Rating: 2.5 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novella
Brett has a beneficial party trick, but he never imagines it will lead him into a murder investigation, a new job, and romance. As a telepath, Brett can read the minds of his clients and render a picture perfect sketch of a loved one or friend, often to the delight of the customer. The money is good and it keeps Brett busy until the day he meets a man whose thoughts he can’t read.
Kylian, along with his half brother, runs an agency that deals with paranormal dangers that no one else can. Now he’s in New Orleans chasing a serial killer and desperately trying to keep a witness alive. Meeting Brett isn’t part of the job and falling for him definitely wasn’t planned. But romance has to wait and if Brett and Kylian can’t stop a murderer, they may have no chance to enjoy their future.
Talk about an info dump. The first few pages of Kylian and Brett manages to cram a lot of paranormal tropes into a small space and the result is a bit of a mess. This novella takes some patience to read and untangle and even then it doesn’t always make a ton of sense. I give the author credit for trying to create something a bit unique here, even though the execution falls flat. I tend to enjoy paranormal mysteries, but this particular novella moved too quickly, plowing through plot points and tossing them to the side nearly as quickly as they’re introduced. It makes for a chaotic story that does have some definition, but not enough to really intrigue or challenge readers.
Kylian and Brett are both rather flat characters without much inspiration behind them. I never felt like I knew either character and, as a result, I never connected with them. Which is a shame because had I been able to do so it would have made the bedlam of the plot a bit more bearable. There just wasn’t enough by way of development to make either Brett or Kylian particularly original or interesting.
As a novella, Kylian and Brett didn’t work. Perhaps a longer format would have helped smooth out the jumbled plot or allow for greater transitions between events, but as it stands, this one never really sorted itself out. When combined with lackadaisical characters and a jagged delivery, I’d have to recommend giving this one a pass.
