Dangerous Shift
By Jill James
By Jill James
Genre: paranormal romantic suspense
ISBN: 9781476499673
ASIN: B008RDPN72
Number of pages: 222
Word Count: 76,000
Cover Artist: Elaina Lee, For The Muse Designs
Book
Description:
HE IS MR. BY-THE-BOOK, WITH A SECRET...
Shapeshifters live among us but remain unknown to
most people except for the highest echelons of law enforcement, the military,
science, and medical fields—until now.
SHE IS A LOOSE CANNON WITH AN ATTITUDE PROBLEM...
When a fatal virus strikes Shapeshifters all over
the West coast, including members of the Shapeshifter Task Force in San Laura,
California, reinforcements are called in from around the United States.
TOGETHER, THEY JUST MIGHT CATCH A KILLER
Lt. Nikki Hill of Missouri comes to San Laura and
is partnered up with Lt. Sean Evans. They quickly butt heads on everything from
proper police procedures to the moral ethics of euthanasia. They can’t seem to
get a lead on the serial killer even as members of their own families are
stricken with the virus. In their grief they turn to each other and hope they
have time to discover if their relationship stands a chance or if they might
just be the next victims of the species extinction disease.
Prologue
Fort San Laura Army Base
San Laura, California
May 2017
Sean Evans turned away as tears rolled
down his ex-partner Colin Rodriguez’s face. The man sat by his fiancée’s
bedside, her hand clasped in his, waiting for her to die. The sound of boot
heels echoed up and down the hospital corridor. All marched past the closed
door, none brave enough to stop at this room.
Sean stared at the dying woman.
Paulette’s red hair was the only color in the monochrome-toned hospital room.
Colin’s hand shook as he brushed the hair back from Paulette’s sweaty face. The
virus wreaked havoc on the young woman.
Sean swallowed bile rising in his throat
as the young Shapeshifter in the bed screamed. Her flesh boiled, roiling
beneath the surface, and she screamed again. Her back arched off the bed. For
months now, the Shapeshifter Task Force had been working to track down the
cause of the virus and it struck close to home, killing two of their own.
First, his own partner, Barry, and now, Paulette.
Her fingers turned into talons that dug
into Colin’s hand. Blood dripped from the cuts onto the crisp, white sheet.
Colin held her hand; the only sign of his pain was the grimace on his tanned
face.
Sean rubbed his burning eyes, surprised
to find tears on his own cheeks. He scrubbed the wetness away and raked his
fingers through his hair. His tears wouldn’t help Paulette or Colin. Nothing
could help them now. His hands clenched into fists at his side. He ached to
punch a wall, anything to kill the tension in the room.
A scream built in his throat. Just last
week he had sat here, forced to watch the young man, new to the task force,
breathe his last. He stared into the ceiling lights, his eyes watered with the
brightness. He repeated his personal mantra of calm and cool until his emotions mellowed, until they no longer
threatened to overwhelm him.
He turned his head back as Paulette’s
screams died down to whimpers. She had lost all control of her shifting. She
grew fur and it disappeared. Her head changed shape as she shifted into a
canine form, then a feline form, then back to her own. Her limbs flopped
against the mattress as she convulsed. The shifting now happened every few
seconds.
Colin threw himself across her body as
if he could stop the tragedy from its conclusion.
“Noooo.” His voice ricocheted across the
room and down the hall.
Sean rushed to his best friend’s side
and ripped him up off of the dying Shifter. No one had discovered yet how the
virus was transmitted. They didn’t need masks and gloves anymore, not in the
last several months at least, but no one wanted to find out what full-body
contact might do.
Colin struggled against Sean’s hold.
Tears blurred Sean’s vision as Paulette struggled to breathe, and Colin’s cries
became anguished sobs. His shoulders shook under Sean’s hands.
The monitor blared as Sean searched
Paulette for any life signs and found none. Her chest didn’t move. She was
gone. Just like Barry. Just like all the other Shifters in the past few months.
Sean turned away as Paulette’s flesh
jellified and sank into the mattress, only a slight bump under the covers to
show a living being had been there.
Colin’s anguish pierced his soul, and
when Colin threw himself across the bed again.
Sean didn’t bother to stop him.
What did it matter when his friend had just lost his partner and the
love of his life?
The sounds of harsh breaths and sobs
still echoed in Sean’s ears when the door opened and the Captain of the Task
Force rushed in. Sean turned to the man and shook his head.
Captain Connors motioned for Sean to
talk to him outside. Sean shot a quick look to Colin and followed the captain
outside to the hallway.
“Lieutenant Evans, with Robertson’s
death today, added to the others, the task force is low on numbers. We will
need to send word to the other task forces and ask for reinforcements.”
Sean’s hands formed into fists at his
side. The human captain made no bones about his dislike of Shapeshifters, but
Paulette’s body wasn’t even cold yet and he drudged up business decisions.
He took deep breaths and relaxed his
hands. As the Lead Lieutenant in the task force, business took priority. Even
over death.
“Will you send a request to the
Southwest office in Las Vegas?” Their own task force office covered the
Northwest—Northern California, part of Nevada, and all of Oregon, Washington
state, and Idaho.
The captain shook his head. “A few cases
have been reported in Los Angeles. We can’t risk it. I’ll request someone from
the Midwest. No cases have been reported yet out there. There is a small task
force in Columbia, Missouri, an hour outside St. Louis.”
Here we go...
First, let me say that your blog is awesome! I love zombies.
1. Shapeshifters are so much fun to write about. What
attracted you first about them.
I’ve loved reading books with werewolves, werepanthers,
shapeshifter dogs, and anything else a human can shapeshift into. But I wanted
to go into a different direction.
2. What inspired your story?
Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park and Amazon tree frogs.
Jurassic Park is one of my favorite books and movies. In the movie, Dr. Grant
tells the kids that although the scientists made the dinosaurs female, nature
will find a way. They added tree frog DNA to the missing links in the dino DNA
and some species can change gender if there is a need for more males or more
females in the group. I was watching the movie for the umpteenth time and was
like, “Wow, that is so cool, too bad people can’t do that.” It was a great
‘aha’ moment. I’m a writer, people can do anything I want.
3. Music and books really go together for me. Do you have
music in mind when you write or does it inspire you to create in a certain way?
I love listening to Celtic music when I write. It gets deep
into your soul and really brings out the emotions.
4. What are some of your favorite zombie book authors?
I love Jonathan Maberry and Max Brooks. World War Z was
amazing. I reread it every couple of months.
5. If you were stuck in Zombieland, what would you go for
first, the box of Twinkies or the baseball bat?
Although I really like Twinkies, it would have to be the
baseball bat.
6. Tell us about what you are working on now.
I’m going to start working on a sequel to Dangerous Shift
and I’m also working on a zombie romance; Love in the Time of Zombies. No
zombie love, definitely a zombie hunter love story.
7. If there were a war between shape shifters and zombies,
who do you think would win?
Since my shapeshifters are just extra-strong humans I’m
afraid the zombies will inherit the earth.
8. Garden salad vs. Cheeseburger?
I would love to say salad and be all “I take care of myself”
but the cheeseburger would win every time.
9. Chocolate milkshake or lemon water?
Definitely chocolate milkshake. Actually chocolate anything.
10. What was your favorite thing about writing this
particular book?
The heroine Nikki Hill is a kickass chick. I loved writing
her and wondering what she would say and do next. It was very freeing to just
let her do her stuff and try to keep up.
Thanks!!
What would you do if you thought someone was creating a drug to specifically kill you? Your family? Your friends? That is the harsh reality that Nikki Hill walks into when she walks into a plague that is decimating the shape shifter ranks in San Laura.
The tone of the book started off great but waved a little when Nikki came into the picture. The flow of the book was a little bumpy and it was hard to relate to some of the stuff Nikki did. She kind of likes to piss people off pretty much right away and her reactions were a little off the charts sometimes.
Plot and humor were great and overall the characters were well matched. I love books about shape shifters and things that go bump in the night. Even if the bumping is with each other on occasion. Well, enough said about that.
If you enjoy a sexy and humorous, yet action packed thriller that focuses on shifters, then give Dangerous Shift a try.
3/5
The tone of the book started off great but waved a little when Nikki came into the picture. The flow of the book was a little bumpy and it was hard to relate to some of the stuff Nikki did. She kind of likes to piss people off pretty much right away and her reactions were a little off the charts sometimes.
Plot and humor were great and overall the characters were well matched. I love books about shape shifters and things that go bump in the night. Even if the bumping is with each other on occasion. Well, enough said about that.
If you enjoy a sexy and humorous, yet action packed thriller that focuses on shifters, then give Dangerous Shift a try.
3/5
Author Bio:
Jill James didn’t start out wanting to be an
author. Along the way she wanted to be an astronaut, President of the United
States, a lawyer, and a doctor. Once married with children she realized she
could be all those things in the pages of the stories she wrote.
She lives in Northern California with her husband,
who is the inspiration for all her romance novel heroes.
Posts
Dana, thank you for having me on your blog. I love the zombie atmosphere. Thank you for your time to review Dangerous Shift.
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