In the past couple weeks my reading has moved in a escapist direction. Lighter things, or fast-moving things that make it easy to just let your mind slide away and enjoy the ride. I’ve spent the past couple days with my friend Lisa Silverthorne’s novel Pacific Blue Tattoo. It’s a Romantic Suspense story that, for the lack of a better way of saying it, is a very good example of why independent publishing is so important.
I say that because it’s really two stories in one, meaning Lisa takes a big old handful of paranormal fantasy romance and throws it into the mix (that already includes a hard-boiled psycho-murder, and a cop with a troubled background), then stirs it up and finds out what happens.
Oh, and did I mention the science fictional aspect of the implanted artificial conscience that our main character carries around inside her head?
I suggest here that, unless you’re a big name already, traditional publishing won’t touch this with a ten-meter pole. There are a lot of moving parts in the gear works of this book—tropes that one would think may not fit together but manage to play just fine. I don’t think the traditional houses would know how to bucket Pacific Blue Tattoo and so I figure it would never get published.
Lisa Silverthorne, however, does know what to do with it, thank you very much.
Let me note here that I chose this particular book for two reasons. First I liked the cover. Second, who could resist the opening blurb:
A felon with an artificial conscience,
An immortal tattoo artist,
And a rookie detective hunt a serial killer in…Pacific Blue Tattoo
See what I mean? Lots of moving tropes!
Personally, I loved the genre mix in this book. Very tasty. And I should note that I’m not usually enthralled with paranormal flavoring—I can enjoy it, but it usually takes me some energy to get into it. I found PBT’s touch to be about perfect. I’ve got a long history with Lisa’s work. She’s one of my favorite writers because she knows how to tell a story. So it’s not surprising that the book hits the ground at a pace, and keeps going. It’s an “easy” read if one can say such a thing about a story built around damaged people and a psychotic killer in the middle of a spree.
I won’t talk much about the story itself because I hate giving away spoilers. But if you like your romance infiltrated with dark crime (or your dark crime spiced with liberal doses of romance), this one’s for you.