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Shape of Secrets
Shape of Secrets
Shape of Secrets
Ebook379 pages8 hours

Shape of Secrets

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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You can't outrun the past in this mystery adventure where things are not always as they appear

Zane, a young man with the ability to change his appearance, is starting his first job at Penthes Pharmaceuticals. However, it's not what he expects. Soon he is drawn into a world of corporate secrets and dangerous knowledge.

The deceptions are only beginning. A sales trip to the South Pacific leaves Zane dealing with an unsolved murder, an unsavory boot camp manager, and new friends with abilities as surprising as his own.

Can he use his unique talents to unravel the mysteries he's been presented with? More importantly, can he find out who framed his friend for murder before it's too late?

LanguageEnglish
PublisherS. R. Cronin
Release dateDec 1, 2012
ISBN9780985156121
Shape of Secrets
Author

S. R. Cronin

Hi. I’m Sherrie Cronin, the author of a collection of six speculative fiction novels known as 46. Ascending. I’m now in the process of publishing a historical fantasy series called The War Stories of the Seven Troublesome Sisters. A quick look at the synopses of my books makes it obvious I’m fascinated by people achieving the astonishing by developing abilities they barely knew they had.I’ve made a lot of stops along the way to writing these novels. I’ve lived in seven cities, visited forty-six countries, and worked as a waitress, technical writer, and geophysicist. Now I answer a hot-line. Along the way, I’ve lost several cats but acquired a husband who still loves me and three kids who’ve grown up just fine, both despite how odd I am.All my life I’ve wanted to either tell these kinds of stories or be Chief Science Officer on the Starship Enterprise. These days I live and write in the mountains of Western North Carolina, where I admit I occasionally check my phone for a message from Captain Picard, just in case.Learn about the new series at https://troublesome7sisters.xyz/.

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Reviews for Shape of Secrets

Rating: 3.7894736631578945 out of 5 stars
4/5

19 ratings8 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book has a fantastic format. The e-book version I read had hyperlinks to pertinent facts to the storyline. Maps, cultural info, and scientific facts were only a click away. Sometimes the links led to pretty amazing videos. Really loved the way the author presented this story about intolerance, pharmaceutical overreach, and greed. It never felt preachy or dry. The fantastical elements were believable and enviable :0) I would love to be able to morph into someone else every once in a while. This was my first novel by Sherrie Cronin but it won't be my last. This is the second book in a series about the 'gifted' Zeitman family. All of the books can reportedly stand alone and this one did very well in that respect. I am planning to read z2 in the very near future.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I received this book through the LibraryThing Member's Program.I have mixed feelings towards this book. I enjoyed reading about the main protagonist Zane, with his unusual and memorable talents, but the story did not work for me, it didn't grab me when it should have, and the writing style wasn't to my liking. It slowed my reading pace by half. I also mistook this genre for a Young Adult novel. It was instead a work of Fiction, maybe even Fantasy or Science Fiction. I struggled through the entire book, hoping the pace sped up, and it finally did but not until the last four chapters.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Lived up to the precedence set by X0. Sherrie Cronin has an innovative way of telling the story about different members of the same family, from their viewpoint, without giving away any spoilers if the books are read out of order. Phenomenal writing. I received this book from Library Thing to read and review.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I love the book ,at first it got a little confusing then the more i read it the betterit became.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Loved it, I couldn't put it down once I started. Wonderful story with a little of everything in it. A bit of mystery, a bit of science-fiction, a bit of romance. Theory of different social structure in it that is very interesting to imagine.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    More details on an improved economic and social system. Like some of it. Zane, Ari, and Joy are good characters. Good story.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Zane swore as a child to someday protect all the odd people in the world. He studied chameleons and muscle groups as he taught himself to alter his own appearance, and it turned out that skills for blending were very helpful to a young boy too smart and too different to fit in well.But as an adult, things have changed. Zane finds that he now just wants to be himself. He gets a degree in neuroscience to understand abilities that even he recognizes as astonishing. Worst of all, he is fast discovering that everyone is odd. He hadn’t counted on that.When he lands in the sales department of Penthes Pharmaceuticals, he begins to uncover layers of corporate secrets that ultimately will hide surprisingly vile plans. Sent on a sales boondoggle to the South Pacific, he finds others with talents as surprising as his own and with problems far worse. As his new friends flee the malicious schemes of those who would control them, Zane wants to help. Their freedom-loving philosophy of y1 calls to him.But first, he must deal with a murder charge. And an unsavory boot camp manager. And serious repercussions from the fact that not everyone at Penthes likes him, or wants him to knows the mysteries that the company has worked so hard to keep hidden.Can he help them all? Can he even help himself? Fantasy, reality and a bit of speculative science come together as Zane uses all the unique abilities he has to resist turning from a murder suspect into a murder victim. Then he has to sort out just how to keep that childhood promise.Y1 is book number two in an as yet to be released collection of six. X0 is the first book in the series, which I have yet to read. I found this book a bit slow in the beginning, I think that is due at least in part to the fact that I haven’t read the first book. However once you get a bit into the book it does pick up quite a bit especially toward the end.Our hero Zane is not your average everyday hero. He is a bit odd and never really fit in that well growing up. He is also ultra intelligent, a righter of wrongs and defender of those who can’t defend themselves and a shape shifter to boot.The book takes you along many different roads from murder and intrigue to the business of pharmaceutical companies and homosexuality. It gives you a little science fiction, a bit of fantasy with a helping of what I would call young adult romance all rolled into one book. Bottom line folks if you enjoyed Xo well it goes without saying that you will enjoy Y1. If you enjoy the young adult category or reading fantasy you will enjoy this book also. I look forward to reading not only X0 but also the other as yet to be released works of Mrs. Sherrie Cronin.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Do any characters grow or change during the course of the novel? I understand that this book is a "companion novel" in a yet to be completed series. The book club started reading from y1 and we've just started z2. Given there must have been some sort of introduction in the first book, I felt that the story took awhile to kick in. You know something good is coming, but you have to wait a long while until you finally get to the point you don't want to put the book down.
    What motivates a given character’s actions? It's okay to be different. All of the characters in this book are set apart by a significant ability, behaviour or background. How they then use this to interact with each other is the fascinating part of this book.
    Which characters do you particularly admire or dislike? I liked Joy and Zane. Both their characters brought complexities to the story in fun, page turning way and both had to deal with past issues before it started eating into their present.

    Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from the author.

Book preview

Shape of Secrets - S. R. Cronin

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