I was a little worried about this book since I love Rob Thurman's Cal Leandros series to itty bitty pieces. However, I wasn't impressed with her Trickster book. Thankfully, I thought it was definitely the same caliber as her Cal books.
It starts off where you meet Stefan, a young man who's father was involved with the Russian mafia and soon followed in his fathers footsteps. He hasn't exactly climbed very high in the ladder though and does simple bodyguard duty for a local boss in Florida. But w More...

When I picked up an urban fantasy novel by this author called Nightlife, I had no idea then how big a fan I would become of her writing. Since then, she’s been an autobuy for me, because of my love for Cal and Nik Leandros, and how Ms. Thurman managed to show the depths and the power of the relationship between siblings. With Chimera, she does it yet again. One might be encouraged to dismiss this book about a man’s quest to find his brother who was stolen from his family ten years ago a rehash, More...

Chimera is the story of a Stefan, a man who has been haunted by the kidnapping of his younger brother, Lukas, when Stefan was 14 and his brother was seven. In the 10 years since, Stefan has worked as a bodyguard in the Russian mafia in Florida. All of the money and resources he has, due to his father’s own career in the mafia, have been used trying to find Lukas. When a tip seems to pay off, Stefan breaks into a guarded compound to break his brother out. The rest of the book deals with Stefan an More...

I was already a fan of Thurman's other books, both the Cal Leandros series and her Trixa one. I was looking forward to this book, but I didn't know that it was THE book I have been waiting for and my absolute favorite release so far this year.

Holy crap, where to start? The characters? The plot? The dread I felt as I burned through the last half and approached the end, because that meant there was less book to read?

I love her Cal Leandros series, I truly do, but so this is my favorite book from More...

After reading Cal Leandros book #1 Nightlife, I came to truly love Rob Thurman's style of writing and quickly ate up Nightlife and turned my sights on Chimera.

Russian Mafia + Scifi elements + two great leads/brothers + action action = WIN! This book read like a scifi action thriller movie that it made it hard to really walk away from this book or even trying to sleep without wanting to peek at just one more page...

Stefan Korsak saw his brother taken ten years ago. To this day, Stefan still ho More...

Stefan is the prince of a Russian Mafiya. Working at the bottom as a regular bodyguard, he has dedicated his life to finding his brother, Lukas, who was abducted at the age of 7. Blaming himself for talking Lukas into sneaking out to ride horses, although it's not the life he would've chosen, Stefan works for the Mafiya in order to make the money he needs to continue his search. When he finally gets a break and locates a boy with one brown and one blue eye like his brother, he puts a plan into a More...

Soooo, I love this book. Now, that doesn't mean it's a great book, because it isn't. Despite this, couldn't stop myself from enjoying it, and I didn't want to.

I adore both main characters, Stefan and Michael, and their relationship was a beautiful thing to watch grow. Stefan comes from a family from, well, the mafia. He does NOT act like it at all. He's very nice and almost soft, even. His determination to find his brother really endeared him to me.

For me, things didn't start to get interesting More...

I don't think I've read another author who does pure sibling love quite as affecting as Rob Thurman. Like the Cal Leandros series, this series features two brothers in an us-against-the-world scenario. Also like that series, the thing that stands out -- beyond the plot, beyond the darkly biting humor --- is the brotherly devotion.

7-year old Lukas was kidnapped as a child on Christmas while he and his older brother 14 year old Stefan had snuck out of a boring family party to ride their horses on More...

I read this book because I'm a bit of a fan of the author's Cal Leandros series. I guess the best thing I can say about this book is that it was interesting enough to me to finish.

The main issue I had with it was that Stefan's POV was written so like Cal's... Not only does this seem very unimaginative on the author's part, but that POV style has always been the thing I liked least in Cal's books as well. I find it to be overwritten, repetitive, clichéd, annoying, and sometimes offensive. My eye More...

4 1/2 stars! Another of her action-packed tales! Starts the Korsak Brothers series. The author continues to demonstrate her remarkable dexterity for penning slightly dark yet compelling tales of believable characters caught up in circumstances beyond their control and the difficult decisions they make which allow them to demonstrate their true character. Stefan and his younger brother Lukas make an ill-considered decision one fateful night and the next ten years are spent dealing with the reperc More...

Chimera is about Russian mafia member Stephen who for the last 10 years has been on an unstoppable manhunt to find his brother Lucas who was assumed, by him, kidnapped at the age of 7.
As it says in the synapses, Lucas is found. But things don't, and are not, exactly going as Stephen had planned.
While on the run from those who kidnapped Lucas and trying to hide from mafia as well they meet some interesting characters along the way, loose a lot of money, gain a sidekick, and steal a good bit of More...

This is one of those rare times where I desperately hope a book is a one shot (an ever so rare occurrence in the Urban/Fantasy genre). The book is perfect as it stands, and I am happy where it left the characters. That, again, not does happen very often.

If you are familiar with Thurman's work, you will recognize a familiar brotherly dynamic at play (a fun, snarky, fantastic brotherly dynamic) but that is where any similarity with previous work ends. In Chimera the reader finds itself in a soothi More...

4.5 stars!!!
I fell in love with Rob Thurman's Cal and Nico Leandros series, because, for the life of me, I cannot remember ever reading a series about brothers with the intese of love like this one (which of course, make people always connect it to the type of brotherly love from the Winchester brothers). When I read the summary of Chimera, I cannot NOT try it as well. It IS about brothers (again)

And OMG, this one just blows me away. I have to admit that I struggle a bit with the writing in Cal More...

"Chimera" is the first book that I have read from Rob Thurman and it did not disapoint. Ten years earlier Stephan Korsak had his brother kidnapped while they were riding horses and ever since he has felt guilt that he could not protect his younger brother from being taken. He is now twenty four and he continued the search for his brother Lukas. In order to pay for the search he has turned to the family business, which was part of the Russian Mafiya.

Finally the search has produced some results More...

Enjoyable. Themes of good/evil, nature/nurture and family run through the book, usually without becoming heavy handed. Stefan is more or less a flawed character, a bodyguard for a member of the Russian mafiya, and no stranger to violence. We quickly learn his devoted family side as he meets with Saul, a man he hired to find his younger brother Lukas. Saul locates him, and he and Stefan manage a rescue. Most of the rest of the book is Lukas and Stefan on a road trip, looking for somewhere safe. T More...

Although I love Rob Thurman's Cal Leandros and Trickster series-although to a lesser extent, her Chimera series failed to entice me at first. To me it sounded too much like a slightly different version of the Cal Leandros series. I mean, another book about two brothers with one being the monster, the other his saviour? However, when I came across the book in a second-hand bookstore I was unable to leave it behind and I admit that I was curious enough to read it shortly afterwards. And loved it o More...

I really enjoy Rob Thurman's writing, so even though this is science fiction, and not her usual urban fantasy, I didn't hesitate to order it. It took a while to get into the book. I think because the first 90 pages are spent introducing Stefan and his less than glamorous life as mob royalty and thug. The exposition was too long, and is the reason for 4 stars instead of 5. However, once he locates and rescues his brother, the story picks up.

The Amazon blurb pretty much covers the plot - Lukas/Mic More...

SO AMAZINGLY GOOD. Heartwarming and heartbreaking all at once, with moments that make your chest tight with (good) emotion and other moments that make you feel like you just got punched in the stomach, but all of it riveting, impossible to put down, and so very much more endearing than I expected. Wow!

When Stefan Korsak was fourteen, his seven year-old brother Lukas disappeared, forever changing Stefan's life and ripping it asunder. What followed was a downward descent of guilt and self-blame, More...

I was actually kinda wary about this book after reading some bad reviews. Well I was pleasantly surprised that i end up really liking this book. The review said that this is just a knock-off of the Cal Leandros series. I beg to differ, while it is true that they share the same theme - sibling romance, this is definitely not a copy or a watered down version of the said series. Micheal and Stefan is vastly different to Niko and Cal with different personality and relationship dyanamics giving the s More...

Rob Thurman does brother stories really well, her Cal Leandros books are a study in brotherly ties and what one brother will do to protect another. This is another take on that theme, this time there are no overt supernatural creatures, just the Russian Mafia and a brilliant psychopath. Stephan dreams about the night his brother Lukas was taken from him 10 years before, and has never stopped searching for him since, despite the fact that his father seems to have. Not that he sees his father anym More...

This story is definitely in the arena of science fiction rather than fantasy. For strictly fantasy readers who loved the Cal Leandros series I urge you to read this book. While the science fiction is fairly minor, more in the background than the major plot of the book, I can tell that the sequels will be more about what happened. This is a rescue story, a road trip, a story about the bonding of strangers, a story of what love makes you capable of doing.

It is about the characters more than the pl More...

For ten years Stefan has searched for his missing brother Lukas. Kidnapped on Christmas, Stefan is convinced he’s at fault and can’t stop looking for his younger brother. Consumed by guilt and fueled by love, Stefan finally gets a clue to Lukas’ whereabouts. But when Stefan manages to rescue Lukas, he realizes his troubles have just begun. Lukas isn’t anything like the brother Stefan knew and possesses powerful and scary talents. Although Stefan won’t let anything stop him from protecting Lukas More...

this is a stand alone book by the author rob thurman and is her first where she doesn't veer into the "supernatural" realm. this is more of a sci-fi thriller and she does a great job with it. stefan is a mafiosa boss's son and has spent his entire teenage and young adult life searching for his brother who was taken when he was fourteen and his brother was seven. he eventually gets a tip from a friend and they find lukas in a mall with other teenagers. what comes from that is a crazy ride as they More...

Hm. I wanted to like this, because I like all of Thurman's other books. I can't say I exactly hated it, but I lost interest in it very quickly. The science fiction elements didn't really seem to have much of a presence - Stefan could have been rescuing his brother from a perfectly mundane human trafficking ring and it wouldn't have changed much of anything. It seemed like a whole lot of nothing happened from beginning to end, just two guys on the road snarking at each other, and I got sick of th More...

This is, by far, my favorite in the genre of what I like to call Realistic Fantasy/Science Fiction/Bomb-tastic amazingness. This is a book that I would recommend to EVERYONE. The characters, while may seem evil on the outside from appearences, are Moral and have strong distinction from right a wrong. And even if they blur the lines, they do it to make it through the world alive. While I will not reveal any spoilers, the ending, while you can see the hints of it by re-reading through it, is unexp More...

I just recently started reading Rob Thurman's books. It's wonderful to discover a new author whose work is so consistently excellent and deliciously readable. Chimera was riveting. I found it almost impossible to put it down before I finished it. Her pacing and plot twists keep you engrossed in the story and her "heroes" are flawed and human and easy to love. Themes of family, of moral grey areas, and of redemption abound, but are never heavy-handed. Humor abounds as well, in internal and verbal More...

Wow. That was amazing. The ending blew me away, I was not expecting it.

The biggest problem with this novel is that the publisher sabotaged it. One of the big driving mysteries of the first half of the story is what happened to one of the two main characters, and they tell you on the back of the cover. The story itself is fine, with somewhat of a more relaxed plot pace than Thurman's other books, which allows for more character development and heightens the relationship between the two main ones. It reminded me quite a bit of the kind of suspense tale that Dean Koon More...

Thurman does it again with characters you care about and whip-crack dialog. Here we meet the Korsak "brothers" (Thurman certainly has a thing for brothers doesn't she?). Stefan, a Russian mob bodyguard and heir apparent, is searching for his long lost brother Lukas and thinks he finds him in an institute in Florida. But is it really his brother, or just what is left of him? Unlike her normal urban fantasy meets noir approach, Thurman mixes it up a bit with science fiction (genetics and biochemis More...