False Hearts by Laura Lam

One night Tila stumbles home, terrified and covered in blood. She’s then arrested for murder, the first by a civilian in decades. The San Francisco police suspect that the drug Verve is involved, and offer her sister Taema a chilling deal to save her sister’s life. Posing as Tila, she must infiltrate the crime syndicate running the drug to help bring it down. However, Taema’s inquiries raise dangerous questions. The sisters were raised by a cult which banned modern medicine. Yet as conjoined twins, they needed surgery to replace their failing heart, so had to escape. Now Tila discovers disturbing links between the twins’ past and their present. Once unable to keep secrets, the twins now learn the true cost of lies.

False Hearts is a gripping, edge of your seat thriller, that is very difficult to put down when started. I thought the book was brilliant throughout, and I managed to read it in just a couple of sittings. If you are looking for a thriller novel with added sci-fi, then False Hearts is definitely for you.

Taema and Tila were conjured twins who were bought up in a cult. When they managed to escape the cult, they had surgery to separate themselves. The story begins with Tila arrested for murder, and the only way for Taema to free her sister is to go uncover as Tila to infiltrate a crime organisation, who are dealing with a powerful drug called, Verve. That is the basic synopsis for the book and I don’t want to say anymore because I think that it would spoil the reading experience.

I thought the story was both exciting and very original. Normally I don’t read sci-fi books, but the concept for this book had me intrigued and I wanted to give it a read. I am really glad I did because I enjoyed every minute of it. I found Taema to be an interesting and very unique main character. At the beginning of the book you can see that Taema is the quite twin, and the one who would not normally go against the rules, but when she goes undercover as her sister you can see a different and more rebellious side to her.

I have to say that I think this is one of my favourite books that I have read this year for world building. The way the story is written it feels like you are submerged into this world from the very start and when you are so engrossed in the story, its hard to actually imagine this world as fiction. The world seems so visual and real when reading, and I think this is why I didn’t want to put the book down because I loved reading and being part of the futuristic world.

I really liked the pacing and the writing in this book. I have never read anything written by Laura Lam before, but now I have read this book I cant wait to read and experience more by her. Her writing is very inventive and its very easy to visualise everything that is happening while reading. I never got bored or found the plot to lull when reading, I though the pacing was great and it definitely left me on the edge of my seat at times.

If you are looking for a different type of sci-fi book or just a really great thriller read then I would recommend reading False Hearts, you will not regret it. Everything about this book is brilliant and well thought out and well written. I can not wait to start the second novel in the series, Shattered Minds.

I rate this book 5/5 stars