Chaos

A tech genius falls for a man who was turned into a genetically enhanced supersoldier against his will. Caro Ogunyemi works as an engineer aboard the spaceshipCalamity, and there isn't a piece of tech she can't operate, repair, or hack. While her crew is on leave, she accepts a job to infiltrate Shikigami, a luxury prison planet for wealthy criminals operated by the Pierce family. Her mission is to find evidence that Carmichael Pierce has a secret lab at the prison where he's using stolen tech to build supersoldiers out of unwilling test subjects. Caro's shameful secret is that she worked for Pierce a decade ago, and she suspects some code she developed and attempted to destroy might be part of the supersoldier protocol. Once on planet, Caro learns that most of Pierce's attempts to create supersoldiers have failed, with the exception of a terrifying specimen they call Leviathan--and her bungled attempt to infiltrate the prison puts her into a face-off with him. During the life-or-death fight, Caro discovers that her touch deactivates Leviathan's chip, which allows him to reason and think for himself as long as she can keep her hands on him. Caro feels instantly attracted to Levi as his real self, and he feels a similar pull, calling her "angel" and begging her not to abandon him. Caro is charmed by the man behind the programming and vows to save him. With the help of two undercover friends, Caro makes a plan to destroy all of Pierce's records and extract Levi. Everything that can go wrong does, leading to a series of high-stakes and at times hilarious adventures. Caro is a robust, interesting character, and her sweet romance with Levi allows her to forgive herself for past mistakes. The gang's adventures on the prison planet are a rollicking good time, with complex, fast-paced plotting and intricately choreographed action sequences. A wildly entertaining space adventure explores the nature of love and humanity. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.