Mastermind

League of Independent Operatives #3

by Kate Sheeran Swed

Mary O'Sullivan no longer trusts her instincts.

Her secret identity is blown, the league is under official scrutiny, and LIO's retirees are now their sworn enemies--all because of her reckless decisions.

When mysterious strangers steal the league's most powerful asset, Mary adds one more defeat to her roster by failing to prevent their escape. Afraid of making another devastating mistake, she refuses to join the mission to track down the thieves, instead sticking to the relative safety of HQ. If that means occasionally encountering her ex in the halls, well, she's punched Nathan Pearce before. She's not afraid to do it again.

But the mission goes awry when LIO's government liaison turns against them, and only Mary and Nathan remain free. With her friends in dire need and a powerful new foe lurking just out of sight, Mary must face her own demons before she can hope to defeat her enemies--and save the people she loves.

Genres: Science Fiction

312 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 2, 2021

About the author

Kate Sheeran Swed loves hot chocolate, plastic dinosaurs, and airplane tickets. She has trekked along the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu, hiked on the Mýrdalsjökull glacier in Iceland, and climbed the ruins of Masada to watch the sunrise over the Dead Sea. She holds degrees in music from the University of Maine and Ithaca College, as well as an MFA in Fiction from Pacific University. Her stories are forthcoming or have appeared in the Young Explorer's Adventure Guide Volume 5, Daily Science Fiction, Electric Spec, and Andromeda Spaceways. You can find her on Twitter @katesheeranswed.

Reviews

[Tenaya MKD · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have loved this series from the very first line of book one! (That line is still one of my very favorite first lines.) And Mastermind did not disappoint! This book goes into everything I was hoping for after Anti-Hero and then even more. Kate has an incredible talent for multi-POV storytelling, and this book is a prime example of it. I was so impressed.

I already cannot wait for book four! The LIO series has become an all-time favorite of mine.

[C.E. Clayton · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Mastermind” is the third book in Swed’s “League of Independent Operatives” series, so if you haven’t read the first two books then… hey, hi, you should read those and then come back here so we can better discuss this baby. Because in “Mastermind” we are once again put in the middle of two different groups of powered vigilantes who love to point fingers at each other, while bigger, badder problems and forces loom on the horizon. In this third book, we get more emotion from our main character, Mary, as she deals with the consequences of her actions from book 2, and while Mary is forced to confront those demons and learn to trust herself again, she’s pretty much the only character that faces their inner misgivings head on, whether for good or ill.

This third book is really the catalyst for all the moving pieces to get ready for the major confrontation in the fourth book. So, as such, be prepared for the majority of the book to focus on setting up Wave’s mentality toward LIO, and vice versa—mainly through Eloise and Agnes’ point of view. Swed is still a master of making you question which organization is truly the “good” guy, as both organizations are steeped so much in a grey area, with both sides doing what, they believe to be, the right thing. Except for the LIO retirees, of course. Which sets up for a moral dilemma that I really like: how to forgive an organization and trust them once the bad apples are removed, and can you even forgive a past such as that? Which seems to be the epitome of Agnes’ chapters, which, while interesting to get her view point, I have to be honest and say that I also found her chapters to be the weakest. They didn’t always add a lot to the overall plot, and I often found her reasoning for punishing Eloise to be a bit petty, not that Eloise was much better, but as we get to see El’s character growth more, she tends to get a pass from me…

A lot of the characters come across as selfish or petty in this book mainly because all sides are hurting. All sides feel betrayed by the other, and don’t know how to trust one another because of past wrongs. It’s a very human quality, especially for Mary who grapples with how to trust her own instincts again after all the mistakes she made in the previous book, and the hurt she caused, especially to Nathan. But while Mary grows from it, and learns from it, a lot of the other characters remain stubborn, to the point of putting lives at risk, and kind of ignoring the threat Chloe’s organization presents, not to mention the other mysterious organization that’s after the Pearl Knife. But see, THIS is why I say that the main goal of this book is to position those opposing groups where they need to be, along with the weakened position (because of a lack of trust) that Wave and LIO are in, to set up for a potential dismantling of these groups in the next book. Or maybe not, as there are rumored to be 5 books in this series… So be prepared for that kind of cliffhanger that Swed does so well!

All in all, it was nice to see the emotional growth that characters like Mary and Nathan underwent, as well as Sloane, who we do get to see more of in this book than we did in the previous. I just wish some of that emotional growth also applied to people like Agnes, who frustrated me more than she probably should have in “Mastermind”. I loved the moral questions that were brought up in this book, especially where the Pearl Knife was concerned, though I did get frustrated when no one really asked the Knife what was up. Seems like some issues could have been resolved by just “talking” to the mysterious blade. Which is why I am giving this 4 stars; it was just a bit too much set up without resolution for my personal tastes, though I am excited by what Swed is setting up for in the 4th book, and already nervous about how it’ll all end come the 5th… I always enjoy Kate’s crisp writing style though, and am so thankful that she sent me a digital copy for an honest review!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Firstly I want to say a big thank you to Kate for allowing me to be part of her ARC Team; she's such a lovely person and a delightful author. That said, of course all views and opinions discussed here are my own.

It took me a moment to get my head back into the series as it's been a little while since I read the last one but once i'd settled myself back into the world and the characters I was absolutely hooked. The pace is kept up throughout this book and I raced through it in one sitting. I just wasn't able to put the book down! I loved Mary throughout this book and i'm so glad we get to see a more emotional side to her and exploring the impact of what happened in the last book. Mary might be a superhero but she's also a human who feels regret and remorse, especially from the events of the last book, and i'm glad they weren't just swept under the rug and we got to explore the ramifications of that on Mary's emotions and actions. It was a nice change of pace to the action and really developed her character for me.

I do think Kate is trying to drive me insane by making it hard for me to decide who to root for; every book I change my mind on who I think are the 'good guys'. Although really I don't think it's that black and white and I think that every character thinks they're doing things for the right reasons. At the moment i'm simply Team Mary. I haven't decided on Wave or LIO yet...

If you love sci-fi and superheroes this is definitely a series I would recommend for you. I can't wait for the next instalment and to probably change my mind again on who i'm rooting for...

(one thing I would find really helpful for this book is maybe a glossary of characters just so I can keep track in my head who is who!)

[Cath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spoiler Alert! This is book three of the League of Independent Operatives (LIO) and the main character in this episode is Mary O’Sullivan who is having a crisis of confidence after recent events and no longer trusts even her own instincts. Her former boyfriend Nathan Pearce decided to stick with the League even after they found out its leader and operatives were responsible for lots of murders including Mary’s actual parents. He allowed all the WAVE prisoners to be released and free to return to their own organisation, after they were proved to be innocent of any ill deeds. Now some strangers, thought to be aliens, have stolen the Pearl Knife which is the most powerful asset the league have and which had been connected with Eloise, her sister as such. Mary failed to stop the strangers as they escaped, after seeing the main thief ending up dead in the park, seemingly by the actions of another man she only caught a glimpse of, who may have been a hologram. While the young man’s associates came to his side and then made off with the blade, which was being contained in some sort of special box. The strangers are obviously not dressed as others around them and have tech way above what is commonly available on Earth. They should be fairly easy to spot if they can get back onto their trail, and hopefully catch them before another wormhole is opened up for them to escape through.

Mary and Eloise make their way back to the LIO headquarters behind Niagara Falls, and Mary can see that the missing blade has had a draining effect on Eloise, leaving her looking weary, exhausted and somewhat drained. When she took over the blade from her mother, it gave Eloise lots of powers, but its sudden withdrawal and absence has started to create damage in those parts of her brain that had somehow been expanded by the blade and its powers. Eloise has more problems to deal with as Nathan’s estranged sister Chloe and her organisation want to see the end of the LIO, WAVE and all those with special powers and abilities being able to do as they wish. Chloe has managed to get a government liaison on her side and moving towards ensuring none of these operatives or enhanced beings can exist without being under her control and registered with her organisation, and she uses temporary powers with her forces to capture Eloise and others and detain them as terrorists. It is up to Mary and Nathan to now continue the hunt for the blade as well as try to get Eloise and the others out of the mess they are in. A bit like X-Men and the mutant laws placed by those who wanted power for themselves or were scared of what mutants could do!

Mary and Nathan apprehend the three strangers, or aliens, but soon learn that there is an even greater danger to be faced and it could be world destroying. A new foe who has been alive for eons and wants the blade destroyed, having been its previous owner and knowing what it can do, but losing ownership of it about a hundred years ago, when someone or something left it on Earth. This being, known as Sever, is an evil and vindictive person, who takes revenge on those who don’t meet his demands or fail in any way and has destroyed worlds in the far away and separate Parse universe. His very name is feared by all and accepting a bounty for the return of the blade was Sloan and her crew of Alex and Hilda, and the now dead Oliver who had betrayed her and taken the blade for his own purposes. Mary and Nathan must try and unite both LIO and WAVE, to bring together a team who may help defeat the robotic soldiers that come to reclaim the blade, with far superior tech than any Mary has seen. Now the LIO have multiple foes to face, both domestic and other world, who want what they have and to put an end to the blade or grab it for their own purpose. Foes with an agenda unknown by the supposed superheroes with a tainted past, and bringing more danger to those they love, than they can currently comprehend. An explosive ending to this book and so much more intense action to come as the very planet is at risk, never mind the danger from politicians and those jealous of the powers they have. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.

[Raj · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the events of the previous two books, Mary is welcomed back into the LIO fold, just as aliens steal the Pearl Knife. But Mary no longer trusts her instincts so refuses to join the hunt for it, preferring to remain in a support role back at HQ. Obviously this doesn't go well.

In many ways, this third book in the series is quite frustrating. Partly that's because it's the middle book in the series, so it has to set up a lot of stuff for the rest of the series, but it also means that it can't really offer much in the way of resolution.

One ongoing theme in these books is the way that people fail to talk to each other because they make assumptions about how the other person feels or thinks. This is a trope that I find very frustrating, but then the characters in this series tend to be fairly young. They're still making the mistakes that will lead them to mature and become better people and angst fits well in that puzzle as well.

There's also a strong fear of otherness theme through the EAEA. This is something we know well from the X-Men, where mutants are hated and feared. Here, the EAEA wants to start "registering" enhanced humans, and we all know where that leads, right? It does feel like it's battering you over the head with that, but then we live in times where that's the level of subtlety that we need.

For most of the book, I really didn't feel that Sloan could be the sort of character who could be the protagonist of her own series. I found her irritating, incapable and lacking in any leadership quality. That starts to change towards the end of the book, and now I'm actually thinking that I might consider picking up the Parse Galaxy series.

I'm fully invested now though. I'm over half way, so unless the next book does something that makes me throw my Kindle across the room, I'm in for the long haul.

[Sanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mastermind is the 3rd book in the series The League of Independent Operatives.
It's always difficult to review a sequel so instead I will tell you why you should read this series😁
It's all about vigilantes in this series, some have powers and some don't.
Our main character Mary was raised by the League after her parents died in a plane crash. The League have loads of superheroes with powers and Mary has worked hard to fit in with no powers herself. She turns out to be an excellent fighter and a genius with technology, but it's difficult for Mary to keep her vigilante life a secret when she's also a celebrity. A secret identity is a lot of work.
The problem with Mary is that she is very reckless, and her recklessness puts the league in danger when she breaks protocol and takes a women with firepowers to HQ. This decision will effect the whole league with severe consequenses...

This series has multiple characters. Mary and Eloise are both kickass women and I have such a crush on Nathan, a great cop. All three books are so much fun to read, they are fast-paced, packed with superpowers and technology and great characters. There are so many twist and turns in this series!
So do you love vigilantes, superpowers, action, conspiracies and secrets then this is the series for you!

[mo • lesmotsdemo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Encore un excellent tome dans cette série de science-fiction. J’ai une nouvelle fois passé un super moment de lecture. L’évolution de l’intrigue est très intéressante; elle reprend peu après la fin du tome précédent (le second) et l’action démarre très rapidement. L’univers s’étend un peu plus, avec de nouvelles menaces que j’ai absolument hâte de découvrir. L’univers est toujours aussi palpitant et passionnant, j’adore en apprendre un peu plus dessus à chaque chapitre. Il y a de nombreux points de vue, mais ils apportent tous quelque chose d’important et les chapitres s’enchaînent toujours aussi rapidement.

Dans ce tome, j’ai vraiment pris conscience de l’évolution immense de certains personnages depuis le premier tome. Mary est toujours celle que j’aime le plus suivre, son histoire est de plus en plus complexe. Eloise a subi de nombreux changements et, même si j’ai toujours un peu de mal avec elle, son point de vue est l’un des plus cruciaux. Nathan est un personnage que je trouve un peu plus terne, face aux personnages féminins. Sloane est d’ailleurs un personnage de plus en plus intéressant pour moi. En revanche, j’ai détesté Travis, et j’ai adoré me moquer de sa personnalité ridicule.

Une nouvelle fois, la fin laisse présager une suite pleine de rebondissements et de révélations. J’ai hâte de me plonger dedans.

[Shell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank- you again Kate Sheeran Swed for sending me an ARC of this amazing book.

This series just keeps getting better. Mastermind is the third instalment in the League of Independent Operative series. The first being Alter Ego and the second Anti-Hero, my reviews are linked.

Along with our main perspectives of; Mary, Eloise and Nathan, (and occasionally Agnes - from the first book) this book we are reintroduced to Slone. Slone is not from earth, she with along with her crew, came through a portal on their space-ship, with a mind to steal the Pearl Knife. However, Slone is betrayed by her ship-mate and former lover Oliver, and now they are stuck on earth. Now without him, Slone, Hilda and Alex have to figure out who to trust and what to do about the pearl knife. Do they trust these groups of enhanced humans who can't ever get their act together to work together? Or collect the bounty and risky potentially catastrophic consequences?

Mary and Eloise have reconciled and Mary has moved back to HQ. However, Mary noting that her decisions lately have often had devastating consequences, has lost her self-trust. Because of this she refuses to work in the field, despite this meaning she will now run in to Nathan more frequently.

Devastatingly for Eloise (at the end of Anti-Hero) the pearl knife has been stolen. She must get it back or potentially suffer the same deterioration that happened to her mother.
The government is pressing in more than ever, specifically Travis 'the kid' trying to make a name of his own, not just get by on his father's name. After being snubbed by a too busy Eloise, who he thinks is hiding things from the government, Travis brings in Chloe's EAEA team, with consequences for Eloise and her team. Mary and Nathan despite the awkwardness will need to work together to try and get LIO and Wave to work together to stop the new threat to earth: Sever. Sever is the owner of the Blade of Starlight - the Pearl Knife, and will stop at nothing to get it back.

Agnes has been moved to a distance island by Wave and is settling there with her family. She has been tasked with researching the negative effects on the Wave Operatives who were incarcerated by LIO. She is the foremost expert in enhanced humans and wants to help these people recover. Even so she is hesitant to help when Eloise reaches out to her in desperation about the Pearl Knife.

This book is amazing. The above is really just a snippet of the action in this book. It has a complex well developed native told in an easy readable style - I devoured this novel as soon as it hit my inbox. The characters are realistic and complex. The multi-perspectives give the book great depth.

This book introduces a new sci-fi element of the beings (Slone and crew) and Gods (Sever) from another planet, which adds a new interesting element to the world of this series. I am still interested in what happened to the retirees and Dolly from book two, but definitely not disappointed by this segway.
This series is so amazing I cannot say it enough. Thank-you to Ms. Sheeran Swed for having me on her ARC team. I am so looking forward to "Nemesis"!

[Marie Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't realize how much I've missed sci-fi books until I started this. I've been on a strict fantasy kick for about a year (which I also include super-powered humans in, even though it seems that most people do not since it isn't really "magic"), and the bit included in book 2 threw me off for a minute, but as the story got going and continued into Mastermind, I got more and more excited to see how interstellar allies and villians will change the interactions between LIO and Wave, who are both going to need to get over themselves a bit if they're going to be able to fight enemies both on and off Earth.

[Janin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I'd say that I really enjoyed the story in this one and I did actually finish it in just a few days.
What I missed though was more scenes which were focused on the relationships between the characters and also character building. I think this problem might be partly due to the many pov's in this book, but I guess the author just wanted to mostly focus on the plot (which is a good one, truth be told!). I'm still curious about where "Nemesis" will take the story!

[GREGG CORDELL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Read.

This was an interesting read with lots of action and a great storyline. There is about four groups of different people and aliens and nobody trust anybody along with a lot of betrayal involved.

[Leigh Landry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fun ride! I’m loving this series, the familiar faces and the new characters as well. Can’t wait to read the next book!

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superheroes, Supervillains, Enhanced Humans - who are the heroes and who are the villains? Enjoyable read that makes you realize perspective is in the eye of the beholder.