Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Chameleon's Challenge (Chameleon Assassin, Book 3) by B.R. Kingsolver

 Release date: June 13, 2017
Subgenre: Post-apocalyptic, dystopian

About Chameleon's Challenge:



Libby's chameleon mutation has led to a lucrative career as a thief and assassin. She normally doesn't worry about the comfort of corporate executives, but when she stumbles onto the grisly murder of a rich man's mistress, it gets her attention.

The murder leads Libby to believe her best friend's life is in danger, and she vows to protect her. The killings continue, some in broad daylight, but no one ever sees the killer.

For a chameleon assassin, the scenario feels uncomfortably familiar.

Excerpt: 


“Dad, if you had to catch me, how would you go about it?”
“I’d probably bait a trap with chocolate.”
I threw my napkin at him. I wanted to throw my fork. “Can you be serious?”
He chuckled and sat back, a faraway look on his face. Pretty soon, he said, “I’d bait a trap with Nellie, but that’s not what you’re asking, is it? You mean, how would I trap a chameleon? Bright light and open space. A water canon would show his location because he’s still solid in chameleon mode. A pit trap, because he still weighs the same. You get the idea.”
“Remember when my abilities first began to manifest?” He had hooked me up to metabolic monitors and brain scans, and tried to figure out how I turned invisible, and then later how I managed to morph into an illusion of another being. “The tests you ran to try and figure out how I do what I do?”
He nodded. “Your ability with electricity, both yours and your mother’s, is a physical phenomenon. There are scientific papers dealing with the different manifestations of electrogenesis. But we never did figure out your chameleon abilities. It has to be psychic. Even if we had a brain scan, though, I don’t know if we could interpret it.”
“Yeah, well, but you never explained why cameras can’t see me either. When Mike and I were in Chicago, he had a theory. He wondered if it was a combination of the two mutations, the electrogenesis and the chameleon ability. I looked it up, and there’s a difference between electrogenesis and electrokinesis. But suppose I do both?”
Dad looked thoughtful. “You know, we always tried to monitor you, your physiological processes, to see if anything changed when you cast your illusion, or whatever it is you do. I never tried to see if anything changed in the environment.”
We went downstairs to his laboratory, where he set up several pieces of equipment. I watched him for about half an hour, then he turned to me.
“Okay, do that blend into the background thing.”
I blurred my image and heard a soft burp from his computer, then a soft hum.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Do it again,” he ordered.
I let myself become visible and the hum stopped. Then I blurred my image again, heard the little burp, and the hum.
“What are you seeing?” I asked as I walked behind him to look at the computer screen. He had a dozen windows with different graphs displayed. Some of them didn’t show any activity, most showed static, but a couple of them showed they were recording something.
“Well, I know more than I did before, but I still don’t understand it,” he said.
“Will you answer my question? What is that?” I pointed at the screen, then realized my image was still blurred and he couldn’t see me. I unblurred, and he jumped. “What? You heard my voice, you knew I was here.”



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About the Chameleon Assassin series:


Book 1: Chameleon Assassin

Book 2: Chameleon Uncovered

Book 3: Chameleon's Challenge


About B.R. Kingsolver:

BR Kingsolver, author of the Telepathic Clans and Chameleon Assassin series, grew up surrounded by writers, artists, myths, and folklore in Santa Fe, The City Different, in the Land of Enchantment.

After living all over the US and exploring the world--from Amsterdam to the Romanian Alps, and Russia to the Rocky Mountains--Kingsolver trades time between Baltimore and Albuquerque. With an education in nursing and biology and a Master's degree in business, Kingsolver has done everything from construction to newspaper editor and jewelry to computers.

Kingsolver, a passionate lifetime skier, currently spends time writing and working with computers while living nine blocks from the harbor in Baltimore as servant in residence to a very demanding cat.

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