Review: Gabriel's Ghost

Title: Gabriel's Ghost

Author: Linnea Sinclair

Published: October 2005

Genre: Science Fiction, Romance

Stand Alone/Series: Book 1

From the Author Site: After a decade of cruising interstellar patrol ships, former Captain Chasidah Bergren, onetime Pride of the Sixth Fleet, finds herself court-martialed for a crime she didn’t commit—and shipped off to a remote prison planet from which no one ever escapes. But when she kills a brutal guard in an act of self-defense, someone even more dangerous emerges from the shadows.

Gabriel Sullivan—alpha mercenary, smuggler, and rogue—is supposed to be dead. Yet now this seductive ghost from Chaz’s past is offering her a ticket to freedom—for a price. Someone in the Empire is secretly breeding jukors: vicious and uncontrollable killing machines that have long been outlawed. Gabriel needs Chaz to help him stop the practice before it decimates imperial space. For Chaz, it’s a matter of survival. For Sully it means facing the truth about who—and what—he really is. The mission means putting their lives on the line—but the tensions that heat up between them may be the riskiest part of all.

Review: From the very first page, the story grabs your attention and doesn't let go until the very end. The book opens with our heroine, Captain Chasidah “Chaz” Bergren, the former pride of the 6th Fleet, standing over the lifeless body of a Takan security guard who had just tried to rape her on the prison planet of Moabar on which she is serving a life sentence for crimes she did not comment. While trying to recover her balance from that attack, a ghost from her past appears in front of her in the form of a very live and very sexy Gabriel Ross Sullivan aka Sully. Though he has been thought dead for the last two years, he appears very much a live and is offering Chaz a way of the planet if she’ll help him. From there this “little” mission blossoms into something that could create a civil war within the Empire. And as they get closer to their goal, the danger increases and so does the passion between Sully and Chaz.

Gabriel Ross Sullivan aka Sully, the poet, and mercenary on a mission to stop the illegal breeding jukors (monsters designed and breed to kill anything that moves). But he needs the information on the Fleet and their protocols. So he rescues Chaz from Moabar (against the advise of his advisors) or that least that is the story he tell Chaz. But the truth of his unshakable trust, love and lust for Chaz soon becomes apparent. While there are many mysteries about Sully, even those that scare him, Chaz finds that she can’t resist Sully (and his wicked Sully grin)

Captain Chasidah Bergren aka Chaz, the once pride of the Sixth Fleet, and according to Sully, the best interfering bitch in the universe. Chaz is no faint flower. She is used to being in command knows what has to done in order to get the mission accomplished. Besides the luscious distraction of Sully, she does maintain her control and uses cool logic to solve problems. But when push comes to shove, she’ll shoot first and ask questions later.

I have to say I loved the story. The action was nonstop and it was one surprise after another as Chaz discovers things about races and people that she thought she knew. All the characters are quite complex and that makes them seem more alive. Sully, the mostly time flamboyant gambler hero also has a deep streak of self hate and fear of discovery, especially when it come to letting Chaz know what and who he is. Chaz spends most of the book being frustrated with Sully’s tendencies to hide facts from. The whole dynamics of the growing relationship was fascinating.

Keeper?: Yes. And since I borrowed it from a fellow lovely DIK lady (thanks Sarai), I had to go out a buy my own copy.

Recommendation: Yes. A lovely story full of action and romantic tension. Super yummy hero and a kick ass heroine. What more can you want.

Rating: 5 of 5