Review! Chimera by Rob Thurman

Chimera

Rob Thurman

Roc 

June 1, 2010

ISBN-10: 0451463420

ISBN-13: 978-0451463425

From Rob Thurman, national bestselling author of the Cal Leandros Novels, comes a sci-fi thriller that questions what makes us human, what makes us unique …

…And what makes us kill.

Ten years ago, Stefan Korsak's younger brother was kidnapped. No one knew who took Lukas, or why. He was simply gone. But not a day has passed that Stefan hasn't thought about him. As a rising figure in the Russian mafia, he has finally found him.

But when he rescues Lukas, he must confront a terrible truth--his brother is no longer his brother. He is a killer. Trained, brainwashed, and genetically transformed into a flesh-and-blood machine with only one purpose--assassination. Now, those who created him…will do anything to reclaim him.

And the closer Stefan grows to his brother, the more he realizes that saving Lukas may be easier than surviving him…

For years, Stefan has been torturing himself about his little brother's kidnapping. He has tried over and over again to find clues as to what happened to Lukas, his brother, and it's not until now that he might actually get a chance to find him. As a bodyguard for a Russian mafia boss, he has quite a number of connections and when one of them contacts him about a possible sighting on his missing brother, Stefan immediately jumps on it. 

However, things are not what they seem. As Stefan digs to found more information on where Lukas is, he finds some pretty weird stuff. Apparently, Lukas lives in an institute that looks more as a prison than anything and when Stefan manages to get him out, things only get weirder. Lukas is not his brother, or so he says. He has been trained to be an emotionless assassin for years and those who created him are not about to let him go at all. 

As Stefan and Lukas - or Michael, as he insists is his name - go on the run, they grow closer together but what they find out about each other might be more than they bargained for. 

Right from the start, I completely fell for Stefan. He is so heartbreakingly awesome because he has not given up on finding his brother even after ten years. And when he does and Lukas doesn't even remember him, he doesn't give up! He is so damn stubborn about him being his brother and what I loved is that while he is a mean bastard, when it comes to his brother, he's a complete softie. Lukas just broke my heart. Since he was younger, he was trained to be an emotionless killer and it was so great to see him experience new things, things that we all take for granted were amazing to him.

Thurman's writing is so refreshing and clear that sometimes I was amazed at how well she could describe a scene as if it was happening right in front of me. Chimera is a kick-ass story about characters that will steal your heart and a plot that will keep it pounding! I really can't say enough good things about this book and I hope there's more to come because I can totally see this series becoming one of my favorites.  

Lush Rating: 4.5!