Head Rush by Carolyn CraneHead Rush by Carolyn CraneHead Rush by Carolyn Crane

Head Rush (2012) is a perfect finale for THE DISILLUSIONISTS TRILOGY. The thing about Head Rush is that readers won’t read it to be surprised. You know how it’s going to end; you just don’t know the details. Carolyn Crane makes those details fun, and keeps Head Rush rather short and sweet, which is perfect for the series as a whole.

In fact, Crane seems to know exactly how long each book should be, and she never overstays her welcome. She could have easily made this book longer than it is, but she seemed to know that dragging out events would make readers more exhausted with the book than they need to be. Things move fast, and the period of time covered is short.

While the ending is no big surprise, it’s still tragic and sweet all rolled into one. The emotions are high and Crane keeps them surprisingly intense, while never losing her focus on the overarching themes.

The thing that surprised me the most about this trilogy was how much fun I had reading it. While there are some typical urban fantasy elements here, Crane kept them fresh and new with her unique brand of psychology and her fascinating magic system.

I expected to have fun while I read this series. What I didn’t expect was to feel like I was leaving behind a friend after I turned the last page in Head Rush. That’s a real accomplishment for Crane. Not only has she written a series with a strong female protagonist who is just as messed up as anyone else (and thus, incredibly believable), but she’s managed to write a series that is unique enough to stand on its own merit in a genre that is flooded with the same-old-same-old. Crane is an author I will be sure to watch.

Published in 2012. Justine Jones faces her ultimate enemy: herself. Book Three in The Disillusionist Trilogy. In an attempt to put her unhappy past behind her, Justine Jones throws herself into nursing school and planning her wedding to Otto Sanchez, the man of her dreams. But something is off. Random details aren’t adding up…and is it her imagination, or are her friends and fiancé keeping secrets from her? And what’s with the strange sense of unease, and her odd new headaches? Justine tries to stay upbeat as Midcity cowers under martial law, sleepwalking cannibals, and a mysterious rash of paranormal copycat violence, but her search for answers leads her into the most dangerous mind game yet. With the help of unlikely allies, including her paranoid dad and best frenemy Simon, Justine fights her ultimate foe…and unravels the most startling mystery of all. Warning: This book contains high-speed rollerblade chases, a mysterious green dashboard ornament, a father of the bride in full hazmat gear and a delicious kebab.

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  • Sarah Chorn

    SARAH CHORN, one of our regular guest reviewers, has been a compulsive reader her whole life, and early on found her reading niche in the fantastic genre of Speculative Fiction. She blames her active imagination for the hobbies that threaten to consume her life. She is a published photographer, world traveler and recent college graduate and mother. Sarah keeps a blog at Bookworm Blues.

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