Mind Games

Surprisingly intricate, good world-building filled with different powers than the norm. I loved inside Justine's neurotic head, something I understand since I used to have OCD. I actually agreed with her decisions and morality, and thank ALL THAT IS HOLY that she was not TSTL! I am SO proud of her and happy for myself that I found this story!

I loved that I only half-guessed what was going to happen next, and how several of the characters became something unexpected, in an even better way than I could have imagined. I am so excited to read on in this series and see where Justine and her friends go next.

There is magic, there is mental illness, there is (hot AF) romance and sex, there is a complex plot, and there are great characters. I show more totally recommend this book! show less

I had two major issues with this book.
First, the MC's behavior is entirely driven by lust at times.
There is this mysterious, dark, brooding guy she feels inexplicably attracted to but this attraction is way stronger than even the extreme life-mate setups one can find in a lot of PNR but there is no explanation, no justification for it. This guy does quite a few fucked up things to the MC but the lust repeatedly overrides all common sense. I would've been hard-pressed to come up with a believable set up to explain why the MC is so incredibly spineless in regards to this guy. I guess that's why the author didn't even try. It is supposed to be sexual tension, and it is, but it is constantly overshadowed by the things he did which mostly show more ruins it all for me.

My second issue is more unfortunate and was the reason for me to drop the book.
As soon as all the puzzle pieces were on the table it was incredibly obvious to me what was going on but nobody in the book could see it at all. It actually took me longer than it should have to realize. I got it 80% in and I expect many readers will figure it out even sooner. I guess that was fortunate in a way because that way I could enjoy an incredibly hot smut scene I otherwise would've missed.
All the tension of the book is built on this one mystery. Who is the bad guy. But not in a detective mystery sense. It's more a question of whom to ally with to be on the "right side".
The problem is that, for me, all the tension went out the window immediately after I figured it out.
And it's even worse because both sides a good. They are just being played against each other by a third party. So I can't even root for the MC to recognize the good side.
I personally hate it if I know more than the protagonists due to their bone-headedness.
It drives me crazy. I don't like knowing more than the MC even if it is a deliberate decision by the author to give the reader more information than the protagonists have.
And as I already said, there is nothing else beyond that one central question that holds any tension for me. Everything else is built on top of this one conflict. So it's not one flaw or a series of them that frustrated me so much I stopped reading. I just suddenly lost all interest after I figured it all out.
As I said, Unfortunate. show less

Mind Games
4 Stars

A chance encounter with a mysterious man leads Justine Jones, a hardcore hypochondriac convinced that she will drop dead at any moment, to a secret world of undercover operatives who utilize their neuroses to reboot criminals and lessen the impact of their emotional problems. While Justine is eager at first, she soon learns that there is more to the enigmatic Sterling Packard and his motley crew than meets the eye and that she may just have jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire...

A surprisingly entertaining read.

Justine’s health obsession has the potential for being exceedingly irritating. However, as it turns out her extreme hypochondria and over the top reactions actually leads to numerous laugh out loud show more moments and makes her character all the more endearing.

The world building is very compelling although it takes time for the reader to come to terms with the idea that people’s neuroses can be used as weapons. Moreover, the concept of rebooting criminals raises some interesting ethical questions. On the one hand, the “punishment fits the crime” scenario is very appealing, but on the other, it suggests that evil can be redeemed by forcing perpetrators to accept responsibility. This is troublesome as the remorse is manufactured rather than real.

The secondary characters are a highlight of the book. Packard’s crew of disillusionists provide a real sense of family and belonging to Justine and there are also several potential love interests ranging from Cubby, Justine’s sweet yet rather clueless boyfriend, to Packard who has the whole dark, brooding and tortured thing going for him, and finally Otto, the police chief who is more than a little strange, smarmy and creepy. I guess its obvious who I’m rooting for …

On a final note, Rebecca Wisocky’s narration is perfect. Her voices for the various characters are both charming and funny, and Shelby’s Russian accent is particularly amusing.

All in all, Mind Games ended up being far more enjoyable than expected and I look forward to continuing with the series. show less

"I don't see how I could possibly move a napkin with the power of my mind," I say."All will be revealed," he mumbles."Did you just say 'All will be revealed'?"He looks up. "Yes.""Who says 'All will be revealed'?""I do," Packard says. "Just perform the task.""The task. Ah, please, forgive me for interfering with your diabolical restaurant supply order."It will be difficult for me to write a review of Mind Games objectively. mostly because I want to start spewing effigies to is fantasticness. I also am tempted to use the word "diabolical" and laugh maniacally at random intervals but that's neither here nor there.So this book is refreshing. So very, very refreshing. The cover has some dark and mysterious chick (who vaguely resembles show more Angelina Jolie) dolled up as if she's prowling the streets in sexy garb to rid the world of evil. I can only imagine that this is the publisher's attempt to corner in on the market of [b:Magic Bites|38619|Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, #1)|Ilona Andrews|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1257727888s/38619.jpg|38381], [b:Some Girls Bite|4447622|Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires, #1)|Chloe Neill|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1261605529s/4447622.jpg|4495840],[b:Halfway to the Grave|1421990|Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress, #1)|Jeaniene Frost|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1276149413s/1421990.jpg|1412415] and all those paranormal romance kick-arse heroines who defeat evil with their snappy one-liners, black leather and smoldering sexual tension. Oh and their magical super powers. Well, Justine uses other methods to defeat evil and the most street prowling she does is during the day on a single shopping spree so the cover leaves me baffled. *ETA: What the fuck? She's carrying a knife. A KNIFE. I think Justine touches a knife just ONCE in the series. WHY?! Misleading much?! Who the hell did the cover for this book? Had they even been in the same room as the book at any point before they designed this cover? Or did someone describe the book to them except the telephone line kept cutting out on all the important stuff like the fact that Justine is not a leatherclad street warrior WITH A FUCKING KNIFE?Now, don't get me wrong, I love Kate Daniels, Merit and Cat Crawford but none of them ever defeated evil through fake medical diagnosis and an unreasonable fear of Vein Star Syndrome. Which is what made me love this book so much. Nothing was more awesome than reading about Justine babble her way out of dangerous situations by sparking the bad guy's fear of their own horrible demise. The sheer number of paranoid facts about skin diseases, muscle atrophy and decreased muscle movement plus obscure medical texts was fantastic.So she's a hypochondriac, obviously, and she works with a crack team of other "disillusionists" to go after criminals, strip away the crutches that allow them to continue doing evil until they have nothing but themselves and their disillusionment left and then let them rehab and rebuild their lives.Yes! Something different to the usual paranormal hijinks! Finally! It was getting to the point where I was going to be able to make up a chart for people to recommend books to.Do you like werewolves? Read: Shiver, Mercy Thompson series, Twilight, Kate Daniels series, Women of the other world Series, the Summoning, Sookie Stackhouse Series, Strange Angels, Deamonica and Anita BlakeDo you like werewolves and mysteries? Read: Mercy Thompson, Kate Daniels, Sookie Stackhouse and Anita Blake.Do you like werewolves and mysteries and beastiality? Read: Anita Blake.Do you just like werewolves and beastiality? Read: Anita Blake, Demonica AND Shiver!See? It is going to be an awesome way to rec today's paranormal romance and urban fantasy books to people! Just follow the chart for 100% success*!*success may vary according to reading experience. Please consult your doctor before undertaking any strenuous werewolf sex.There are two love interests in this book, and I'll call them Love Interest 1 and Love Interest 2 for the sake of not spoiling the storyline which actually had me gaping at the end going, "NOOOOOoooooooo Waaaaaaaaayyy!"Love Interest 1 was hot. Just freakin' hot. Evil, horrible, despicable hotness. Love Interest 2 was supposed to be hot but some of his descriptions made it so that I just couldn't get into him.Oh and don't worry, you don't have to wait four books for the schmexy times to start. Crane doesn't believe in the long, hard, wet, drawn out romance which is JUST FINE with me!So the storyline is refreashingly unique since there are no vampires, werewolves, fae, demons etc. Instead our supernatural element comes from "highcaps" people with specific mental powers that they can use like telekinesis. Now unfortunately I couldn't quite suspend belief on the highcap ability to seal someone into a house by "speaking" to the structure. Let's put that in the: "You'll understand when you read the book" pile and you can come commiserate with me about that one when you do.The writing was pretty good. I only saw a few clunky mistakes and other than that it seemed to flow quite smoothly though I'll be the first to admit that it was nothing stellar.There is nothing TSTL about Justine - which was amazing. She's smart, flawed, creative and intuitive. Besides, where else are you going to find a bunch of superheroes who defeat evil with their manic social and mental disorders? Like Sybil with the ability to strip life of all beauty, or Simon with the ability to aid people into a destructive gambling spree or Jordan who relates to people the depressing "truths" about life. It's hilarious! The story also brings up a number of moral questions about "right" and "wrong" "good" and "bad". Is it right to rehabilitate criminals by destroying their lives? Is it right to take money from it? Is it right to take THEIR money from it? Is it right that you get a kind of drug high from depressing the hell out of them? Is it right that if you stop, you'll die? So many questions... and all I can think about is the really hot sex.Is it right to ignore glaring theological queries whilst rehashing the romantic aspects of the book? *shrugs* I don't know!So all up, I felt the plot and pacing was pretty good. It had a high level of mental puzzles, facets of human behaviour and human disorders, personality queries plus a nifty little mystery for all those so inclined.It also has sex for all those so inclined.I was very inclined. Very, very inclined. show less

O..M..G! MIND GAMES was so much better than I thought it would be. I read many glowing reviews, but the book kept going to the bottom of Mt Git'r'Read because of one little quirk of mine...I have low tolerance for hypochondriacs and the main character, Justine, is a raging HUGE one. I kept thinking that it would get to me and I would throw the book across the room or not be able to get past it.
I am so pleased that I was very very wrong. The hypochondria was handled very well and watching Justine learn to control it and use it as a weapon was intriguing as hell. The premise of the team that Justine works with was just so cool. Each member has a problem that they have learned to control and utilize to put away criminals that the law show more can't touch. Yes, that's vigilante-ism, but it's Urban Fantasy that takes place in an ambiguous time, so it seems like a good thing to do.
It has also been a while since I've actually read through the sex scenes in the books I read that have such scenes. I usually skim past as they can be written in rather uncomfortable phrasing or unbelievable positions. I can suspend belief in fantasy and paranormal, but refuse to do so with the between the sheets action. Whatever that makes me, there it is.
All that said, I read each and every sentence in the scenes between Justine and her two men. Holey McCrappe, Carolyn Crane writes superbly smokin' sex imagery.
Five sparkly didn't think I'd like it, but damned if I didn't dig it a lot diamonds...... show less

Carolyn Crane has taken the Urban fantasy genre and given it a shake with this creative trilogy debut. Mind Games gathers a cast of psychically gifted neurotics who, under the leadership of the mysterious Packard disillusion their targets in order to remake them into better people. None of Crane's characters are black and white, they all have an ambivelence in motivation and behaviour that is intriguing.Justine Jones is a hypochondriac, convinced she will die of a burst anneurysm as her mother did. Unable to control her fears she lives a life of desperation, wanting nothing more than to be normal. Packard offers her an alternative to her suffering, and Justine unwillingly becomes involved his vigilante squad. Justine is hardly the show more traditional heroine of the genre, she has limited skills with both her power and the ability defend herself and her motivations are more self interest than altrusic. Her conflicted nature is fascinating though and it will be interesting to see how she develops.Justine's relationships with Cubby, Packard and Otto are equally discordant, her confusion is believable and plays well into the rather murky psychological maelstrom that Crane has created. Though the story is quite dark and even brutal in places, there are lots of tongue in cheek references to comic book/super hero sterotypes which are both amusing and cheesy. It took me a while to recognise the gentle poking for what it was. I think at times it was pushed a little too far, for example the word 'minion' was repeated too often, so that the subtle humor of it was lost and I cringed each time it was used.Mind Games is fresh and orginal and I am looking forward to reading Double Cross.Oh and Carolyn Crane rocks! show less

Main characters that have nearly paralyzing mental issues make me wary. Usually, in the face of extreme neurosis, story lines suffer due to the extreme constraints the main character puts on themselves. That is most definitely not the case in Mind Games. Carolyn Crane does a superb job of creating a character that not only has a debilitating psychological problem, but goes on to utilize this problem in a unique and fascinating way.

At the start of Mind Games, Justine Jones is a hard character to read, relate to, or even like. She's an extreme hypochondriac convinced she's going to die at any moment. She somehow manages to keep a job, but her relationship is just about over. Her boyfriend is finally had his fill of her near constant show more medical freakout, and who can blame him? I would have left her after the third or fourth emergency room trip. Her episodes are getting worse and she's clearly going to need to be locked up in a mental hospital any day now.

Quite the downer, right? Not quite. Justine meets Packard and her whole world changes. He offers her the opportunity to have her fear of sickness and death removed. For a price. He'll help her by teaching her how to use her neurosis as a weapon against criminals. This is where the story really gets creative.

What seems to be too good to be true may very well be. As Justine lives without fear, she finds herself falling deeper into a world where people with issues like hers fight crime in an almost vigilante style. She's not sure if she's one of the good guys or one of the bad guys, but does it really matter now that she's "normal"?

Mind Games is a completely unique novel that combines superhero abilities, unstable characters and a unbeatable mystery. By the end of the book, you'll love Justine, love Packard and even love the man who may or may not be the villain. The Disillusionist Trilogy promises to be unlike anything you've every read, and that's a very good thing. show less