SIDESWIPED Summary:
Every hero, even the accidental ones, have a beginning. Silas’s radical theory that drafters are not replaying time as much as they are temporarily sliding into an alternate universe has never been well-received, but frankly, the darling of Opti’s research has enough clout not to care, until a professor with a grudge tries to put a permanent end to it. Love can’t alter time, and sometimes, even being able to rub out a single mistake isn’t enough…
THE DRAFTER Summary:
During a routine but dangerous Opti task, Peri Reed finds out her trusted partner has made her a corrupt agent. Her unique ability to jump back 40 seconds in time to correct a mistake leaves her vulnerable when her partner, who is responsible for replacing her memory of the event, gives her a false one. But Peri lives and dies on her intuition, and she begins to piece her twisted reality together as she flees her one-time secure situation at Opti and tries to find the truth with a sullen but talented psychologist named Silas who works for the very agency trying to bring the Opti corruption to light. With Howard, tech and med specialist, and Taf, gun-toting daughter of the opposing grass-roots agency, Silas and Peri try to rebuild her memory of the night she killed her partner, knowing it will put her mental stability in danger. Peri remembers, and thoughts of revenge keep her alive and moving forward as she tries to put an end to Opti, working with the very faction that wants to see her dead.
Review:
I'm glad the book I received had the prequel included. It was nice to read a little backstory before delving into the first Peri Reed novel of this series. Although, if you do have a copy of THE DRAFTER that doesn't include the prequel, you should still be fine. There may be a few small references to the past that is contained in SIDESWIPED but it's nothing that'll throw off your mental movie as you read THE DRAFTER.
When THE DRAFTER first begins, we come upon Peri and Jack on a job. They're looking for a file that is hidden on a computer in a businessman's office. For Peri, this is just another job and she's ready to get it over so they can do their after-job ritual of shooting pool and eating appetizers. While Jack is searching for the file, Peri hears the elevator start up putting her on alert. She leaves Jack, something she's not supposed to ever do, to go see who's coming off the elevator so she can stop them before they reach the office that Jack is in. Things go wrong, Peri starts suspecting the real truth, and shit just goes downhill from there.
The reason Peri isn't supposed to leave Jack's sight is because Peri is a Drafter and Jack is her Anchor. Anchors have to maintain a visual on their Drafter in order to be able to recreate their memory of what happened after they've drafted. Drafting is a person's ability to go back in time 40 seconds in order to correct a situation. Say, for example, Peri got sucker-punched by a guy. She can draft for 40 seconds and change the events so that she's not in the way of the punch the second time around. Drafting, though, causes the Drafter to lose bits of time, which is why the Anchor is so important. The Anchor is the Drafter's touchstone to reality - or, at least, they're supposed to be. Jack is Peri's Anchor, alright, but his motives leave something to be desired.
This novel is full of twists and turns so that you're not sure who's good, who's bad, who to trust, and who to kill. Even Peri's motives are questionable at times ... and I like that. I like to be kept guessing. I like it when the plot doesn't automatically reveal everything to you. This is definitely a suspense-filled novel.
And, if you're not sure whether you should give this a try because it seems too futuristic for you, ignore that. Yes, it is set in the future and there are gadgets the characters use that we do not have technology for yet, but there is enough of today's world in the setting that it feels like a very real and possible future for us. Ms. Harrison did such an excellent job of blending today's elements with futuristic ones that it was extremely believable.
I could not find fault with anything in this novel. I give it 5 stars and would recommend it to guys and girls alike.
Giveaway:
I have an extra copy of THE DRAFTER that includes the SIDEWIPED prequel. All you have to do is fill out the form below and a winner will be randomly selected on March 1, 2017. This is for U.S. residents only and the winner will have 48 hours to respond to the winning email or another winner will be chosen in their place.
Good luck!
*A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.