Faces in the Water, Tonya Macalino

Today we are visiting one of the more creative post-apocalyptic novels I've ever read,  Faces in the Water (Shades of Venice Book 1), by indie author, Tonya Macalino.


But First, THE BLURB:
Who created that slide of silk across your skin as you reached for your cinematic lover? Who recorded the crushing weight of the grizzly as you fought for your life in the fictional wilderness? It is Lone Pine Pictures’ Alyse Kate Bryant who wraps your body in the story only your mind was privy to before.

A brilliant sensory immersion artist and a wild daredevil, Alyse will do almost anything for the perfect sensory file, but the violent death of her father has her teetering on the very edge of reckless sanity.

For just one night, Alyse seeks refuge in the arms of a beautiful stranger.

And her recklessness finally has consequences.

Now Alyse finds herself trapped in the flooded ruins of Venice, a quarantine camp for the carriers of Sleepers’ Syndrome. But it can never be that simple. Because the Sleepers’ Syndrome carriers who populate the camp are no longer as human as they seem.

The city of legend is bringing its legends back to life.

They come now, Alyse.

Run.

MY REVIEW: 

This book is gripping. Alyse is a complicated character, and her supporting cast is equally complicated. The culture of immersion-art as the TV of the future seems quite plausible, given the current penchant for reality shows. And Alyse is one of the most popular artists. She really is an adrenaline junkie.

The world Macalino builds in Venice is dark, mist-enshrouded and eerie--and what Alyse discovers there is disturbing. The plot keeps moving and the action never stops--always it is heading toward the final denouement.

Her experiences, shock, horror, anger--all are true and real. Alyse is one good, solid character. The reactions of her friends are all true too--loyalty, horror, abandonment--all reactions friends would have in varying and different degrees.

Vittoreo and Matteo are wonderfully drawn, sexy, and full of emotion and life Jurgen is exactly what he should be: powerful, charismatic and consumed with the conviction that he has the one final answer...he is a fabulous antagonist.

This is a dark, meaty, grownup novel for thinking people. I give it 5 full stars, because it stuck with me--I was thinking about Macalino's Venice all evening.