- Book Title: Lab Rat
- Book Series: standalone
- Author: Nephy Hart
- Publisher: Wayward Ink Publishing (May 4, 2016)
- Book Length: 280 pages
- Genre: Romance. Paranormal/Horror Romance, LGBTQ, Gay Romance, Contemporary
- Reviewed by: Petra
- Rating: 4.5 Star
There are documents floating about on the internet that explain how the British government allowed certain substances to be dropped from aeroplanes onto its own country and people. For the sole reason to decide if the used substances could be used for warfare. That same government told the people the coloured powder was safe to people, flora, and fauna but that they performed the ‘exercise’ to learn how to deal with an air attack and the widespread effects if a hostile force was to drop chemicals on this nation. Does that sound like a conspiracy theory? Perhaps it does, but that doesn’t make it any less true. Then again, it may never have happened, or not as per the documents I saw.
Whether or not it happened, government always has, and always will have, its own agenda. And, no matter how immoral, it will always tell the people whatever serves that government best. Be it war, or testing, or negotiations with foreign nations, or weapons deals, or whatever else government gets up to. Solely for that reason do I have little qualm in believing a scenario akin to Lab Rat. Besides, it is well-known that humans only use a small percentage of their brain. Telekinesis, telepathy, mind reading, mind control, clairvoyance: these aren’t all that farfetched and why wouldn’t our brains be capable of something like that? And, on the premises that it’s possible, why wouldn’t government use that to their advantage? Through whatever means available to them. And, not only government… I’m sure big business would pay big money for someone who could spy on competitors without ever leaving the office.
Lab Rat, by Nephy Hart, explores what could happen if government decides to start ‘training’ children to access their latent ESP abilities. And what happens when they no longer think that is a viable ‘project’.
The story starts seven years after Gabriel was taken, and let go, by a government team that tested children for psychic abilities. The subsequent ‘training’ has left him with more problems than anyone seems to be able to handle. Not only are there his debilitating headaches that cause him to pass out, but there is also the very righteous anger towards whoever it was that has stolen his youth and his life. At twenty-one, he would die quite happily… not that he actively looks for death, he simply wouldn’t fight all that hard if Death came for him.
That all changes, no matter how hard he fights it, when he meets Laurie. But Laurie has a past of his own, and not one he is proud of. But, if he wants to save Gabriel, he will have to come to terms with the things he has done and seen. Especially when Gabriel is taken back by the same people who turned him lose all those years ago.
There are some strong characters in this story. Quite necessarily so; weaker characters would have been overshadowed by the events, whereas Gabriel, Laurie, and the rest of the cast stand their ground. Well developed, but dark. The main characters each have a past that needs dealing with and in the case of Gabriel there are some serious issues that create a character that is anything but light and laughter.
The setting detailed but a bit too generic for me; there is nothing there that isn’t also available in other books of the same, and differing, genres. The facilities aren’t quite as ‘scary’ as I would have liked them to be. After all, being held against your will by people who perform some of the most excruciating experiments on you… no matter how clinical this must be, it needed to have a bigger impact.
The plot is good, but there are similar stories out there. However, there were some delicious twists, so I was kept entertained throughout the story.
The editing was decent, but started to deteriorate at about the halfway mark. Not to a deplorable state, but enough to be noticed.
And so I come to my scoring of this story… all in all, Lab Rat is a good story and will capture young adults as much as new adults and adults. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
