22 June 2016

Review #465: False Hearts (False Hearts, #1) by Laura Lam



My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Sister. She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities. She is your witness, who sees you at your worst and best, and loves you anyway. She is your partner in crime, your midnight companion, someone who knows when you are smiling, even in the dark. She is your teacher, your defense attorney, your personal press agent, even your shrink. Some days, she's the reason you wish you were an only child.”


----Barbara Alpert



Laura Lam, an American author, pens a gripping and a mind-blowing psychological thriller centered around two twin sisters in her book, False Hearts where the author weaves a story where the two twin sisters who are so much similar in looks yet harbor secrets of their own, which are extremely dark. Born as conjoined twins, this story is unravels so much beyond their relationship, where escape is written in bold letters.

Synopsis:

Orphan Black meets Inception: Two formerly conjoined sisters are ensnared in a murderous plot involving psychoactive drugs, shared dreaming, organized crime, and a sinister cult.

Raised in the closed cult of Mana’s Hearth and denied access to modern technology, conjoined sisters Taema and Tila dream of a life beyond the walls of the compound. When the heart they share begins to fail, the twins escape to San Francisco, where they are surgically separated and given new artificial hearts. From then on they pursue lives beyond anything they could have previously imagined.

Ten years later, Tila returns one night to the twins’ home in the city, terrified and covered in blood, just before the police arrive and arrest her for murder—the first homicide by a civilian in decades. Tila is suspected of involvement with the Ratel, a powerful crime syndicate that deals in the flow of Zeal, a drug that allows violent minds to enact their darkest desires in a terrifying dreamscape. Taema is given a proposition: go undercover as her sister and perhaps save her twin’s life. But during her investigation Taema discovers disturbing links between the twins’ past and their present. Once unable to keep anything from each other, the sisters now discover the true cost of secrets.



Tila and Taema are the conjoined twins by birth who share a same heart and are also born in a cult society, but one day, their shared heart fails them which became an excuse to escape their dreadful and wretched life in a small town filled with superstitions and cult practices. Hence the twin sisters reach San Francisco, a city overwhelmed and contempt with latest technology, where the sisters get a surgery and finally manage to get separated from one another. So many years have passed, Tila is back in her hometown, laced with blood from head-to-toe, and she is soon convicted of a murder, now Taema knows that her sister can't commit a crime, hence she needs to save her before its too late. Taema's life-threatening journey begins from an organised crime group's den where they deal a deadly drug, Zeal, that can unleash the weird fetishes of any human being through dreaming that can be shared with another living soul, (think Inception) and many such other scary stuffs like lethal tattoo parlors to flesh parlors. So amidst all these dangers, Taema need to investigate the real culprit behind the murder, but little did she knew, that even though they look alike, the two sisters have so many unshared deep dark secrets.

The author's writing style is fantastic and articulate and the readers will be easy to comprehend with the story writing of the author. The narrative is engaging and mystifying that will keep the readers on their edges. The pacing is really fast as the readers sway with the flow of the story where on their way, they will be welcomed with bone-chilling events and adrenaline-rushing action scenes. The author has portrayed her story with so much vivid descriptions that the readers can easily visualize the scenes right before their eyes.

The world building of the author is very much well-developed, as the author invents an innovative world filled with modern gadgets and technology both in science and philosophy. This make-believe world is so well portrayed by the author that the readers will be transported to this fictional futuristic land in no time with the progress of the story. It seems the author's imagination knows no bounds, while creating this future world, although she has projected such a world with logic and reason so the readers can contemplate with the systems and the technologies. The horror is so vivid into the descriptions of this city, that the readers will find the fear creeping up behind their backs.

The characters are well-etched out and are multi-dimensional. The main characters, both Tila and Taema are flawed, bisexual and are somewhat realism, yet their demeanor is quite brave and strong even though they are faced with number of challenges. All through out the story, they will have that psychological hold on the minds of the readers as the author laces them with their striking back stories that will only make the readers root for them till the very end. Even the supporting cast of characters are distinct and highly interesting and flawed, thereby turning the story into something enticing and intriguing.

The mystery part is highly unraveling and puzzling as she devises the story with enough suspense, tension and twists that will only make the readers anticipating for the truth till the very last page.

Overall, this story is a must read as it will keep the readers occupied till the very end and will also find it hard to turn away their heads from the book.

Verdict: Such a compelling and a riveting read!

Courtesy: Thanks to the author, Laura Lam's publishers for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book.
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Author Info:
Laura Lam was born in the late eighties and raised near San Francisco, California, by two former Haight-Ashbury hippies. Both of them encouraged her to finger-paint to her heart’s desire, colour outside the lines, and consider the library a second home. This led to an overabundance of daydreams.
After studying literature and creative writing at university, she relocated to Scotland to be with her husband, a boy she met online when they were teenagers and he insulted her taste in books and she insulted his right back. She almost blocked him but is glad she didn’t. She is now a dual citizen, but at times she misses the sunshine.
While working a variety of jobs from filing and photocopying endlessly at a law firm to library assistant to corporate librarian, she began writing in earnest. Her first book, Pantomime, the first book in the Micah Grey series, was released in 2013, which was a Scottish Book Trust Teen Book of the Month, won the Bisexual Book Award, was listed a Top Ten Title for the American Library Association List, and was nominated for several other awards. Robin Hobb says “Pantomime by Laura Lam took me into a detailed and exotic world, peopled by characters that I’d love to be friends with . . . and some I’d never want to cross paths with.” The sequel, Shadowplay, followed in 2014, as well as several the Vestigial Tales, self-published short stories and novellas set in the same world.
Her newest book is False Hearts, a near-future thriller released in January 2016 by Tor/Macmillan and in three other languages. Peter F. Hamilton calls False Hearts “a strong debut from someone who’s clearly got what it takes.”
She is still hiding from sunshine in Scotland and writing more stories.
Visit her here



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3 comments:

  1. Wow Great review now I am very intrigued and curious too check out this book after reading your review. It really looks and sounds absolutely fantastic! Thank you for your awesome post.

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