Samantha Ryan's life began at fourteen. She has no memory
before that or her childhood. She works as a cop and using
those resources has searched for her past to no avail. Her
life continues to be a MEMORY ZERO.
Her partner Jack had disappeared weeks earlier when an
urgent call has her meeting him promising to tell no one.
Her world is about to shatter when she is forced to kill
Jack, now a vampire, in self defense. On top of that it is
found that she can "see" something that she shouldn't be
able to see. At least no human should be able to see these
dark beings.
Suspended from the force, because the surveillance
mechanism didn't work and Jack didn't disintegrate in the
sun, Sam is once again on her own. Well not exactly for
that same night that she killed Jack another man saved her
life from the dark beings and now she is of interest to
the
Special Investigations Unit. Topping off a very bad
beginning of the day, she comes face to face with Gabriel
Stern, assistant director of SIU, lovingly known as the
Spook Squad, who insists he has become her bodyguard.
Gabriel has his own secrets but something about Sam
intrigues him to look into her life more deeply. It is
also
very interesting that at every turn someone seems to be
trying to kill them.
MEMORY ZERO is filled with shapeshifter, shapechangers,
vampires and other assorted beings that all come to life
in
this fast paced urban fantasy. Author Keri Arthur has a
way
with fantasy that almost has you believing that if you fly
to Melbourne you will see these beings walking the
streets.
Makes you want to go there just to be sure.
Sam is a fascinating character, with no memory of her
childhood she has made a life of her own, but when the
past
seems to want to test her she will do whatever she must to
survive. Gabriel is the dark silent type, a little too
secretive but just as intriguing as Sam. This is not a
romance, romance but you can see the interest building
between the two even as they dive into the danger that
surrounds them.
This is an e-book release from 2004 and not having read
the
earlier release I'm not sure if there was anything added
or
deleted from this e-book. I will be getting my hands on
the
other two Spook Squad books very quickly because I
want to
know what else happens to Sam and Gabriel and their world.
For Sam Ryan, life began at age fourteen. She has no memory
of her parents or her childhood. In a decade of service with
the State Police, Sam has exhausted the resources of the
force searching for clues to her identity. But all mention
of her family seems to have been deliberately wiped off the
record. Everything changes the night Sam’s missing partner
resurfaces as a vampire . . . and forces her to kill him in
self-defense. Now Sam is charged with murder. Suspended from
the force, and with no one left to trust, Sam accepts some
unexpected help from Gabriel Stern, a shapeshifter who
conceals startling secrets.
While investigating the circumstances surrounding her
partner’s strange behavior, Sam discovers that Garbriel’s
been involved with a dangerous organization that’s planning
a war on the human race. More immediate, someone is guarding
the truth about Sam’s past—someone who’d rather see her dead
than risk her knowing too much. To stay alive, Sam must
unravel the threads of her past—and find out not only who
she is but what she is.