, that at one point in the story she's come from a battle in which she and her team are bombed, agents killed, she's betrayed by her mom, aunt, a potential lover and a very special entity, named Andromeda, is murdered right in front of her. She's taken to the medical facility...offers information to help the agency and is immediately treated as a traitor. She's filthy, hasn't eaten, is paraded around campus like a "perp" in cuffs, ridiculed, and eventually locked in a cell without any real proof. She was facing all of this as an outcast and if it had been anyone else, would have hit the road. How horrible! This by the young women who's risked life and limb for the agency and has proved herself time and again by rescuing her team and colleagues. There's an introduction of new character, Michael Mormont, special investigator, who is making life for Sienna a living hell. He even prevented Sienna from talking with her much needed psychiatrist at a critical moment while he is also patching her up. I felt, hey, this isn't fair, anyone should be able to see that Sienna isn't to blame. Adding to all this conflict with family/agent, Sienna is still being sought after by Omega which is hell bent on her capture or failing that, her destruction ...even sending "vampires" after her. Come on, enough is enough...time to give this character a break. Sienna's mom, Sierra, plays a prominent role in this book. Also we get a glimpse of talks about her now deceased father and information about her half brother. Interesting! Family is being redefined.

Surprises were certainly to be found at the end of the book and I certainly had a great time reading this book. I certainly recommend this book and can't wait for Robert Crane's next book.

Jack Murphy ( )