Sins of the Flesh by Caridad Pineiro

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Caterina Shaw is a world-famous musician, until cancer invades her body and the pain from a tumor makes it impossible for her to continue playing her beloved cello. Caterina is willing to do anything to stop the pain, even participate in an experimental treatment meant to eliminate the cancer. But the treatments don’t go as Caterina had expected and one night she suddenly finds herself outside, alone and naked, with no memory of how she got there, or even who she is. And although her mind is wild and fragmented, she is pretty certain that her body should not be changing colors or bleeding green blood.

Mick has been hired by Dr. Edwards to capture the dangerous killer who murdered his partner, hideously tearing him from limb to limb. But when Mick’s search leads him to Caterina, he finds himself doubting that this beautiful, gentle woman is capable of the crime which Edwards accuses her of. Cautiously, he takes Caterina into custody as he determines to discover the truth about Caterina and the murder of Dr. Wells.

But something is wrong with Caterina. Her body has been pumped full of various drugs and her blood cells have been altered, which is now causing her body to fail. Mick and his sister find themselves in a race against time to discover what has been done to Caterina so that they can reverse the process, in order to keep her alive. Mick must do whatever he can to save Caterina, not only because he suspects she is innocent, but also because he is finding himself falling in love with her.

Sins of the Flesh is an interesting book with a unique story line. Although the book is labeled as a paranormal romance, I would define it more as romantic science fiction, with its strong focus on science and medicine. It’s clear that Pineiro did a lot of research when writing the book, and while I certainly respect this, I did find the unfamiliar medical terminology to be confusing at times.

While Sins of the Flesh started off strong, I soon found myself only mildly engaged as the pace of the story slowed down to a crawl, which was strange because there was so much going on. Considering that the police were searching for Caterina as a suspect in a murder case, and Mick was investigating the suspicious activities at the lab and Caterina was being hunted by another hit-man, it seemed like most of the focus was on Mick sitting by Caterina’s bed.

I also felt that the character of Mick didn’t quite come out as the ruthless, hardened mercenary that the author was aiming for. This probably has to do with the fact that right after Mick is introduced as a ruthless killer we are also told about the wonderful things that he has done for his family and that the only reason he is in this business is to help get is siblings through college. His obviously affectionate relationship with his family and his generosity with his friends negates the tough personality Pineiro is trying to convince the reader of. And so the message that Mick was softening up due to his feeling for Caterina, didn't really work so well because he didn't seem to be that tough to begin with.

My favorite character was actually Mick’s sister, Lilliana; a nurse who is involved in an abusive relationship. I thought she was the most interesting of all the characters, though her story didn’t seem to really go anywhere. While I suppose that it will be continued in the sequel, I think there should have been a more solid resolution to her story-line in this book.

Overall, Sins of the Flesh wasn’t quite what I’d hoped for. It wasn’t a bad book- the writing was pretty good and the premise was interesting- but it didn’t really captivate me either. And while this book wasn’t for me, it’s quite possible that other fans of light science fiction or paranormal romance would enjoy reading it more then I did.