Virtually Timeless

High-Tech Crime Solvers, Book 5

By: Casi McLean

Narrated by: Rich Miller

Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

From USA Today best-selling author, Casi McLean, comes a gripping techno-thriller, part of a multi-author series tied together by an interlocking cast of characters, all centered around the fantastic new promise of high technology and the endless possibilities for crime that technology offers, in a world where getting away with murder can be not only plausible, but easy…if you just know how.

Another gripping thriller from Casi McLean, Virtually Timeless casts a fascinating spin on crime suspense.

When Atlanta-based twins, Sydney and Noah Monaco, mysteriously inherit property 800 miles away, their curiosity prompts them to investigate the bequest.

Noah flies to Connecticut to check out the estate and stumbles upon a confused woman wandering through the forest. His medical instincts kick in, but helping her spirals him into the crosshairs of dangerous criminals out for revenge.

When he fails to connect at the specified time, Sydney’s private eye impulse slides into gear. She finds her brother, but the search exposes a hidden chamber, an ancient artifact, and a decade-old crime, thrusting them down a rabbit hole of mayhem, medical mystery, and murder.

To solve the case, characters from other volumes of this high-tech series come in to lend a hand. In order to get answers before the villains catch up to them, the twins must use cutting-edge technology to unravel the mysteries before the murderers strike again.

©2020 Casi McLean, Inc (P)2020 Casi McLean, Inc

Exciting and entertaining...

This is the fifth book in the High-Tech Crime Solvers Series and, like the others so far, keeps the tension and the pace at maximum. In this story, a doctor and his sister, a private investigator, endeavor to find the identity of an amnesiac woman found wandering on their newly inherited property. Uncovering her past proves quite difficult but the pair of siblings are determined to succeed. During their investigative journey they become the targets of some ruthless individuals willing to kill anyone who comes between them and their goal. The story is captivating from start to finish and the characters are likeable and genuine. Along with the high-tech aspects of this series, there is also a sharing of characters that I find interesting. The main character(s) from one story often show up in a more peripheral role in another story and this character crossover provides a unifying thread to the series that I enjoy. The possibilities are infinite with their combined acumen and skill sets. You just know there will be other stories in which you may see the main character(s) but the mystery is satisfactorily resolved. Like the previous books in the series, this one has a well-crafted mystery and it is resolved at the end but this book does have a cliffhanger in that one of the main characters is put in a situation that requires you to begin a spinoff series from the author to find out what their fate will be. I did not care for the cliffhanger aspect but, otherwise, I did thoroughly enjoy this story and will continue to follow the High-Tech Crime Solvers series.

For those choosing to listen to the audio version of this story, I want to mention that Rich Miller did a wonderful job with the narration. He really brought the story and the different characters to life.

While I did purchase a copy of this book, I was provided with a copy of the audiobook and I am voluntarily offering my honest and unbiased review.

Enjoyable listen

I enjoyed this book and would give it 3.5 stars for the story/writing. It was a good storyline with good pacing and I enjoyed the intrigue. Really, everything about it was good, except the dialogue, which seemed unnatural and stilted at times. Even so, I still enjoyed it.

Fun mystery/adventure

Doctor Noah Monaco, rare disease specialist, and his twin sister, Sydney, private detective, lost their parents years ago, but have recently inherited an estate in Connecticut, from an aunt they never knew existed. It's 800 miles from their Atlanta home, but Noah takes a few days to check the place out, including walking the perimeter of the property.

In the course of doing that, he finds a woman being attacked by a strange man. He manages to chase the man off, but while pursuing him, Noah stumbles and takes a bad fall.

When he doesn't check in as expected, Sydney turns current cases over to her assistant, and heads to Connecticut to find him.

When Noah regains consciousness, he recognizes that he has a concussion, and is relieved when the woman shows up. Help available! But the woman is very confused, has no memory of seeing him before, and it slowly becomes apparent she has no short-term memory at all. Even turning away for a few minutes wipes out her memory of what went before.

He gets some help from the woman, but soon loses her to her lack of short-term memory.

When Sydney shows up, tracking his cellphone to where he dropped it, and then following the scuffed trail, he discovers he was out longer than he though; it's the next day. The woman wanders back, and the twins manage, despite the woman's confusion, to coax her to help Sydney get Noah back to their aunt's house.

What they don't yet realize is that the spot where Sydney found Noah's phone, and an unusual amulet buried in the leaves, is the entrance to an underground chamber, and the site of a ten-year-old crime.

The confused woman has her own hidden history that she knows nothing about--not even her own name. Sydney and Noah manage to win her trust and get her to record reminders to substitute for real memory for the moment, but it soon seems that she has enemies who are pursuing her, not just a random attacker in the woods.

They need a crafty plan to get them all to Atlanta, and then Noah goes to work solving the mystery of the woman's condition, while Sydney goes to work solving the mystery of her background. It's fast-paced, exciting, and fun, even if the discussion of cutting-edge DNA testing and searching, to identify the woman, does get a little ridiculous. I seriously lost count of the number of times that what sounds like pretty normal use of DNA genealogy databases to identify relatives was described as "cutting edge." I mean, really, this is basically the business that Ancestry and 29andMe, and probably others I'm not aware of, are in. But except for that weakness, it's interesting and entertaining. I really liked Noah, Sydney, and their friends.

Recommended.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the author, and am reviewing it voluntarily.

Disappointing ending

I think I needed to have listened to the other books in this series to really appreciate this listen. As it were, characters from earlier books (presumably) popped up and I just didn't know how I was supposed to feel about them. The author really didn't recap the relationships or what happened in earlier stories. (I kept thinking that one of the scientists was a bad guy because the situation, as presented, mandated that to be the case. It wasn't.)

There were two mysteries going on but only one of them got resolved. That made for quite a disappointing ending. I did like the narrator though.

Not sci fi... but entertaining

From the title and description I somehow expected time travel, or maybe parallel dimensions. Alas, this is set in the present and nothing supernatural is in play.

Still, I like thrillers too, and this definitely qualifies. Strong characters, plot twists, fast-paced action... all tied together in an engaging way.

Despite being part of a series (neither first nor last) this is a stand-alone and satisfying novel, with a non intrusive open question and just enough references to earlier books to make connections without leaving gaps.

I received this audiobook for free in exchange for a review.

Suspicious

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

In today’s modern society it’s easy to let technology do everything. But when technology seems to be your enemy you have to find new inventive ways to gets the answers you need. There was one part of the medical testing that made me laugh and told how new to the scene this book was. This was a great read. The performance and story are well thought out and from the very beginning it makes you think who can they really trust? A great mystery novel and great detective novel.

An Intriguing Mix of Genre!

After a slow start, this book picked up pace quickly - and I was hooked! Great development of the characters, the story line, and the plot twists. Very intriguing right to the end. After following a seemingly innocent talisman all the way through the story, was amazed at the science fiction ending! It set the stage for a new adventure - I'm interested to see where it goes!

Medical Thriller that was a short and run ride!

*This book was given to me by the author at my request, and I provided this voluntary, unbiased review.*

4/5

The blurb about this book caught my eye because it was labeled as a techno-thriller, and I am a huge fan of them. This book is number 5 in a series of collections by different authors; however, they are still standalone stories that have tie-ins with characters and story arcs from the other books. I liked the story and the fast paced action of the events that went by - it was a really quick read and as mentioned - a fast moving story-line. The characters were likeable and the medical terminology was sound. There was not too much unbelievably in the story at all, with exception that the MC's owe a lot a favors to friends, as well as cashing in a few favors themselves!

While I did absolutely like the story and enjoyed the audio presentation; this is most definitely NOT a techno-thriller. There is zero "tech" to this thriller at all. While that does not detract from the story itself, it should definitely not be labeled as such. This book was 100% a medical thriller and should be re-categorized as one. The only real tech part of the thriller was in the epilogue, and even then, it was one sentence. So - while this review is overall positive and I would definitely recommend this book, I would beware of anyone looking for an actual techno-thriller from reading this title and instead picking up this title as a medical thriller instead!

Can be read as a standalone, but might be best to start at the beginning of the series

Honestly, from the title and even the description, I was expecting this to have some time-travel and futuristic type high-tech elements. It didn't, so I was somewhat disappointed. However, this thriller was pretty good with lots of action. At times it was intense which is what you expect from a thriller. I liked the characters, but the dialogue at times felt a little stilted.

When I listen to audiobooks, I really like to have the characters come to life with their own voices. I much prefer that than just having a book read to me. In this case, there was some differentiation between male voices, but females didn't get their own voice. So, I can't say it was an exceptionally enjoyable listen, but it was okay.

Overall, I'd give it 3.5 stars. While it definitely can be read as a standalone, my expectations may have been different had I started at the beginning.

Absolutely Great Mystery/ Thriller!!

I was given this Audible book in return for a honest review. I have Never read/ listen to this author before and realized I agreed to book 5. Anyway this turned out to be a stand alone story, though when I get to read books 1-4 I might find out more. The main characters are very well written and the Narrator did a fantastic job bringing characters to life. This was a page Turner and I listened to the whole book in 1 sitting!! Highly recommended this Story.