Good vs. Evil/The Dark Ones vs. The Light Ones. This was definitely not the story I was expecting but it was a good sci-fi story that was reminiscent of a Dean Koontz novel.

Cassandra sees auras as a result of a car accident. Her husband is hunting a killer. These two threads pull together in this carefully plotted thriller that steps a bit over the line into implausibility occasionally but is still quite readable.

After a car accident Cassandra starts seeing other peoples auras. She knows there are the "black ones" out there trying to kill her and she is determined to use her new found "powers" to make sure to keep herself and her family safe.
That is basically the gist of the story. I was enjoying the story until the whole aura thing went a little to far. There is a lot out there I believe in but being able to throw someone across a room with your mind is not one of them.
I feel the author had a great set of characters but just didn't do enough with them to make this story a five star story.

A confession I have to make: before starting this book, I neglected taking a quick look back to its blurb, so I was pretty much in the dark when I began reading. I thought it was a thriller, but my knowledge about the plot was very restricted. Let me just say this was the best way to start reading this book. Not that I think it might’ve helped now that I checked the blurb afterwards. I was pleasantly surprised by the turn of events and the fast pace of the story, so much so that I could hardly put it down. I kept thinking back to every detail, trying to grasp what was going on and how it was all going to be resolved. While I read I was immersed in the story, and when I had to take a break my mind was constantly busy trying to conjure events that took place, and hardly keeping myself from getting back to reading.

With characters who’re everyday people I could easily relate to, having to face situations I could easily imagine myself in-and be highly disturbed thinking what I would’ve done had I been in Cassandra’s shoes- this was a very easy read that kept me interested till the end. Highly recommended if the blurb pulls you in in any way.

I’m adding five spoonfuls of this story into my hodgepodge. And I can’t help but say that this book would’ve made one hell of a movie. This is not the first thought that comes to me about any book, but I believe a visual of the story would’ve been beautiful.

This story has a dramatic beginning when two women, out for a night on the town, are picked up by two men driving an expensive car. They are dumped from the car and their nightmare begins when something unseen chases them through the night. They inexplicably turn on each other; one of them turns into a knife wielding murderer who then attacks herself.
Cassandra aka Cassie is a local psychiatrist who survives what she thinks was just a terrible accident being hit by a car after dropping her young son at school. Medical staff are amazed that she survives and how quickly she recovers from the horrific injuries. Cassie discovers she has the ability to see the auras of family and others in ways which reveal different states including their morbidity. Around this time she encounters the Dark Ones and the Shadows.
The Dark Ones get their kicks from watching people die and are like psychic vampires with an almost hypnotic control over the victims they feed from. Due to their physical limitations they use humans known as the Shadows to do their dirty work.
Cassie discovers a certain symbol indicates if a person has been marked for death and there is a direct link with the Dark Ones. One of the detectives investigating the suspicious deaths is Cassie’s husband Daniel. As tension builds she wonders if she still has his trust and love. She also struggles against the power of the evil Dark Ones and the temptation of joining them. When her family is threatened unexpected help comes from someone she knows only too well.
The opening pages certainly caught my attention straight away and created a cant wait to see what happens next feeling. I felt it was an easy read and really enjoyed the horror side of the story line. The ending took me by surprise as I had imagined a different scenario.
I think those who enjoy crime thrillers and/or horror would get the most enjoyment from this book.

A thrill ride of a book , and my first by Manel Loureiro, but definitely not the last. At first this seems like a slightly weirder than average thriller, as the book opens with plenty of drama as two young women are pursued through a remote forest, but it's what happens when their pursuers catch up to them that lets you know that something stranger and more sinister than you imagined is going on.
While Daniel, a cop, is investigating, he receives a call that will change his life, his wife Cassandra has been involved in a terrible accident, and may not survive. However survive she does, but on waking from a coma she is irrevocably changed, and has abilities that she cannot control or understand. Not only that but they seem to have made her a target for an enemy more dangerous and evil than she could possibly imagine.
Dark, twisted, chilling and above all entertaining, this is the definition of a page turner, as events continue to escalate and Cassandra is driven to actions she would never have thought possible, and we as readers are dragged along for the ride as she faces monsters beyond imagination that have plagued humanity for generations, amid fears she is losing her sanity and destroying her marriage and career.