By Julie Sara Porter
Bookworm Reviews
Spoilers: The Angela Hardwicke Science Fiction Thriller Series is no stranger to bringing us mesmerizing settings. The series explores the universe of Eternity, where various citizens do their part to help control, create, and repair the Universe. Everything from Patches who fix the tears in the Cosmos, to Designers who decide where the stars, planets, and galaxies are arranged, to the Minders who oversee the entire Universe and beyond, to detectives like Angela, who keep criminals off the spaceways and from messing with the order of the ‘Verse.
It seemed like with Trigger Point, the fifth book in the series there was nowhere else for Angela to go. Well, Russ Colchamiro, the author, pulled a fast one on us. There was somewhere else to go. When the outside is explored most thoroughly, the best place to go is inside. Inside the mind of his lead character. Here Angela is at her most personal and angst ridden as she explores her latest adventure which puts those closest to her at risk.
Angela is recovering from her last case which resulted in the death of a friend and where she ended up demoted, in debt, and technically working under her former partner turned boss, Eric Whistler. She is definitely not in the mood for a new case but that’s what she gets. She is hired to uncover the mysterious death of a sex worker. Even worse, she finds that Whistler has gone missing, well most of him. He seems to be stuck somewhere in time and space and she can make out his faint image and hear cryptic garbled messages but doesn’t know where or possibly when he is. These cases become intertwined and lead Angela right into a conspiracy concerning the Patches, where her estranged lover, Eddie works and her young son, Owen is being trained.
This is definitely the strongest Angela Hardwicke volume in terms of character development, much of it is laid at the feet of Angela herself. She often referred to parts of her past in previous books but this is where it really comes forward, particularly in chapters where she talks to her estranged parents (this is the first volume that I can recall where we actually learn that Angela even has parents.),
We learn that Angela's sister died of cancer and they still feel the grief leading to Angela's father to withdraw from the family and she to embrace a darker side. She also became pregnant as a teenager ending with the death of her infant daughter. These losses caused Angela to become obsessed with her detective career. She couldn't protect herself from death but could protect other people and the Universe from it.
Angela is also haunted by nightmares and memories which she lives on the edge of the Universe can be more real than most on Earth. She has conversations with her late friend where she reveals her remorse and missteps in the previous case.
She also bears a lot of guilt for what happened to Whistler. Not only for his current predicament but leading him into becoming a detective, acquiring an overdeveloped sense of justice, and having a reckless attitude in solving these cases. She isn't proud of how far Whistler has come. She's worried about what she turned him into and where this life will lead him.
Angela's tenderest moments are when she reunited with Eddie and Owen. It's heartwarming to see the normally hard boiled cynical badass Angela figuratively melt into a puddle of maternal goo when she and Owen are together. He's a sweet smart kid who brings out an innocent protective warmth within his mother. They may be separated but mother and son are still devoted to each other.
Angela and Eddie's relationship is no longer romantic but they are still amicable towards each other. Eddie actually has more interactions with Owen since they are both Patches so he has the loving ex and parental caretaker that is often reserved for female characters in most private detective novels.
He worries about Owen but also his ex putting herself in danger but also knows his concerns will be dismissed. Even though Angela is romantically involved with Darren, a rock musician, she and Eddie have retained a friendship almost like surrogate siblings that defend one another and have each other's backs.
All of this development towards Angela's character is used in dramatic ways, particularly when she faces the antagonist in this book. There are hints that this character has been around since the first book, Crackle and Fire, and has five books worth of material to use against her and boy do they. It becomes a battle of wills in which Angela's own self worth and sanity are at stake as she faces this character.
If this book is not the last Angela Hardwicke book, I would be very surprised. There are a lot of hints that indicate this is a final volume or if not that, certainly a change in format and formula. Many of the long time subplots such as Angela’s messed up home life and her and Whistler’s statuses are altered considerably.
Many characters come to some raw conclusions that indicate their journeys will be coming to an end or they will be in different places in the next volume. It's safe to say that Angela Hardwicke Science Fiction Thrillers will not be the same again.
