SINdicate is second in JT Nicholas’ New Lyons Sequence. Campbell is now living in a safe house with several synthetics that have made their way to him after fleeing captivity or being turned out of their owners’ homes. He’s there as protection, especially for the pregnant Evelyn, since the synthetics are unable to harm humans. One morning he wakes to find a body dumped at his doorstep.

This body is a message of sorts. With help from Hernandez and Tia Morita, Campbell follows the clues deep under New Lyons, and all the way to a surprising new ally- the very first synthetic. Al’awwal helps Campbell and Silas retrieve all the data his creator father, Dr Kaphiri, collected during his forced tenure at Walton Biogenics. It's a devastating cache, detailing not only synth origins and proof they are human, but all of the cures for disease, and all the beneficial medical advances Walton has been withholding out of greed. But in order to make the most of this information, and best aid the revolution, Campbell chooses to make a major personal sacrifice.

I absolutely devoured this book. It's a great continuation to the series. I got so angry reading about how the synths were retaliated against after the revolution began. These are people who genuinely cannot fight back thanks to their conditioning. One uber-rich asshole started a 'gameshow’ where people participated in challenges, and the prize was to kill a synth any way they wished. Disgusting.

Humanity’s brighter side began to show through, though. People who knew deep down already the truth of the synths began protests around Walton Biogenics facilities. Campbell found willing assistance in his former colleague Hernandez, and in the medical examiner's assistant, Tia Morita.

It was neat to see the synthetics beginning to find their true selves. Despite being ‘designed’ for jobs, like being Toys, or as menial workers, they very much have their own personality and preferences. Take Silas for instance. The big man (who calls to mind Varys, from ASoIaF for some reason) may have been designed for hard labour as a 'sewer rat’ but he very well could have been a statesman, an ambassador. Or LaSorte, designed as a preternaturally beautiful Toy, who is a tech genius. You can't program personality.

Learning how Walton Biogenics corrupted the horrified Dr Kaphiri’s work, perverting it for greed- that sickened me. Even moreso because I could see it potentially happening in my home nation given the current political climate dominated by greedy corporate types with no business in such an office. I would hope that our world at large would never accept such a farce. I hope we realise that with any form of artificial life. This was a corruption of eugenics I never even pondered. Usually, if I think it a bad thing, I recall Khan Singh and the Eugenics Wars from Star Trek. I don't think it a bad thing, though, to work towards speeding evolution of humanity, or even of putting us back on the right track, but that's a debate for another time. I'm definitely looking forward to the continuation of this series! Highly recommended if you like fantasy/sci-fi oriented dystopia crime thrillers with a deep emotional punch.

Read my review for SINthetic.
https://wp.me/p6C2DX-1rx

***Many thanks to Silver Dagger Tours and the author for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. ( )

SINdicate by J.T. Nicholas is a highly recommended second book in the New Lyons Sequence.

This is definitely the second book in the series and is a continuation of the story started in the first book. Sometimes it doesn't matter if you read a series out of order or start in the middle. With the first two books of the New Lyons books, reading them in order matters a great deal.

Until the truth was revealed, Walton Biogenics claimed the Synths were manufactured to look human, but were "artificial" humans. Jason Campbell, former New Lyons Detective, discovered the truth and now is fighting for their rights. "Nearly a month since we had ripped off the veil covering the ugly truth that synthetics were not unthinking, unfeeling things, but as much people as any of the naturally born. Nearly a month, and for synthetics, things had gotten worse. Much worse. It wasn’t unexpected. Silas had predicted the reaction from society at large when we shone a spotlight on the truth that everyone suspected but no one seemed willing to admit..... We’d given the world an ultimatum: give synthetics rights, or be prepared to have all the little secrets that they had gathered in their decades of near-invisible servitude released to the public."

As with SINthetic, the premise of SINdicate is engaging, well-written, and continues to hold your attention from beginning to end. Nicholas again has planned out his plot carefully to keep the action moving and hold your attention. Those who appreciate martial arts and fighting are again rewarded with some well crafted and intricately described fight scenes. It was great to see a couple characters from the first book back in the second.

My criticisms of the first book continues with this one: at 180 pages the book is too short and the ending was rather abrupt. Early information had this second in the series as being almost twice as long as this, which makes me wonder if the series is being spread out over even more books or if it was edited down to this much shorter length. I have to admit that I am tiring of stories being spread out over several books for the sole purpose of creating a series. Again, there is something to be said in getting the whole story or a larger chunk of it quickly.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Random House.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2018/03/sindicate.html ( )