Into the Black starts off hard, and doesn't let up throughout the whole book. Our MFC is Janey McCallister, an investigator who works at Bijoux de L'Etoile a high end casino in space.

Janey took the job to pay for her mother's health care, but she's skating on thin ice. She's messed up a bit, and if she messes up again, she's out of a job. She's trying to follow all the rules, but she's not getting on with her boss or her co-workers.

Janey is assigned the case of a priceless gem that's been stolen from one of the guests. Janey is assigned the case, and it's made clear that if she wants to keep her job, she has to get the gem back. Before she can even get to the guest's room though an unknown insurance agent, Orlando Valdez gets there. Janey doesn't know him or whether he really is an insurance agent.

Into The Black hooked me from the first page and I knew I had to keep reading. Reading it made me think of In Death the sci-fi mystery series by J.D. Robb, and a few of the stories she had written. I loved it even more than I thought I would.

Into the Black drew me in from the first page and I fell in love with the story instantly. I loved the world that was created for Into the Black. The characters are just as amazing. When I read the summary and saw that it involved working and living on a space station I was in as it reminded me of TV shows like Killjoys, The Orville, Star Trek and, Vagrant Queen.


Thank you NetGalley for letting me have an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

i really enjoyed reading this book, I liked the use of scifi and mystery the two genres worked really well in the story.

This is a good detective story wrapped up in the science fiction setting of a well imagined future world and given the added value of a resourceful and attractive main character. The setting is a magnificent space station which serves as a futuristic and luxurious hotel and casino and provides a more exciting backdrop to the story than Miss Marple ever encountered.

Janey McAllister has started a new job as head of Security at an exclusive hotel/casino high above Earth in the early 22nd century. This position is a change from her past experience as an MP Criminal Investigator with the Space Wing Command, but she needs the higher pay in order to pay for her mother's expensive medical treatments. A theft of a special gem becomes quite involved when Janey is joined by a suspicious insurance investigator. Murder, politics, and red herrings complicate the investigation, as well as the hot and cold attraction between these two stubborn individuals.

This is the first in a series. The basic world building has begun and will, hopefully, continue to improve. Some readers will enjoy the light aspects of this novel.

I felt that the book didn't adequately find it's niche. It may have fulfilled the science fiction purpose best since this is set in the fairly near future. The space station casino and the tech used by law enforcement, etc. is believable enough. As a mystery, I felt it lacked some focus with red herrings that actually just seemed more superfluous information instead. It is the romance that I felt needs some work. Too much sniping without the witty repartee that makes formula romances so much fun to read, a rather abrupt change from active antagonism to attraction, and unresolved questions about truthfulness, etc., just seemed rushed and unlikely. I would have like more of the aforesaid repartee, even with the suspicion of lying, and a more slow-burning realization.

From the description, I expected this to be more futuristic mystery. What I feel better describes it is a weak romantic "suspense" .

This was an interesting book. It had an out of this world (pun intended) world that is built. It's made from scratch and in depth, full setting of this imaginary place.
The main character Janey was also someone who had some pretty good depth and it became easy to become a cheerleader for her success. She was smart, tough, loving towards her mother, and the reader also gets to see her flaws too.
Orlando Valdez, wow what a complex person he was. Interesting but he also kept not only Janey confused, he also had me wondering what his deal was.
Speaking of confusing, there were times that I was almost as confused as Janey as to what was going on. Don't get me wrong, it made the story even better for me.
I usually like my stories to have some romance in them and this one had two people off balance with each other. Oh, the attraction was there and some flirting with a promise of maybe more but that was it.
Everything comes to a good conclusion with a peek into the next book in the series.
One question that I didn't feel got answered was, what was going on with her enhancement? Still, it was such a well written story, I didn't hold that against the author.
By the way, I loved the cover for this eBook !

"I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

The premise of this book sounded promising with science fiction, mystery and police procedural elements. But the author failed to deliver, the science fiction part was good but the romance didn't click with me and the police procedural parts needed more substance. I might read another in this series just to see if the author has developed more. I received an e-book from NetGalley in return for an unbiased review.

A detective on a casino space station investigates a series of mysterious thefts, strange technologies and a mysterious and handsome man who keeps showing up where he doesn't belong. A strong premise and interesting world-building are the highlights of the book. It's stronger as a science fiction novel than as a romance - I just wasn't able to warm up to the central relationship. I'll be interested to read more by the author, but maybe not with these characters.

This was a quick, enjoyable read set in a well thought out future world. The crime plot was fairly simplistic and perhaps more suited for a cosy mystery than an edgier police procedural, but it worked well enough.

What I didn't care for was the romance plot. It was insta-love after a few hours of acquaintance, and then Janey played hot and cold with Orlando, as if she had to be assured of happily ever after before she could even kiss him. I found the romance all the more difficult to root for because I wasn't at all attracted to Orlando, on top of which his constant lies made it impossible for me to trust him as a romantic lead.

Janey was an oddly out-of-sync character, with too much past that both affected her actions and didn't affect them enough, so that her reactions tended to be all over the place. The cast of secondary characters was odd too, especially the chef with her own bodyguards. Nevertheless, I might be tempted to read the next book too.