Zero Sum Game

July 2, 2018
This frustrating debut SF action-thriller introduces plenty of cool ideas but never fleshes them out. Superpowered math genius and mercenary Cass Russell is put on a challenging case: take down Pithica, a villainous organization led by telepath Dawna Polk. Cass is a loner, but this tangled conspiracy is too hard to handle solo, so she teams up with principled PI Arthur Tresting and gun-toting Christian crusader Rio. Pithica’s plan is to establish a new world order through a legion of brainwashed agents. Cass’s mind-bending math magic is constantly explained away with no more sophistication than “I’m really good at math... that’s all,” which gives her carte blanche to dodge bullets, do death-defying parkour, eavesdrop through closed doors, read people’s heart rates at a glance, and block telepathic attacks. Readers get no insight into Cass’s history, so a late twist involving past events falls completely flat. At one point, while facing off against sniper henchmen, Cass quips, “What is this, a cheesy action movie?” Huang’s adventure story is certainly cheesy, but its fatal flaw is that it never manages to be fun. Agent: Russell Galen, Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary.

September 1, 2018
This debut is a paranormal thriller in which both the action and the questions don't stop.Retrieval expert Cas Russell is a weaponized mathematical genius: She sees numbers, equations, and vectors in everything and uses that knowledge and her superswift reflexes to dodge bullets, be in exactly the right place during a fight, and just generally exploit infinitesimally narrow windows of probability that no one else would perceive. Not even she can explain the source of her abilities. A brutally efficient and suspicious loner who doesn't hesitate to kill under most circumstances, she trusts--at a visceral level beyond all reason--only one person, Rio, an even more ruthless and effective operative whose religious zealotry substitutes for a conscience. So she assumes that her latest job, referred to her by Rio, will be a routine one. But, it turns out, Rio is entirely ignorant of the mission, which is to rescue Courtney Polk, a seemingly naïve drug mule, from a Colombian cartel at the behest of Courtney's sister, Dawna. Worse still, Dawna isn't Courtney's sister: She's a telepath who can convince you of anything and an agent for Pithica, a well-connected organization with its sights on global domination (for the world's own good, naturally). Although Rio asks her not to go after Pithica, Cas can't help digging herself in deeper with the help of an inconveniently moral PI, especially when it becomes clear that Pithica has at least some interest in her. Cas is an awesome antiheroine, sympathetic despite her practical approach to violence, and her abilities make this book exciting, nasty fun, compensating in great part for the open-endedness of the plot, which raises more questions than it answers, both about who Cas and Rio truly are and about whether Pithica's motives are as sincere as it claims. This is obviously the initial book in a series, establishing our cast and the mysteries we need to solve.If not entirely satisfying on its own, an excellent harbinger for books to come.

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Starred review from August 1, 2018
Cas Russell's mathematical brain allows her to see all the angles, velocities, vectors, and forces that make up the world, powers that she uses in her work as a retrieval specialist for hire, often operating on the wrong side of the law. When Cas' latest job goes haywire, she forms an uneasy alliance with a conscientious private investigator and his expert-hacker partner as they try to avoid getting killed by not one but two shadowy organizations. And though Cas has always worked alone, she just might come out of the explosions, high-speed chases, and storms of bullets with . . . friends? The only trouble is that someone out there knows more about her past than she does?a telepath with a dark agenda who can manipulate minds, even hers, and do it without the victim's knowledge. Originally self-published in 2014, Huang's series starter will have readers anxiously awaiting the next four entries. Her efficient writing makes the concept of a math-based superpower seem both understandable and extremely useful. A fast-paced, darkly humorous read with a lot of heart for fans of action and urban fantasy, as well as lovers of Wolverine and other morally ambiguous, gritty superheroes with a mysterious past.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2018
This debut is a paranormal thriller in which both the action and the questions don't stop.Retrieval expert Cas Russell is a weaponized mathematical genius: She sees numbers, equations, and vectors in everything and uses that knowledge and her superswift reflexes to dodge bullets, be in exactly the right place during a fight, and just generally exploit infinitesimally narrow windows of probability that no one else would perceive. Not even she can explain the source of her abilities. A brutally efficient and suspicious loner who doesn't hesitate to kill under most circumstances, she trusts--at a visceral level beyond all reason--only one person, Rio, an even more ruthless and effective operative whose religious zealotry substitutes for a conscience. So she assumes that her latest job, referred to her by Rio, will be a routine one. But, it turns out, Rio is entirely ignorant of the mission, which is to rescue Courtney Polk, a seemingly na�ve drug mule, from a Colombian cartel at the behest of Courtney's sister, Dawna. Worse still, Dawna isn't Courtney's sister: She's a telepath who can convince you of anything and an agent for Pithica, a well-connected organization with its sights on global domination (for the world's own good, naturally). Although Rio asks her not to go after Pithica, Cas can't help digging herself in deeper with the help of an inconveniently moral PI, especially when it becomes clear that Pithica has at least some interest in her. Cas is an awesome antiheroine, sympathetic despite her practical approach to violence, and her abilities make this book exciting, nasty fun, compensating in great part for the open-endedness of the plot, which raises more questions than it answers, both about who Cas and Rio truly are and about whether Pithica's motives are as sincere as it claims. This is obviously the initial book in a series, establishing our cast and the mysteries we need to solve.If not entirely satisfying on its own, an excellent harbinger for books to come.

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from August 1, 2018

Cas Russell is a retriever, one who uses math skills to get out of sticky situations. So finding the location of a young woman held by a Colombian cartel was not difficult. But Cass realizes that the people pursuing her and the girl include someone with powers that are much greater than hers--the ability to get into people's heads and twist their thoughts and emotions. They've been putting their plans into place for a long time. Cas must use her skills to find a way to stop them from taking over the world. The only problem is she's not sure which of her thoughts are really her own, or if there is truly an exit out of this dimension. VERDICT This hard-to-put-down, action-packed sf debut is intelligent and entertaining. With Cas, Huang has created an indelible, flawed character who makes mathematics seem almost magical.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

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