Lay%C2%A0Saints

Uneven pacing and occasionally clunky prose undermine Connell's entertaining thriller about mercenary telepaths who read or alter other people's thoughts if the price is right. If that's not a particularly original concept, the book's opening is intriguing, as a prolix narrator%E2%80%94restricted to his cell 23 hours every day%E2%80%94chats up his new cellmate. The pair's lives have intersected before, but the new prisoner's mind has been wiped clean and he remembers none of it. The backstory kicks off in Manhattan as a psychic named Calder frequents hospitals to share the thoughts of coma victims with their nearest and dearest. But when Calder joins a crew that uses its psychic talents for criminal purposes, he gets caught up in a dark underworld and soon finds himself in over his head. Fans of the genre will find a lot to like here%E2%80%94particularly snappy dialogue and solid world-building.