Title:  Pure Justice
Author: Liah Penn
Publisher/Year: Etopia Press 9/17/15
Overview

Human trafficking. A kidnapped partner. Ina’s case just got a whole lot darker.

In an uncertain future where the Impures–genetic defectives–are banished to a ghetto territory, Detective Ina Stone and her rookie partner, Sam Fujimoto, constantly fight for survival. But when a murdered Impure is discovered in the projects with only a business card in his pocket, the clues lead them into the shadowy underworld of black market trade and human trafficking. After Sam is kidnapped by the Yakuza crime syndicate, Ina must hide her own defect to go undercover as a human trafficking victim. Accompanied by a Tebori master and a new detective with her own secrets, Ina must find a way to free Sam without exposing his role in the investigation, or getting herself killed in the process.

My Thoughts

First i need to thank the folks at Red Moon Book Tours for getting me a copy of this one – i think that there’s something very interesting going on in this series and i can’t say that i would have discovered it on my own.  I’m usually drawn to specific types of cover art, and this isn’t it, but i’m glad that i read it.  There’s something i should say though – i didn’t quite remember that this was book 2 of a series until i was part way into it and realized that maybe there’s a decent back story that i’m missing.  SO on that note, realize that my thoughts aren’t necessarily on the full story – just what i’ve come across so far.

Where we start in this installment, Ina is preggo and she’s trying to hide it since this is a world and time where there’s so much against her that it’s not likely that things will end well.  Top that off with the fact that she’s not quite sure where she’s going to net out since Yakuza runs everything and you’re never quite sure what’s going to come down on the next turn.

We spend much of the story wondering what’s going to be found next – Ina and the detectives are finding bits and pieces and while in my mind i started to sort out things, i was never sure where they would pan out since i’m not as familiar with Liah Penn to know if there are expected twists or straight forward delivery.

What i do learn is that Ina is a strong lead – and that what we see as the inner turmoil that’s being dealt with alongside that of the stress and fear of society is something that’s impressive.  When you’re fighting for your own survival while trying to do something right for others, you have to choose what’s more important and it’s a struggle that we see Ina go through throughout this story.

It’s an interesting installment for sure but like i said, by the time i realized that there’s probably more to the story that i could have used in #1, it was almost too late.  Anyhow, i hope you guys give this a chance, i’m going to actually go back and read Pure Death now that i know i’ve missed something and then perhaps give this one another go at least with the first few chapters just to see what i could have understood more.  On that note, have a great night all!