Memory Zero

Being a fan of Keri Arthur's Riley Jensen series I knew I was in for a treat with this one!

The Good and The Bad of it all: A lot of my good points could also be construed as bad so I'm lumping everything together. This book is non-stop action. It takes off from the beginning with Sam meeting her missing partner after a surprise call from him one night and it never lets up until the last few pages. This, for me, was great. It kept me turning the pages. I hated having to put the book down to go to work. I needed to see what would happen to Sam! Too much action can be a bad thing as well. There seems to be a trade-off with the action and developing the characters. Sure things went breakneck fast but perhaps at the expense of getting to show more know Sam and Gabriel better. I think the mystery of Sam worked out well though. Sam doesn't know who or what she is anymore than we, the readers do. She will become a full fleshed out character in due time. Gabriel is still quite a mystery but I like me some mysterious men!

There is no romance within this book. I like that this book left out sex and romance to focus on the world building and action. Although there isn't a specific timeline listed within this book it had a futuristic feel to it with the types of technology being used. This was cool but left me a little confused as the weaponry was high-tech, as was the communication/wrist units and crime scene locks, yet the cars and other aspects were closer to our current time frame. I think having a futuristic world feel could have been more consistent. Either go full on futuristic (like the JD Robb In Death series) or keep things in the now.

In a Nutshell: Overall, this was a good book, bordering on great. I'm intrigued with Sam and knowing she isn't exactly who she thought she was and is becoming more is motivation to read more in the trilogy. show less

I like how Arthur blends the human world with that of the supernatural set in a futuristic time so well, and that the details unfold naturally rather than being offloaded in a heap. There is plenty of action and suspense and its fairly reasonable to assume that this series springboarded the later Riley Jensen series, with it's focus on genetic enhancement and clones.Sam is interesting and smart and there is nice tension as Gabriel and she are forced together. The subtle attraction is alot different from the overt sexual interaction in the Jensen series.A strong book that is a good read - left me eager to get my hands on the 2nd and 3rd

This was my first Keri Arthur book so didn't know what I was going to get. Turned out I got a good story.
It's paranormal, yes, but the thriller catagory is a better fit.

It'a a thriller first and foremost and that's what makes this paranormal book a little different to the countless others out there. There's a spot of romance thrown in but mostly it's about police murder investigations, a framed cop and a villain trying to outwit and aviod the law. Everything a good thriller should be.

However, it's set in a time and place where otherworldly creatures are the norm in society (even if society doesn't know about them) and so the characters are shape shifters/changers and monsters of indeterminate origin and vampires (and not the sparkly, show more cute kind either).

This is the first in a trilogy so there's a lot of world/character building but there's still a lot of story packed in too. I have a couple of critisisms though. As good as the story is, I found some of the charcters a bit confusing because it was hard to keep tabs on who the shape changers were at any one time. The ability of some characters to 'change' into another character kept things interesting but made it hard to know 'who was who'. Also, the ending seemed very rushed and didn't keep the same pace as the first three quarters of the book which jarred a bit.

I would recommend this book as a good and solid story though and if you're into thrillers and/or paranormal then this is for you.

I'm looking forward to part 2. show less

I love Keri Arthur's writing, but I probably would've never thought to read this series because of the old covers. It would have been a horrible decision on my part because I quickly became hooked to the story and characters once I started reading. There was a lot of investigating, action and paranormal involved in MEMORY ZERO. I loved the mystery surrounding Sam's past and the tension between her and Gabriel was delicious and annoying at the same time. I can't wait to see how the series will play out.

* This book was provided free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sam Ryan is a cop and, despite the rules, she’s investigating a crime – the disappearance of her partner. She finds him – but then nothing goes to plan, not least of which when she is suspected of killing him.

Suspected of murder and with some shadowy organisation apparently trying to kill her, all she can do is try to investigate with what little resources are available to her while dodging her attackers – but the only person she can work with is Gabriel, member of the Supernatural police and with his own very suspicious motives.

Things are confusing enough without changes within herself – and the mystery of her amnesia and the secrets contained in the missing years of her childhood.

There was a lot in this book.

We have a show more futuristic version of our world – with a lot of new technology that isn’t quite sci-fi level future but is certainly up there. We also have a world with the supernatural very much openly present, has been for some time and uneasily fits into normal, legal society. Which means we have laws and legal structures created around the supernatural to fit them into the real world. We have a large history complete with wars and tension between humanity and the supernaturals.

And that’s the world – a world that is detailed and broad with a large number of creatures, technology, magic and practices all worked in in a way that was believable and worked. It’s huge, it’s rich and it’s really fascinating. I think I especially like the slightly-future tech, we don’t have phasers and teleporters – we have technology I can see us having in the not too distant future and making it fit realistically rather than making it a mystical panacea, indistinguishable from the unexplained magic. Though at times I got a little lost and think I would have liked to have some of the points on how the law worked, how the supernatural creatures worked and how that related to the story. I also think the setting suffered, this book is set in Melbourne, Australia – but it felt very “any city, nowhereland”.

The relevant plot also involved vast conspiracies, historical societies, competing philosophies and further hidden agendas and nefarious characters. It’s complex, believable and really well done. But there’s also a lot that I wish had been clarified.

Then there’s Sam Ryan herself. She has a mysterious past, complete amnesia. She may have some unexplained woo-woo and this may or may not make her super desirable to both feuding organisations. However, so far, those powers don’t make her a special snow flake chosen one nor do they make her super powerful – and while they may make her desirable, that isn’t emphasised particularly in why she’s so embroiled in the plot. At very least, she’s not a passive actor, a gem to be claimed by either side- she actively investigates for her own reasons which are completely divorced from whatever special past or powers she has. She drives forwards into the plot – and she does so intelligently and with relative wisdom considering the extreme circumstances she’s in

Add to that complexity we have the fact no-one can trust anyone else. Gabriel working for his secret organisation may be following Sam around and protecting her – but he doesn’t know why the other org is after her or whether that makes her nefarious and because he’s not sharing secrets with her he can’t trust her to support him anyway. While she doesn’t know Gabriel well enough to trust him and does know Jack

Add to that we have at least 3 traitors, a splinter group, blackmail, old resentments and secret upon secret all mixed in with shapeshifters who can look like anyone and the very idea of trusting someone else seems like a rather comically ridiculous exercise.

All of this is told at a breakneck pace while Sam and Gabriel run around, try to learn about the various factions in play while escaping constant attempts on Sam’s life, trying to clear Sam’s name (because she’s been framed for the murder of her partner, which she actually did, but not quite and there were clones and vampires and odd bodies and shadowy monsters no-one’s even supposed to know about involved) and discover whether her oldest friend is good or bad or very very bad indeed.

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I picked up Memory Zero from the library on a whim the other day when I went to pick up and arm full of books off my hold shelf. I haven’t read a thing from Keri Arthur in probably 3+ years, but I never could make it all the way through her Riley Jenson series so I decided to pick a book up of hers that had a different host of characters. The definition of sanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results, right? I try to remember that when forcing myself through a series I don’t enjoy. (Doesn’t always work for me so maybe I am a little crazy…)

Anyways, I enjoyed this one pretty well, though I think I will be enjoying book two more. This one was more background and world-building, and while I like both show more those things in my bookish entertainment, I need a little heat… and this had none. Very unusual experience since the Jenson series was pretty much all sex all the time! Ah, well. I didn’t mind that Sam and Gabriel spent most of the time feeling each other out instead of feeling each other up. Her life was kind of falling apart in Memory Zero. Kinda excited to see how the love interest plays out in Generation 18.

Sarah @ One Curvy Blogger show less

Memory Zero was first published in 2004, but has since been republished in 2014 with a new book cover. I have to say I really like the 2014 book cover. It’s eye catching.

WOW!! Memory Zero hooked me. I couldn’t put the book down and read it almost in one sitting.

I absolutely adored the mystery behind Sam and who or what she is. She doesn’t remember her past and the records that could help her, do not exist or where hidden by influential people. But things in her life soon take on a new turn and now she’s got to discover a new mystery besides finding out about herself. It’s all so intriguing!! Sam's past, the mystery on her partner Jack, this war that's coming, and everything else that pops up. I can’t wait to fully unravel show more it all in this three book series.

I loved the characters, plot, mystery, and well everything. It's action-packed throughout and the plot takes us away. Sam soon finds herself in the middle of something. The suspense and mystery keep her and us on our toes and on the edge of our seats. Sam, our heroine, is a determined person, dedicated to learn the truth, loyal and sweet, but that’s not all, because she’s full of flaws and fears. We get some answers, some changes in Sam, and then their are still more things to figure out. I’m very curious to see what Sam will become and where the mystery leads us.

As for a romance don’t expect anything big, because their is none, but it does have the potential and the possibility for their to be a romance.

Memory Zero focuses on a the mystery’s and a war thats coming to this world. So much happens and I can't wait to dive into Generation 18.

Rated: 4.5 Stars

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