Summers (Off Limits
) occasionally stumbles in this intense series launch, a futuristic paranormal romance set in an ecologically desolate 2160. Gina “Red” Santiago, the lone woman in the elite international tactical team commanded by the grandfather who raised her, travels off-duty to Nuria in the Republic of Arizona to investigate a woman's mysterious, brutal death. Gina doesn't believe in the rumors of supersoldiers, vampires and werewolves created by a secret government genetic engineering project, until she learns that almost everyone in Nuria is a werewolf and finds herself powerfully attracted to lycanthrope sheriff Morgan Hunter even as she connects others in his pack to the murder investigation. Complex and sometimes confusing world building combine with a steamy and conflicted romance between a strong heroine and a literal alpha male hero, with plenty of chemistry to fuel future volumes. (Nov.)
