Everything changed when scientists discovered the drug. It looked like the cure for aging, but all progress comes with a price tag. Now, eternal youthfulness will be paid for by the blood of the innocent. The blood of “carriers” is the most valuable commodity on earth. When treated with a new wonder drug, it cures disease, increases power, and makes the recipient a virtual superman. It also makes … superman.
It also makes the carriers targets. Young people with the right genes are ripped from their families and stashed in “blood farms.”
Ellie Batista became an LAPD officer specifically to fight this evil as a member of the Blood Squad, but her ambitions are thwarted—until the day she and her partner are ambushed during a routine stop. The resulting events plunge her into an undercover world more dangerous than she could have ever imagined.
Because a madman has found a way to increase the potency of the blood to levels previously unimagined. As he cuts a bloody swath through the already deadly world of blood cartels, Ellie is the only hope to stop him before the body count explodes.
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What a ride this book was! Blood World is set in the future, where special people with unique genes are kidnapped at a young age and used for their unique blood. Most carriers are well cared for, and others are simply bled out and dumped. The rich recipients of this carrier blood receive transfusions of this blood mixed with other enhancing ingredients resulting in youthfulness, injuries and diseases are cured, energy restored, sharp thoughts and memory, and the effects last for months. Our main character Ellie has a goal to become a member of the Blood Unit tasked with hunting down blood farms and returning carriers to their families. Ellie Balista is an LAPD police officer with a secret goal for hunting down and fighting this evil and finding what was taken from her. Ellie is an exceptional woman who gives up her own personal life to go undercover into the blood world to go after a madman who has found a way to super enhance the process. Blood World will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout.
This book is set in the world of the near future, the blood world, where the blood of carriers can cure diseases and make bodies young again. Carriers are at high risk of being kidnapped, drained and killed, or sent to blood farms to have their blood harvested on a regular basis. LAPD officer Ellie Batista wants to get on the special Blood Force to investigate these crimes for one reason-to find her twin brother, a carrier who was kidnapped as a child. After she and her partner are ambushed she gets her wish and is thrust into an undercover operation like she never imagined. As the female lead Ellie is strong willed and smart. At first she seemed hard and impersonal but her character grew as her involvement in the blood world did. Some of the bad guys were just thugs doing a job but the main two were well developed. Sebastian was one of the producers of the Pandora blood and kept a blood farm of donors but he seemed to be caring and kind. I couldn’t help rooting for him. His son Paul was truly an evil man, a villain, driven by lust for money and hatred. The story line was unique and plausible. There were a few twists and turns and lots of nonstop action. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an early copy of a book I might otherwise have overlooked
An exciting, yet frightening sci-fi thriller
In the near future man has conquered the effects of old age. All it takes is a whole lot of money and a blood donor who is a carrier of a specific gene. The blood from these donors dissolves excess fat, tightens loose skin, erases wrinkles, gives strength of body and mind, and heightens all the senses. Since the donors aren’t willing to just give up their blood, they are kidnapped, held on “blood farms” and their blood is transfused into people rich enough to pay the price.
Ellie Batista is a patrolman on the LAPD but her long-time desire is to get involved in the newly formed LAPD Blood Crimes Unit. She hasn’t had any luck so far in getting onto the unit.
But a series of unfortunate events have them seeking her out to work undercover. And she jumps at the chance even though it will mean leaving everything in her old life behind. But she’s wanted this for years, for reasons known only to her.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I liked Ellie’s character and it was a sign of the author’s writing skill that there were a few of the bad guys I found myself liking (or at least not hating), too. The story moved at a fast pace and I enjoyed every bit of it.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys thrillers, science fiction, or just a plain good book.
I received this book from Berkley Publishing through Net Galley and Edelweiss in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.
BLOOD WORLD by Chris Mooney is an adult, sci-fi, futuristic thriller line focusing on the fight for control of the fountain of youth.
Told from third person perspective BLOOD WORLD follows several paths including that of LAPD police officer Ellie Bautista. Desperate to secure a position on the Blood Squad, Ellie goes undercover in an effort to ferret out the people responsible for a series of kidnappings and missing persons known as carriers, people who carried the fountain of youth in their blood. A play for power and control of the blood carriers finds several powerful men vying for the top position in the world of illegal blood trade, and the use of specific drugs known to enhance the benefits of the blood’s use. As Ellie begins to work with some of the men responsible for the local blood farms, a fight for control turns into an all out war where the price for endless youth is indeed high.
BLOOD WORLD is a futuristic story line set in California, the playground of the rich and famous where eternal youth is a commodity very few have the money to pay. The discovery of the fountain of youth has provoked a hunger for power, the power to control the ultimate prize.
Chris Mooney pulls the reader into a what if story line. What are you willing to do? What are you willing to pay? Will you sell your soul to eternal youth? An edgy and dramatic story line; a thought provoking and intriguing tale of desperation, power and control.
Blood World by Christopher Mooney is the best thriller that I have reviewed this year. Picture a world where money buys unique and special blood that increases longevity, beauty, physical fitness. Then imagine that the way to get all of the above is to buy it. Simple, right? Sure, except there is a limited supply. And those who have it in them are targets by gangs who kidnap them and keep them forever in captivity draining their blood and selling it to the highest bidder. Add to this brilliant premise the usual cops, robbers, schemers, and plotters and you have a perfect recipe for fantastic entertainment. I say no more except that you should buy Blood World the moment it comes out.
Violent, emotional, dark, gripping, imaginative. It was a wild ride for sure.
I loved the characters, all of them so well-developed. Ellie is a tenacious, strong willed woman who is willing to do anything to achieve her goal (I can’t say more because of spoiler alert).
Sebastian is one of the bad guy in the book, he is supposed to be an evil mastermind but turns out to be someone who is much like Ellie. He cares deeply for someone in his life and to protect them he too is willing to do anything.
And the story itself? It grabbed my attention and wouldn’t let it go.
Thank you to Edelweiss and Penguin Publishing Group for my copy