Best Book of October 2010

October sure went by fast! I loved the book I picked as my most anticipated for October - The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook - and probably would have chosen it for my favorite if not for this one. This book is the second in a trilogy and had an ending I wasn't expecting.

SOME SECRETS COME BACK TO HAUNT. OTHERS COME TO KILL.

Justine Jones lived her life as a fearful hypochondriac until she was lured into the web of a mysterious mastermind named Packard, who gifts her with extraordinary mental powers—dooming her to fight Midcity’s shadowy war on paranormal crime in order to find the peace she so desperately craves.

But now serial killers with unheard-of skills are terrorizing the most powerful beings in Midcity, including mastermind Packard and his oldest friend and worst enemy, Midcity’s new mayor, who has the ability to bend matter itself to his will.

As the body count grows, Justine faces a crisis of conscience as she tests the limits of her new powers and faces an impossible choice between two flawed but brilliant men—one on a journey of redemption, the other descending into a pit of moral depravity.

Carolyn Crane has done it again! I loved this book and it is my belief that Double Cross is even better than Mind Games but only because the story continues and the stakes are raised higher. Crane's writing remains at the high level she set in her first book with those dynamic plot lines made of lots of twisty suspense and an ending that made me gasp. I will admit that Justine got on my nerves a bit in the middle with all the waffling she was doing but I couldn't decide who she would pick in the end, Packard or Otto, and I couldn't decide for sure who the evil one was (though I had a feeling and my own preference), no thanks to Carolyn and her devious brain. How does she come up with this stuff?

According to Crane's website, book three won't be out until the latter half of 2011. What will happen to Justine? And what will Carolyn Crane write about afterward? I can't wait to find out.