A Review/ Bonds Of Justice/ Nalini Singh/ Berkley Publishing

Title:  Bonds Of Justice
Author:  Nalini Singh
Publisher:  Berkley Publishing
Genre:  Paranormal Romance
Print ISBN:  978-0425235447
eBook ISBN:  978-1101442234
Publication Date:  July 6, 2010
Length:  368 Pages
Format:  Print
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Book Blurb:

Max Shannon is a good cop, one of the best in New York Enforcement. Born with a natural shield that protects him against Psy mental invasions, he knows he has little chance of advancement within the Psy-dominated power structure. The last case he expects to be assigned is that of a murderer targeting a Psy Councilor’s closest advisers. And the last woman he expects to compel him in the most sensual of ways is a Psy on the verge of a catastrophic mental fracture…


Sophia Russo is a Justice-Psy, cursed with the ability to retrieve memories from men and women so twisted even veteran cops keep their distance. Appointed as Max’s liaison with the Psy, she finds herself fascinated by this human, her frozen heart threatening to thaw with forbidden emotion. But, her mind filled with other people’s nightmares, other people’s evil, she’s standing on the border between sanity and a silken darkness that urges her to take justice into her own hands, to become judge, jury…and executioner…


 
My Review: 

This is another spectacular segment in the Psy-Changeling series by Ms. Singh.  I absolutely loved the interaction between the characters and the plot moved along at a very good pace.
The heroine was a new character for the series and one that I'm sure we will see again in the future.

The hero is Max Shannon, a cop from New York that was introduced in Mine to Possess (Psy-Changelings, Book 4).  He's a human but strangely has natural shields that make it difficult for the Psy to influence him, this makes him ideal as a cop but since the Psy have added control of "Enforcement" to their purview, it makes it difficult for his career to progress.  Max was somewhat abused by his mother but has an innate sense of right and wrong and has spent his whole adult life making sure that justice is served.  He also has a personal tragedy in that his younger brother ran away from home during his young teen years and Max doesn't know if he is alive or dead.  Max is surprised when councilor Nikita Duncan requests his aid in the San Francisco area, her associates/employees are being targeted for assassination and she knows that it is an inside job and doesn't know who to trust. 

Sophia Russo is a J-Psy, which basically means that she works for the justice department and uses her Psy ability of Telepathy to basically scan the memories of accused criminals and provide testimony as to what the criminals have actually done.  This is a rare talent and one that is a dead end - and I mean that literally.  All justice Psy are killed when their shields break and they always break after being used for such a dreadful task.  Sophia is also surprised when Councilor Nikita Duncan requests for her assistance from the J-Psy division, but she is like all Psy she is conditioned to follow orders and joins Max Shannon in the investigation.

Max and Sophia are both attracted to each other, however, any romantic relationship between Psy and human is not encouraged and there are some physical/mental barriers to their relationship.  Plus, Sophia is scared that her shields will soon be deteriorated to the extent where she will get killed by the Psy council.  There are a lot of clues that are provided to Max and Sophia and they proceed to narrow down their list of suspects to 4-5 of Councilor Duncan's assistants.  There is also an added case that Max and Sophia are working on, a serial killer that has a slight obsession with Sophia. 

I don't want to give away plot points or give away spoilers except to say that we get to know a little bit more about Councilor Duncan and perhaps she is not quite the cold person that she has been encouraging others to believe.  Since the story is taking place in San Francisco there is plenty of interaction with the DarkRiver Leopard pack, plus since Sasha Duncan is Nikita's daughter she plays a small part in the story. 

I truly liked this story and can't wait for the next book in this series to be released which will be in November of this year, Play of Passion (Psy/Changeling).


My Rating:    5 out of 5 Crowns

FTC Disclosure:  The book reviewed was purchased for review.