Book Review: Mind Games by Carolyn Crane

Mind Games
Author: Carolyn Crane
Series: Justine Jones (Disillusionist Trilogy), book 1
Publisher: Spectra
ISBN-10: 0553592610
ISBN-13: 978-0553592610
Purchase Information:
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For more information visit Carolyn Crane's website




Justine Jones just wants to be normal and live a simple life but she is a hypochondriac. She believes she suffers from vein star syndrome and because of family history, she lives under the constant fear of sudden death. While out eating with her boyfriend at Mongolian Delites, Justine meets the secretive and handsome restaurant owner Sterling Packard. He offers her something she has always wanted, to be free of her fears. At first she doesn't want to go along but once she has tasted the feeling of peace and calm, there is no going back.

Justine is now part of Packard's disillusionists, team of paid vigilantes who spread and use their anxieties against criminals who escaped justice. But Justine starts to wonder why Packard never leaves the restaurant and what is up with the mysterious face she is finding around the city, including on the door of Mongolian Delites?


Justine is defined first defined by her hypochondria. It rules her life and her relationships until Packard. He shows her how she can not only get rid of this fear but use it. I wasn't sure I liked Justine at first. At one moment she came of as whinny and pretended everything was ok and then the next moment she is confident and wants to do the right thing. In the end her emotions balanced out and I came to really like her character. Justine showed that she didn't need to know how to fire a gun or have super human strength in order to conqueror your enemies and do the right thing. As for Packard, I liked finding out a few of his secrets. With each revealing there was another layer added to his character that made him more and more interesting. What I liked most about him was not being able to know what his next move was.

My favorite supporting character was Shelby. Shelby is a disillusionist and proves to be a real friend to Justine. Shelby was there for Justine to lend a shoulder to cry on and to help her see things more clearly. She is one of those characters that if she wasn't in the story, it could have gone in a different direction. She was sweet, strong and loyal. The story itself was one surprise after another. While there are characters that would be called "bad guys", I wouldn't say this was a story of good vs evil. It is more about the characters and why the disillusionists were brought together. You also get to learn more about Midcity, were the story takes place, its citizens and the turmoil facing the city. By the end of the book you believe that it is an actual place. When I think Urban Fantasy I think all action and little to no romance. To my surprise there was a nice mix of romance without crossing over into the Paranormal Romance genre. It was well done and made the characters more relatable and interesting.

When I first started to read Mind Games I understood what it was about from reading the synopsis but I wasn't sure what to expect. I was surprised by how much I like this book. Carolyn Crane did a fantastic job creating addicting characters with depth and taking the story to places I never expected. While there are a few questions left unanswered and a few scenes that felt a bit chaotic, I really enjoyed this book and did not want to put it down. It is now at the top of my favorite Urban Fantasy book list. The next book can not be released fast enough.
My Rating:

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Justine was a over active hypochondriac, she would blow the smallest feeling in her head way out of proportion. She annoyed me at first I'm like just get a grip woman. but then as she started to get involved with Packered and learn she has the power to send all that negative energy she has out in to others and relive her self, i grew to like her better. Justine is a very stubborn loving character. She finds out that Packard has lied to her to get her to help him with his mission to help reboot the criminals they go ofter, Justine still stuck it out and trys to help Packard . She is willing to do almost anything to help save Packard even though she doesn't feel he deserves here help.

Packard was imprisoned in his Mongolian restaurant for eight years and he has put to gather this elite group to help out people who seek justice. They fight those who have committed horrible crimes but the law cant deal with them. So Packard can see into them and decipher there weakness's and pinpoints exactly witch disillusionist will best help break down this person and sends them in . after the process is complete the person has the chance to reboot and rebuild a new person that is void of the evil that lurked in them before. Packard dose enjoy helping these people and the fellow disillusionist that work for him but he never looses sight of the originally plan to free him self of the prison he is stuck in. I like Packard i thought he was a great character . I was not thrilled with how he treated Justine but i understand why he did what he did and I'm sure any one else in his place would have done the dame or worse. I was just a bit disappointed that i did not get the ending i was wanting i see why it happened the way it did but i wanted it to go another way.. and i know what you guys are thinking well what happened .. but you need to read the book and see what happened.. heee..

I enjoyed this book allot, it was so very different than what i normally read but it was great i loved the characters and the story line was fantastic i hope to see more in this series there is some things i would still like to see happen. I would recommend this book and i am eager to read more.
My Review: