Author TJ Hapney

Description/Blurb:

Open Minds

When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep.

Sixteen-year-old Kira Moore is a zero, someone who can’t read thoughts or be read by others. Zeros are outcasts who can’t be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mindreader and the best friend she secretly loves. When she accidentally controls Raf’s mind and nearly kills him, Kira tries to hide her frightening new ability from her family and an increasingly suspicious Raf. But lies tangle around her, and she’s dragged deep into a hidden underworld of mindjackers, where having to mind control everyone she loves is just the beginning of the deadly choices before her.

Closed Hearts

When you control minds, only your heart can be used against you.

Free Souls

When your mind is a weapon, freedom comes at a price.

Review 5 of 5 Stars

Originally I told everyone that I would be reviewing Open Minds, Book 1 of the Mindjack Trilogy. So what really happened was that I read the first book and was completely disgruntled about not knowing what happened next. Therefore, I’ll be reviewing the digital box set of the trilogy today. I guess that’s probably a good indication of how this review will go. My having to read these three books is completely Peter Cawdron’s fault for sending me a copy of the Telepath Chronicles, a collection of short stories by some talented authors that included The Locksmith by Susan Kaye Quinn. So I would have to say that the anthology did its job as well in helping me discover new writers to add to my list. On with the review.

There are three books in this series, Open Minds, Closed Hearts and Free Souls. I guess these would officially be young adult books as the main character is 16 when the story starts, but they were really well written and I enjoyed every moment of the collection. No one ever really considered Deanna Troi scary with her telepathic abilities on Star Trek, but Ms. Quinn has asked us to consider another side of telepathy. If most of the people in the world were telepaths and a minority of those were able to control the others in various ways, what would that lead to? How frightening would it be to have someone else control your mind? These are some of the questions that Ms. Quinn took on and she did a fantastic job. These are well-crafted, living, breathing characters with flaws, heartaches, fears and stupid mistakes in a world that seems all too real. The storytelling captured me right away. The quality is excellent. In all three books I only noticed two places where the words had been transposed and at no point was I drawn out of the story by its mechanics. The writing was tight and intriguing.

Kira Moore’s story begins as a teenager struggling with the lack of telepathy in a world of telepaths. Her greatest desire is to be a doctor, but no one would trust a zero to care for them. We first meet Kira in school with her true and dear friend Raf, who stands by her side even though she’s a zero and doesn’t understand why he continues to be her friend. He is her staunchest ally as she goes from being a zero to a changeling mindreader, but before long she realizes her new abilities are not like those of the others around her. I’ve kind of got that emotional, I want to tell you all about the story thing going since I only recently finished reading it, but I’m going to cut the summary here to keep from giving any spoilers that will ruin the excitement. This is not your usual young adult story. This is a complexly plotted and well thought out set of books that takes you on an adventure that will not only make you question how you look at those who are different from yourself, but may make you take a look at how you judge people. Kira goes through all kinds of adventures not of her own making before making her way back to her home and family and some of those experiences are truly horrible. This set of books is full of adventure and twists. I definitely wouldn’t want my child to be in the situations that Kira faces.

Ms. Quinn did a great job of telling this story and I hope that some of you might enjoy it as well. I’m afraid if I keep gushing about it that I’ll end up telling you something important about the bad guys so I’m going to wrap it up here and hope you get to enjoy the books for yourself. I’d suggest just buying the trilogy so you don’t end up getting it twice. I can’t imagine reading the first book and not wanting to know how it turns out. Here’s hoping everyone has a wonderful weekend.