I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
The Operator
by
Kim Harrison
science fiction, time travel in Hardcover edition that was published by Gallery Books on November 22, 2016 and has 496 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Dates from Hell, Pale Demon, Unbound, Something Deadly This Way Comes, The Good, the Bad, and the Undead, Every Which Way But Dead, A Fistful of Charms, For a Few Demons More, The Outlaw Demon Wails, White Witch, Black Curse, Black Magic Sanction, A Perfect Blood, "Pet Shop Boys", "Trouble on Reserve", Into the Woods, Holidays are Hell, Ever After, The Drafter, "Waylaid", The Turn: The Hollows Begins with Death, "Sudden Backtrack"
Second in The Peri Reed Chronicles science fiction series and revolving around a drafter yearning to be independent, to remember on her own.
My Take
Oh, that ending…twisted me all up in how I looked back at the story. Talk about terrifying!! Twist and twist and twist again. But it’s Bill that is the master of the angles. Harrison does keep things moving with all the running, being caught, escaping, wash, rinse, repeat. How Peri comes up with those angles keeps me wondering too.
I do appreciate that Peri admits to what she misses about her old job. Sure, I suspect I’d miss all that luxe and the excitement as well, and I’m not sure if I’d be so desperate to pay the price to remember. Ya probably have to be there. As for her choices — Bill or a government agency??? Yeah… Especially with that CIA attitude toward its agents.
An underlying issue in this is the medical field and how obtuse they can be when encountering something unexpected, how desperate they are to find a label that they can force to fit.
Cam. Now, Cam intrigues me. Harrison drops hints and tidbits, and I am hoping that she brings him in, in the next installment. I wanna know more about this guy.
“Your great plan is to commit a slow and morally comfortable genocide on a new kind of human.”
Harrison does provide some back history on when Peri, Silas, and Allen were training to be agents. Although it’s simply part of the many bits and pieces Harrison keeps hidden. She strings these tidbits out, piece by piece, leaving me wondering what, exactly, is going on.
I do like that Jack is slowly starting to get that he’s a jerk, although I doubt he’ll ever stop being as selfish as he is. His attitude will drive you nuts and want to smack him around for a few years.
The setting for the series intrigues me with its rollable phones and the glass pads. I do like the sound of that Mantis as well. Whoo-wheeeee. And, yeah, I’d recommend this one. Harrison does keep me on my toes…
The Story
Bill is scrounging, Peri is hiding, and the CIA is watching in the wings.
All Peri wants is to be left alone. All Bill wants is Peri back under his thumb. All the CIA wants is Peri under their thumb, in a cell, and let out for special ops.
Everyone has their own agenda and only one of them will hold back on how they achieve it.
The Characters
Peri Reed is a drafter, a person with the ability to turn back time for a few seconds. But she can only do so when she dies, usually. After she fled in The Drafter, 1, she opened a coffee shop. Carnac is her cat.
Dr. Silas Denier, a.k.a., Dr. Sley at the Georgia Aquarium, a psychologist and chemist, and Allen Swift had been part of her training team when they were first starting out. I think Summer is a dead agent with whom Silas had been in love.
Jack had been Peri’s anchor with for the past three years with Opti. He lied. Now he’s her intuition implanted by Silas to keep Peri from going insane.
The coffeeshop is…
…where Peri’s been hiding. And where everything is $15.80. Simon and Cam (a stock market analyst) are some of her regulars.
The Arena is…
…actually a run-down neighborhood in Detroit taken over by gangs. LB (his mom’s name is Rose), a.k.a., Leon, leads the gang and is a rogue drafter. Fat Man, a.k.a., Lorenzo, is his second-in-command and anchor.
The CIA is…
…obsessed with imprisoning drafters, to use as they want for their World Enumeration Federal Taskforce (WEFT). Steiner is in charge, and all the agents think they know what they’re doing *eye roll*. Special Agent Harmony Beam comes on really strong. Allen is a bit of a weasel who now works for the CIA. Other agents include Taylor and Armand.
Opti was…
…a corrupt special ops program busted by Peri in The Drafter. Bill Heddles was/is in charge. Michael Kord is a psychotic drafter. who, for all his smarts, is such a small childish thinker. Latisha is a sniper. Jen is a psychologist and low-level anchor; Ron is another anchor. David, Smith, Tom, Dan, Jillian, and Sean are more agents. Rodney is a doorman. Hammon is a receptionist. Margo is Bill’s secretary. Dr. Cavana had been a psychologist with Opti.
Helen Yeomon is the cold-hearted money woman. Annabelle is her young niece, poor thing. Chris sounds like a secretary.
Evocane is the prep drug that will supposedly help drafters keep their memories. Jose and Mark work at the Georgia Aquarium.
The Cover and Title
The cover has a primarily orange background with Peri standing on a flight of stairs leading down, gun in hand. Superimposed on the stairs is a tone-on-tone triangular symbol encircled by two rings. The publicity info and author’s name is in a deep brown at the top with the title in white and at an angle just below middle.
The title is all about Bill, for he’s The Operator.
