I acquired a overview copy from the writer. This doesn’t have an effect on the contents of my overview and all opinions are my very own.

Scales by Christopher Hinz

Mogsy’s Score: 3 of 5 stars

Style: Science Fiction, Thrillers

Collection: Stand Alone

Writer: Offended Robotic (April 8, 2025)

Size: 432 pages

Writer Info: Web site

Earlier than I get into the meat of this overview, I’ll admit I really feel somewhat bit duped. Once I first noticed the ebook’s blurb pitching Scales as an ideal learn for followers of Jurassic Park, I’d initially pictured rampaging dinos. The reality is definitely one thing fairly totally different. Whereas I might nonetheless classify this novel as a techno-thriller, and there was little doubt some bioethical questions concerned, its premise nonetheless places it extra consistent with navy sci-fi, tremendous troopers, and covert ops fiction. That mentioned, as soon as expectations are readjusted, chances are you’ll but discover a sure attraction to this high-octane motion thriller.

The story follows Eddie Boka, a U.S. soldier turned genetically modified superhuman as a part of a categorized navy experimental program fusing human and dinosaur DNA. After going by way of the genetic modifications, he and three different volunteers for this system are gifted with enhanced energy, extra acute senses, and scaly armor, making them lethal and sturdy combatants on the battlefield. Nonetheless, these newfound skills additionally include an unlucky aspect impact. Dubbed the bloodburn, it’s a primal compulsion that takes over throughout fight, and it strikes Eddie throughout his first mission. Whereas finishing up an assault on a guerilla camp, he loses management, giving in to a violent and animalistic urge to devour one in every of his victims. Alarmed, the researchers behind this system understand they have to handle this grotesque improvement earlier than introducing their dino-human hybrids to the general public. In spite of everything, it could be extraordinarily tough to generate assist if folks have been to search out out Eddie and his friends harbor an inclination in direction of cannibalism.

Thus, enter Adelaide LaTour. A controversial psychotherapist, Addi is the inventor of an efficient however a lot maligned therapy course of involving conditioning with what is basically a really highly effective shock collar. By inviting her to the analysis advanced to work with Eddie, his handlers hope that her unorthodox strategies will assist tamp down the bloodburn and its undesirable urges. And but, what neither Addi nor Eddie anticipated was the bond that varieties between them, one which ultimately deepens into one thing extra. In the meantime, as their forbidden romance grows much more advanced, the ability’s darker secrets and techniques are additionally starting to floor. Hidden experiments which have been saved buried by the megalomaniacal scientist behind this system are finally uncovered, threatening the longer term and lives of human-dino hybrid troopers like Eddie.

From the leap, this story throws readers right into a fast-paced journey that hardly ever lets up. Hinz is in his factor and seems most snug when he’s writing motion like covert mission element and close-quarter fight conditions, showing to have a robust grasp of the style’s expectations. The ebook can be most compelling when it explores Eddie’s bodily transformation and the bioengineering experimentation that occurs behind the scenes, and there’s a refined but intriguing thread of moral questions underlying this premise, exploring the problems of management, consent, and institutional overreach.

Nonetheless, past that is the place the novel begins to falter. As a lot enjoyable as I had with the motion, one thing felt lacking: depth. For one, there’s a distinct lack of emotional substance as characters hardly ever present a lot of themselves beneath the floor, appearing extra like archetypes than actual folks. Eddie is the tortured and noble soldier, who is sweet at coronary heart however made some errors in his youth. Addi is the sensible however morally ambiguous therapist, who’s extra involved about her popularity than she lets on. Positive, these labels are straightforward sufficient to use, however what led them to be this fashion? We don’t actually know, as a result of the story by no means goes deeper. Facet characters are much more roughly sketched, filling cookie cutter roles like “mad scientist” or “hard-ass navy commander.”

To be trustworthy, that is all effective for those who’re okay with a ebook equal of a senseless summer season Hollywood blockbuster, however Scales actually pushed its luck when it got here to the romance between Eddie and Addi. Not surprisingly, while you put two thinly developed characters collectively, the result’s you get zero chemistry and an unnatural, unconvincing relationship that finally appears like a rush job. And it’s a disgrace, actually. It’s as if Hinz’s instincts informed him his novel wanted a love story, however he couldn’t fairly write one in with real feeling.

Evidently, the ebook additionally requires you to droop your disbelief, although to be honest, that’s a reasonably customary prerequisite in terms of sci-fi thrillers of this kind. A lot of it’s also entertaining, however in some ways makes it really feel extra like studying a comic book ebook or watching a film somewhat than a novel, and little doubt the writer’s comics and screenplay writing background performs into this. Every little thing would possibly really feel daring and loud, but the phrases are lacking that particular ingredient that offers the prose presence and polish.

Ultimately, Scales was an honest learn. It’s popcorn fiction in each sense of the time period, that includes huge concepts, huge stakes, and massive motion, even when it doesn’t totally decide to exploring a lot past the floor. There’s little doubt a whole lot of leisure to be discovered right here, particularly for those who don’t thoughts a little bit of style absurdity. For me, this was a wonderfully common learn, although I did admire the diversion.