Can I Read Your Mind?: Book One: A Hazardous Tale

Imagine if you could read minds. Now, imagine getting paid to utilize said power everyday. Meet Arthur O'Donnell, a man with Telepathic abilities who does just that.Arthur spends his workweek providing his Telepathic services for Psychica, a company that offers Psychic services, such as raising the dead and perceiving the future, to clients across the U.S. He used to have a co-worker, Bill Baxter, help him out with the workload, but he suddenly resigned six months ago.Now Arthur must juggle work life and personal struggles as he tries to unravel the mystery surrounding Bill's sudden departure, along with dealing with people not so receptive to Psychic powers and those who use their abilities for nefarious purposes.And when a mysterious and dangerous Psychic starts running around wreaking havoc, can Arthur and his friends, both old and new, stay safe around such a dangerous adversary?

as far as we know, there are no multi-universe dimensional traveling and malicious Norse gods in our world. Can I Read Your Mind? stars Arthur as the lead protagonist. He can read minds and is an employee at Psychica, a company striving to help humans with their everyday problems. Arthur helps clients suffering from trauma and marital issues. Due to the states of non-humans with special abilities, they can't use their powers unless supervised. Working for Psychica, Arthur has been microchipped. Whatever he does, the authorities will know about it. Meanwhile, there are employees who left Psychica to live normal lives. Bill Baxter, one of Arthur's former co-workers, is one of them. He left the supernatural lifestyle for a normal bank job. His new life doesn't last long though, as he winds up dead. Now it's up to Arthur and his Psychica group to figure out what happened to Bill and why. They also must deal with a rival villain company, a rogue stranger named Hazard, and an anti-non-human supremacist group. What else could go wrong? This novel is at its best with its action sequences. When non-humans are fighting, the powers are incredible to witness and offer readers a scope of just how impressive this storyline can be. Egbe has created an array of interesting diverse characters like Arthur and Akechi who can read objects' histories with a single touch. The underlying rules for Psychica are also quite compelling. These employees cannot use their powers outside of work, even if it were to help a distressed stranger on the street. The ethics around supernatural abilities give this book a thought-provoking nature. It makes readers wonder what the points are for having extraordinary abilities if you're not going to use them. Are people like Arthur and the rest of Psychica only good for assisting others? What about living their own lives? And why aren't humans using their own talents instead of throwing all the weight on the non-humans? Then, there is the oddly familiar feeling of human and non-human conflict. Throughout the book, Arthur and Psychica deal with humans who can't stand their kind. They fear non-humans are dangerous and don't deserve rights like regular humans do. I appreciate Egbe bringing this theme forward as it is a common occurrence in real life when it comes to sexuality, race, class, and more. Despite the strong premise and action scenes though, I can't help but feel that Can I Read Your Mind? is missing out on some available gusto. Oftentimes, the overall run of the story feels lukewarm, and not too many of the characters give us much to keep us engaged. Scenes before and after the big plot points tend to lack forward momentum, and in this way, it feels like we have to wait around for the good parts. Egbe carries a great idea within Can I Read Your Mind? This book has the potential to take readers on an epic ride, but it may have to give just a little bit more to do so.

"Can I Read Your Mind? is screaming X-Men vibes"-The Independent Book Review Living every day with superpowers should be fun, right? But it's not all sunshine, rainbows, and puppies for the characters in Victor Egbe's Can I Read Your Mind? For those who get their thrills from stories with psychics and real-life conflicts, this fantasy might just be the book for you. Egbe's story carries loads of X-Men vibes, but more grounded. While there is an atmosphere of the extraordinary, the book has a realistic feel to it. Well, to an extent of course

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