Mastermind
By Andrew Mayne

5 stars

A true psychological triller.

Rogue FBI agent Jessica Blackwood, and bio-computer hacker / criminal Dr Theo Cray are hunting Michael Heywood an escaped criminal mastermind bent of releasing a bio-hazard sugar virus.

One by one, cities across the globe are erupting in chaos as they disappear into the same black holes. Even for two ingenious trackers like Jessica and Theo, there’s still so much to learn about the pattern to the Warlock’s madness. The voids are just a warm-up for something bigger. To discover it—to stop it—Jessica and Theo must descend into the darkest of shadows—and minds.

The plot moves quickly, and the characters well developed if not a small stretch on the imagination. The story is certainly entertaining, and the reader guessing at what is coming next.


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This title was provided by Netgalley and the publisher in return for an open and honest review.

# HuntThemDown #NetGalley

Both these characters have been great in their separate series but put them together and the reading is fantastic. In Mastermind Jessica Blackwood is certain who is behind the mysterious "voids" popping up around the world but she is not altogether sure that Theo Cray is not really the mastermind behind the scenes. Once she is convinced (mostly ) that he is not and could not have been involved they must work together to solve who is the mastermind and what it is he wants. They must accomplish this while combating a mole in the FBI, possibly the CIA and a new branch of the FBI which seems particularly out for their blood. This is action packed and thrilling ride around the world with some uncomfortable twists. Really enjoyable reading!!!!

Mastermind by Andrew Mayne 2 Stars
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
ISBN: 9781542020398

I enjoyed other books in the Jessica Blackwood series and was excited to be offered an advance copy of Mastermind. I was very disappointed.
The plot was comprised of a patchwork of events and characters from previous books, scientific theory, ideas for schemes to cause global chaos, government conspiracy, and human rights violation. It was all thrown together in a stew. The killer chimps and medically induced zombies were interesting.
Other books that I have read by this author were really quite good. I have not, however, read any with Theo Cray as a main character. Mastermind was a let-down.

Reviewer: Nancy

FBI agent Jessica Blackwood is on the hunt for a master of global chaos in this new action-packed thriller from Andrew Mayne. She and Dr. Theo Cray travel the globe trying to find the mastermind behind the mysterious void events happening in cities across the world. The Warlock stays ahead of them, leaving clues and sending them on a chase to far-flung regions while continuing his work in the shadows. Readers will love the fast pace and trying to connect the events to solve what is the true aim of the Warlock as time runs out for the fate of the world.

This is my first read by Mayne and I am bummed that it was a 2 star for me. I had higher hopes than that.

This novel had all the elements to be great: major city “blackouts”, FBI involvement, human science experimentation, missing chimpanzees, and cyber security threats.... Unfortunately the whole story was choppy and fell flat for me... too much science fiction and less thriller.

Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing for the early copy.

**Special thanks to Thomas and Mercer & NetGalley for the opportunity to provide a review for this title**

SMART. If I had one word to describe this novel, and in general anything written by Mr. Mayne, that would be the word I would use. Not in a way that is intimidating to a reader - but his novels always make me think, and consider items I hadn't previously before. In addition, there are some serious ethical considerations here as well, which make the novel even more throught provoking.

FBI special agent Jessica Blackwood and scientist Dr. Theo Cray are back, teaming up, and finding themselves in some unusual and uncomfortable situations. There as some suspicious happenings around the world... could these be the work of an old nemesis? And is there something else these happenings are trying to hide?

This is a fast paced, enjoyable read, with a bit of a magical ending that will leave the reader satisfied. While there are other books that feature Blackwood & Cray, and the additional background is nice to have, this can certainly be read and well enjoyed as a stand alone.

If I had one (minor) gripe... would like to have enjoyed a bit more of the "magic" of Blackwood that we saw, especially in her first novel. Mystery and magic are two of my favorites, and I always enjoy the illusions that Mr. Mayne treats the reader to.

"The voids are just a warm-up for something bigger. To discover it—to stop it—Jessica and Theo must descend into the darkest of shadows—and minds."

Blurb: A mysterious electrical storm plunges Manhattan into darkness. As a strange, smothering fog rolls in, all communication crashes. In the blink of an eye, the island seems to vanish into a void.

FBI special agent Jessica Blackwood and brilliant scientist Dr. Theo Cray know this isn’t a freak accident.

My opinion: WOW! I loved this book!! As I read Mastermind, more than once I found myself thinking the author has a brilliant mind! What a plot!! There was plenty of suspense and, yet, more than once I found myself smiling and chuckling. I absolutely loved Jessica and Theo equally. Together, they are unstoppable!

My only suggestion to the author would be to have the character's names on their chapters.

BIG thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC!

Bonkers. Absolutely bonkers (but in a good way)

I’ve read and enjoyed Andrew Mayne novels in the past but this is unfortunately my first with either Jessica Blackwood or Theo Cray in it. I have some serious back reading to do from this author now.

I went in to this again blind, a recent common trait for me and picked it purely based on the author.
Think of it having a mad Bond like villain looking for world dominance but, much more sinister and grown up than Bond fair.

A story that takes you around the world, involves huge dark cloud that envelope cities, stolen chimpanzees, human experimentation, corruption, 21st century cyber espionage. Sound bonkers enough for you?

I had an absolute blast reading this. The two main characters are fantastic. The story is way out there. After reading it I had to check my kitchen sink was still there such was the volume of ideas and scenarios thrown at this.
But it all worked beautifully to make a hugely enjoyable, at times very dark read.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

I am a big fan of Andrew Mayne and I was very excited when I got this ARC. I realized I hadn't finished the Dr. Theo Cray series so I read books 2, 3, and 4 back to back to get ready for Mastermind. Maybe it was reading three Theo books in a row but I was not enjoying Theo. Books 2/3 he felt like Dexter and book 4 like Nick Cage in Leaving Las Vegas.

I am so happy he brought back Jessica Blackwood. She is great and Jessica’s view of Theo makes me like Theo better.

Excellent book and I hope there are more Theo/Jessica books to come.

Special thanks to NetGalley, Andrew Mayne and the publisher Thomas & Mercer for the advanced copy of Mastermind.

A blackout in Manhattan sets in motion a sequence of events. A brilliant introspective scientist and a resourceful special agent team up to track down a nemesis with the intellect and power to shut down cities. Mastermind is an action-packed techno suspense thriller, a page-turner from the first to the last with an unexpected twist.

Mastermind was my first encounter with author, Andrew Mayne, most definitely not my last. I will be reading the earlier books in the Jessica Blackwood and Dr. Theo Cray series.

I received this book from the publishers via Netgalley for a review. Well plotted fast paced techno thriller, could not put it down.

Meh, I liked the parts with Jessica Blackwood much better than Theo Cray. I hadn't really enjoyed the last couple of Cray books and that carried through here. Hoping that there is more of Jessica (sans Cray) in the future.

Thanks to Thomas & Mercer for access to a digital ARC via NetGalley.

Mastermind by Andrew Mayne is a superb and engrossing read which will keep you reading until the end. Well worth the read!

Mistermind. Mistery and action. I liked the mixed of the thouhgts and suspance. There are also some actions moments. I did not know Jessica Blackwood but I loved the interaction with Theo Cray. It was a little brainstorming for me and I still think about the end. Otherwise it was a pleasant read.

5 full stars for two of the most epic suspense characters I’ve had the pleasure to read. In this book, they team up to battle against Jessica’s number 1 enemy to take down.. There are so many times when I actually felt like screaming, is it possible for one person to have this amount of bad luck?!? But thankfully by the end, I’m feeling like luck is back in the right corner!

This is the best book I’ve read by this author as you get the best of two separate worlds in one.. with that being said, I think you must be a fan of both Theo and his series and Jessica and her series to get the most from this book, but even someone with little to no knowledge of other books, would be able to appreciate and even enjoy the read!

I love the Jessica Blackwood series. It has a lot of the standard elements - she solves crimes, she has a supporting cast of friends and/or colleagues, she can make intuitive leaps that many others can't.... etc

However, this has a different twist. The crimes or mysteries that she solves are really unusual. I love the imagination of Andre Mayne and how unusual the premises of his books are - this one included. While reading I kept thinking "oh that's really cool". It's hard to write about something totally different, yet he has managed it. This was a really well written, fun book.

I want to thank the author, the publisher and #netgalley for the ARC which did not impact my review. I am already looking forward to the next book by this author.

This was the first Andrew Mayne book that I have read and now I am hooked. I am a huge fan of strong female characters and Jessica Blackwood definitely fit that description. I also enjoyed reading things from Theo Cray’s perspective which often left me scratching my head at his intelligence and the way that he approaches problems using science. I liked how Jessica and Theo, who have very different personalities and approaches to problems, worked together to solve complex problems to get the best of the Warlock.

The only issue that I had with the book was that I had trouble following the dialog in regards to which character had the point of view for that portion of the book. This didn’t detract from my enjoyment though and it might have been due to not having read any of Mayne’s previous books.

Thank you Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Dr Theo and fbi agent Jessica are on a team that's tasked with finding the individuals responsible for a cities that are entering a black hole. This book was well written.

Mystery

These Theo Cray mysteries involve some high concept crimes and I don't know whether to feel smarter or dumber after reading them.

Andrew Mayne brings two characters (Jessica Blackwood and Theo Cray) from their own series together in this search for the Warlock. We get introduced to the Warlock in the Jessica Blackwood books - think Sherlock Holmes' Moriarty. The Warlock, aka. Michael Heywood, has escaped custody and he cannot be anything but a suspect when all of New York City disappears in a puff of black smoke they are calling the Void. Jessica gets called back into the field by the FBI, she had been teaching recruits, but her background in magic seems helpful to this particular case.

One of her assignments is to track down Dr. Theo Cray as he is also on the short list of suspects. She finds him a prisoner in Myanmar and breaks him out of jail. At almost first glance Jessica realizes he isn't responsible. Their mutual respect and admiration for each other grows as they try to figure out the nature of the Voids and the other crimes that seem to tie in. Their efforts land them in hot water with a newly created agency IDR, which seems to have no boundaries. They also learn that the Warlock must have had insider help. Who can they trust but each other? Why is the Warlock still obsessed with Jessica and afraid of Theo?

I LOVE these mysteries by Mayne. He stretches the readers thought processes while keeping the action and storyline progressing at a rapid pace. I like both these characters and bringing them together was genius! If you like smart mysteries pick this book up. You don't have to have read The Naturalist series, or the Jessica Blackwood series to follow along. Those are great reads, though, so you should pick those up as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for my ARC of this book.

In my rush to hit the "read now" button, I clocked only that this was a novel featuring Jessica Blackwood (my favorite Andrew Mayne character). I didn't even notice that it was also a novel featuring Theo Cray (my other favorite Andrew Mayne character). So yeah, this was a pretty great experience for me.