The Assassin's Heart by Chuck Morgan; Dead People Anonymous by Loraine Hayes

The Assassin's Heart by Chuck Morgan; Dead People Anonymous by Loraine Hayes 

 The Assassin's Heart by Chuck Morgan 

This is a short review. The full review is on LitPick 

The Assassin's Heart is an enthralling character driven Thriller about an assassin who begins to question her allegiances when her own heart and emotions are on the line.

 Delia Cahill seems to live a perfect enviable life. She's happily married to Mark, a government employee and has a great career as a high powered attorney with a noted list of rich and famous clients. She is actually a high priced assassin with a tremendous kill list and an excellent reputation as someone who gets the job done. Her latest assignment is Alexander Thorne, a tech genius who created an app that can penetrate any system, network, and defense. However, her heart gets in the way as Delia finds herself falling in love with her target.

Delia straddles the line between consummate professional and romantic heroine and plays both extremes rather well. She's like a praying mantis or a black widow spider, attracting her captive before destroying him. In fact she is so effective at her job that it would be nice to see more of this side of her as a remorseless killer.

Mostly we see her when she realizes that her job isn't what she thought. Her relationship with Alexander becomes a deal breaker between her and the Organization. After she falls in love, they go through extreme measures to break her, treating her just like she used to treat her targets. 

Delia lived a life of violence that overpowered her enemies and tried to live without a conscience. It worked until her conscience overpowered her. 

Dead People Anonymous by Loraine Hayes 

It turns out the dead need just as much emotional and psychological help as the living. Just like the living, the dead sometimes meet in groups to talk about them. Dead People Anonymous by Loraine Hayes is an entertaining, hilarious, and heartfelt look at life after death and the support groups that they form. 

Lexi died at age 28. She wakes up surrounded by other ghosts that have their own stories to tell. There's Billy, a soldier who died during the Vietnam War and finds Lexi very attractive. Vivian is the group leader and Team Mom who suffered loss and rejection in life. Malik appears to be the youngest as he died at 11 but since he's the first who died, he is the wisest and most experienced when it comes to rules of the dead. Dominic is a surly argumentative sort on the surface but has a hidden heart of gold. Maria is quiet but retains the insecurities and neurosis that she had in life. Finally, Chester is the oldest, dying at age 98 and has a lifetime of regrets and memories. The Dead People Anonymous group is there for each other.

The living impaired talk about their problems, discuss the circumstances of their deaths, and what they need to do to cross over to the next plane of existence wherever that may be.

The world of the dead is very detailed with all of the rules and standards that the dead follow. Like all good Fantasies, Hayes took great care in creating and planning her imaginary world and it shows in her writing. 

The ghosts are restricted to various rules. They feel emotions strongly and those emotions can be quite contagious among them. They can relive moments in their pasts as observers and maybe learn things about those moments that they suppressed on Earth. Yes Heaven and Hell exist and the choices that they made in life and after death could serve as gateways to either location.

The ghosts can touch each other but not humans.

They can leave and observe humans, but during times of stress or enlightenment, they find themselves transported back to the building where the group meets. It's also not a good idea to visit friends or family. It's not forbidden but it brings out the worst emotions and could lead to permanent relocation in one direction or another.

These rules are intriguing as Lexi navigates her way through being dead, making mistakes, and adjusting to her ghostly afterlife.

The book also has a strong sense of character development as we get to know each group member, what they were like in life, who they left behind, and what unfinished business holds them back. 

Each character's past is explored and we touch on various human experiences through the eyes of those who had to leave humanity behind. These are stories of lost loves, missing family members, unfaithfulness, anger, jealousy, age, grudges, unspoken words, regrets, and wanting to know if their lives had any meaningful impact and if there was some part of themselves that lived on in some way. 

In the end that's all anyone wants to know, dead or alive. If they actually mattered.

The Gift Book 2 of The Others Trilogy by Evette Davis, The Mantis Equilibrium (Book 2 in The Mantis Gland Series) by Adam Andrews Johnson, Folded Steel (Book 3 of The Forge Trilogy in The Shadow Guardians Series) by G. Russell Gaynor

The Gift (Book 2 of The Others Trilogy) by Evette Davis 

This is a condensed review. The longer one is on LitPick’s site.

The Gift is the second book in The Others Trilogy. It greatly expands on the concept of a secret society of people with magical paranormal abilities including Witches, Shifters, Fairies, Vampires, by taking place in a new setting and introducing new characters. However, it also relies on some cliches like a love triangle to unnecessarily enhance the plot.

Former political activist and half-Witch, Olivia Sheppard travels to Europe after a family emergency. She travels with her companions Gabriel, her Witch father, Elsa, her Time Walker Spirit Guide, Lily, her Fairy best friend, William, her Vampire boyfriend, and Josef, William’s Vampire friend. Olivia and company also have to face Nikolas, a powerful charismatic thousand year old Vampire who uses any means to lead the Council of Others, including murdering Humans and Others who oppose him. The investigation into Nikolas’ plans and actions put Olivia and Josef closer together and Olivia has to reconcile her love for William, her long term boyfriend and growing affection for Josef who has unrealistic feelings for her.

The Gift goes global and takes the characters to Europe. The change in setting puts them, especially Olivia, at a disadvantage since they are on Nikolas’ turf and are playing by his rules. 

The setting is one of glamor and Old World intrigue. Olivia and her friends visit various Medieval style villages and castles so the architecture calls to mind Gothic stories and legends and reveals the wealth and power many of the Others have. Nikolas isn't too far off from a James Bond villain, a character who compliments his adversary while using his vast wealth and power to do away with them.

There are some interesting new characters and plot twists that keep the series fresh and make the Readers look forward to the next volume. Nadia is a Tarot Card Reader and Clairvoyant whose predictions have a way of coming true that disturbs Olivia and in one key moment, Nikolas. 

The returning characters also go through a lot of development. A personal loss devastates Olivia causing her to question her decisions and current path. However, she finds her strength in taking charge of some unfinished business and pursuing Nikolas.

Both Gabriel and Josef reveal some dark secrets about their pasts, showing themselves as men who suffered great loss and heartache in their long histories. 

There are many things that work well but one that doesn't and that is the love triangle between William, Josef, and Olivia. There are some interesting parts such as Josef expressing his affection for Olivia and her acknowledging that she is not exactly appalled by his confession. It adds an interesting wrinkle but love triangles are so overdone.

For a series that has a unique concept of a thriving society of paranormal creatures and their interactions with the Human world and explores the precarious inner workings of this world, a love triangle is boring, ordinary, and ironically lacks the magic and mystery of the rest of the book.

The Mantis Equilibrium Book 2 of The Mantis Gland Series by Adam Andrews Johnson 

Spoilers: This review will mention the death of a character from the previous volume so I will reiterate and say that there are MAJOR HEAVY DUTY SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

The last time that we entered the world of Adam Andrews Johnson’s The Mantis Variant, the Messiah’s, a powerful cult residing in futuristic Teshon City participated in gruesome rituals in which they mutilated the bodies of Shifts, people with special abilities so they can absorb the glands that give those abilities. Agrell, a Messiah with a hidden Shift ability goes on the run and meets Ilya, a Shift with the power of flight and Dozi, a street smart thief who wants to be a Demifae, a mystic with special powers by study not birth. The trio hide out with a kindly couple, Mystic, a Demifae and Theolon, his husband. They reunite the couple with Lahari, their missing daughter while the Messiahs declare war on the Shifts.

In the sequel, The Mantis Equilibrium, things get darker, more sinister, and potentially more dangerous for the characters. It certainly anchors the series with a stronger sense of purpose for what the characters are going through and the changes that are affecting the world around them. 

A year has gone by and the protagonists are mourning the death of Agrell who died in the previous volume sacrificing herself for her new friends. They have accepted each other and new member, Tchama as a surrogate family. They journey outside of Teshon City where Dozi has a very uncomfortable reunion with her family. They also meet Ninyani, a Shift with the ability of creating fire and ice. Meanwhile, Vion, a Messiah, goes on the hunt for Shifts after he finds the murdered bodies of his colleagues. Also a trio of Shifts, Gawa, Eroli, and S’Kay, have a more violent and destructive goal in mind for the Messiahs.

The Mantis Equilibrium balances the expected darker stake-raising that occurs so often in second volumes while doing interesting things in terms of character and plot that make it fresh and unique in its own right.

I will get one personal issue out of the way. I miss Agrell. She was my favorite character in the first volume. Her story of Messiah turned rebel was the most fascinating. She greatly developed from someone who had much to hide to someone who loves, and as we found out would willingly die for her new friends. Her loss is not only felt by the characters but this Reader as well. 

Unfortunately, Agrell's loss is more felt because of Tchama’s presence. There isn't as much to make her stand out as an individual the way that her predecessor did. She seems to exist solely to make sure that the main protagonists remain a trio. In fact, Tchama is so indistinct as a character that Johnson could have just as easily had Agrell remain for one more volume before killing her off. In fact, he missed a golden opportunity to have conflict and backstory between Agrell and Vion, a current Messiah who still is a devotee. But Agrell's absence is a minor personal issue in a volume that is otherwise excellent.

One of the most interesting aspects is the presence of Ninyani. He lived in a rural village that was isolated from the rest of the world so his powers are looked at very differently from the other Shifts. His mother believes that they are divinely inspired and this could be an opportunity to replace the Elder God of their village, a Shift who uses his powers to establish his own cult to worship him. Unfortunately, Ninyani's mother’s plans go awry when the boy accidentally causes a disaster that kills everyone in the village including the Elder God and his mother leaving him the sole survivor. 

Ninyani's backstory introduces some interesting concepts in this book. One of them is how similar things can happen to people but because of cultural or regional differences, they might be seen in various ways. Ninyani is unaware of the prejudice against the Shifts or even that there are people like him until he meets Ilya and she introduces him to the others. He is from a spiritual background that doesn't know about glands or genetic mutations, the way other characters do. Since his village can't explain it, they attribute it to divine intervention. It's quite an awakening and a bit of spiritual conflict when he learns of the truth. Though in his defense, he never really thought of himself as a god. His mother did, in an attempt to overthrow the previous one. He went along with it for her sake. “New God” was not a label that he was comfortable having so he doesn't mind when it is removed.

The other concept is that the destruction of Ninyani’s village can show what happens when those Shift abilities are misused. Even if they happen in a bout of thoughtless emotion, like it did with him, much damage can occur. This is why it is A) dangerous for one to absorb so many like with the Messiahs and B) why it is so important to learn to channel them and use restraint as the Mystic trains Ninyani to do. 

Vion also is an interesting figure in this volume because he is a contrast to the previous Messiah, Agrell like I said. She left the cult after finding out their true intent. Vion not only accepts the slaughter of Shifts, he is ruthless in implementing it. He is the dogmatic cult member who follows the doctrine to the letter. He would rather continue down the path no matter how bloody than admit that he was wrong about it. With so much conversation and debate about cult followings sometimes involving the surrender of one's free will and morals, this subplot is surprisingly relevant.

Vion is an unrepentant bigot and rigid dogmatist especially towards Shifts. However, there is a very curious moment in which something bizarre happens to him and his fellow Messiahs. He attributes it to the Shifts that they are following but it is purposely left ambiguous whether this strange event was caused by the Shifts or by Vion himself. Is it entirely possible that the Shift Hater is himself a Shift? If so, would he go the way of Agrell and rebel or repress his true nature underneath the veneer of hatred and authoritarianism?

The recurring characters have some fascinating things happen to them, most notably Dozi and fellow returnee, Auntie Peg. Dozi’s reunion with her biological family starts out well but becomes awkward and fierce once they learn about her Shift friends. Their ultimatum and Dozi’s decision to stand by her friends shows a strength of character.

Auntie Peg was a supporting character in the previous book. Here, she comes into her own as we learn about her backstory and why she lives her life the way that she does. She also serves as a warm maternal mentor to the others and leads many of the Shifts on the path to a civil resistance.

There are some interesting threads that could lead to potential story arcs. Gawa, Eroli, and S’Kay’s subplot is not fully realized or more than likely has not yet reached its full potential as though they have a much larger role to play in the events to come. Ilya goes through a chilling transformation with potential long term complications and might blur the lines between enemy and ally in future installments. It certainly leaves Readers hanging.

Folded Steel (Book 3 of The Forge Trilogy in The Shadow Guardians Series) by G Russell Gaynor 

Let's see in the first volume of The Forge Trilogy, The Blind Smith, we were introduced to John James Moore, AKA Augur who was blinded in an assassination attempt and is recruited by an organization of spies and assassins. He then is betrayed and plans revenge on his one-time recruiters and allies. In the second volume, Muted Rage, John recruited his team most notably, Sonya Bocharova, a deaf Russian woman, and weighed and analyzed their strengths and weaknesses. Let's see we have the leader, we have the team, what next? Why it's time for the missions of course. In this third, volume, Folded Steel , it's time for the team to organize and take action against their enemies.

This plot isn't quite as straightforward as the previous volumes. It's a series of gambits between John’s team and the organization fronted by Bob, John’s former recruiter/mentor turned betrayer and arch-enemy. Along the way characters fall in love, question their loyalty, play various sides, and conspire against their enemies and sometimes their allies. Meanwhile other characters like lovers, Thomas and Jessilae are thrown violently into the fray.

Sometimes things get incredibly confusing with the cunning schemes and action-centered nail hanging chapters. It also doesn't always help as characters alternate being called by their real and code names. It can be difficult to say who is involved in what, what the goals are, whether they succeed, and who they are successful for. It keeps the Reader’s suspense and interest, but it is bad when trying to summarize and keep track of it all (even worse when adding the first two volumes).

However, there are some great moments. Unlike many similar novels, John and Sonya do not become lovers. They are just allies and partners, close to friends as the often cynical John will allow. They do however become paired with other characters. Sonya and her lover have a touching moment amid the tension and violence of their usual lives that allows them to receive a great release of emotion and humanity no matter how brief. Meanwhile, John’s relationship comes to a harsh end that can be expected in a world when lives are on the line and loyalties can be and often are for sale. 

Jessilae and Thomas’s subplot alternates between humor and heartache as they are confused and out of their depths,  the way most normies that are suddenly thrust into such a situation would act. They can't tell friend from foe, ally from enemy, and do not find it easy to trust anyone. On the outside looking in, they, especially Jessilae, can see that the two sides aren't really that different and that it was just circumstance over which side they ended up with. 

By far one of the strongest moments is a one on one confrontation between John and Bob. Both insufferable geniuses, they don't use weapons but they use words. The one time allies show mutual respect for one another, even admiring their tenacity, perseverance, and iconoclastic creative thinking. In another life, they might have had a father and son relationship. But in their case, respect gives way into treachery and distrust. In a way, their conflicts arise because they are too much alike. They are both brilliant men who are dogmatic in their views and have a serious addiction to being the smartest and best in the room. They were bound to be on opposite sides and are bound to fight until one is victorious and the other is completely annihilated and/or preferably dead.

John’s pursuits has left him with a small group of allies, but they have earned his trust and he theirs. Once a rich kid and tech guru, he has to live a clandestine life of revenge, secrets, and violence but thankfully because of his alliances and his new team, he doesn't have to do it alone.

Shadow Runner (Shadow Series)by K.J. Fieler; What Victorians Do in The Shadows

 

Shadow Runner (Shadow Series)by K.J. Fieler; What Victorians Do in The Shadows 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: K.J. Fieler’s Shadow Runner novel uses shadows as a frequent motif. Characters appear and disappear into shadows. Mentors hide their true selves from students. People discover hidden secrets about Victorian London's elite. Everything and everybody is concealed by some veil of secrecy, hiding who they are, and showing their dark sides, their shadow selves.

Ada is from a wealthy upper class Victorian home who was once spoiled and coddled and now no longer is either one. Her mother died in childbirth along with her newborn baby brother. Her father, once loving and wise, has now withdrawn into himself and avoids her entirely. Besides grief, Ada is tormented by strange clouds and creatures that come in and out of the shadows at night. She is afraid especially after one of those creatures kidnaps her. It is revealed to be Nadine, a human woman, who exposes some ugly truths about the girl's father. She is part of an organization called The Shadow, a team of thieves, spies, and assassins who are capable of fighting, killing, and turning practically invisible. Finding that she no longer has a home to return to, Ada takes Nadine up on her offer to join the organization and begins a rigorous training where she learns to outfight, outwit, and outlast any opponent and to treat everyone like an enemy including those closest to her.

This book presents a fascinating look at a young girl who has to be stripped down to her barest minimum before she recognizes the hidden strength and adaptability that she needs to survive in the world. Ada starts out as an object of beauty living an ornate existence of opulence and artifice, almost a doll-child made of porcelain in a doll house. If she has questions about marriage, position, social class, her role as a woman in society, and other important issues they are all dismissed, repressed, and just flitted away. 

Ada’s life is summarized as pretty to look at but don’t touch or express any feeling or deep emotional connection.That will cause the entire house to crack, flaw, and break under its fragility. Her family life stands, as did many wealthy homes in the Victorian Age, a monument to propriety, beauty, ennui, and comfortable ignorance. People who will never want for anything because they have everything. 

Ada’s only sense of authenticity is when she plays chess with her father and shows profound intellect and analysis in playing the game. Besides showing her intelligence, her chess games prove useful in her Shadow career. However, at this point, it’s still confined to a game with rules in which one side wins, another loses, and there is no collateral damage. It's also one of the few moments of real bonding between Ada and her father. It is a time to out play and outsmart each other. However, Ada never realizes that she has already lost and her father had a checkmate in a game in which she didn’t even play.

The artificial existence that Ada lives in changes after the deaths of her mother and brother and her kidnapping by Nadine. For the first time, she is swept up in grief, loss, and the reality that comes with them.These emotions overwhelm her because she is so inexperienced with them. She is in torment as her once idyllic seemingly perfect world’s cracks have become more visible. She is a stranger to her father and while she still is close to some of the servants, they are dismissed by him. Ada thought that she had another family. For the servants though, it was just a job, a job that they can walk away from anytime, either by choice or by force. 

Ada realizes that she is invisible in this house, a fact made clear during a bizarre multi page sequence where she actually turns invisible in the presence of the servants. She shows no reaction during it or after things return to normal and she is noticed once again. She has been pampered and petted as a pet or an ornament but is never acknowledged or seen for her true self in any way that mattered. She has been invisible and replaceable her whole life. She just didn’t realize it until now.

 It is no coincidence that Ada joins The Shadows after she finds out some disturbing motives from her father. She is faced with the truth that the opulent surface that she lived in was a complete fabrication, one in which she was exalted only to be knocked down and replaced like a shiny bauble that has lost its value. Once she is shut out from that life, and she feels the despair, anger, and hatred that simmers inside, she is ready for her new life as a Shadow.

Ada’s training as a Shadow is both disturbing and mesmerizing.The Reader wants to simultaneously look away but at the same is drawn to reading what happens to her and how this experience changes her. The training is like the worst kind of bootcamp imagined and to think this is happening to children younger than thirteen, some as young as seven. The trainees are shorn of their hair, deprived of their clothes and made to wear uniforms. Some are given new names and identities. They are trained rigorously in various fighting and defense techniques and frequently challenge one another in fights to the death. They are given limited rations and are often beaten, assaulted, and verbally abused. They are brought to their lowest and most aggressive instincts and are pushed into using them for a means of survival.

The physical training of the Shadow is triggering enough, but the psychological training is also captivating and troubling. Ada and the other Trainees are not only stripped of their identities but any sense of family, friendship, or belonging. They are drilled not to trust anyone, especially not one another or their handlers. They are told things about their families that may or may not be true but certainly puts them in an air of suspicion towards those who they left behind. The trainers intentionally encourage competition and infighting among the recruits so friendship does not form within the Shadows and they see one another as enemies. This even carries over as Shadows ascend within the organization and gain recruits of their own. They then have to use those same techniques on any new trainees continuing the cycle. 

The Shadow’s strongest ally in their battle against the world is the environment that surrounds them. While on assignments, they are either told to wear uniforms or period appropriate clothing to blend in and disappear within a household, sometimes impersonating servants or houseguests. At night, they also wear ghoulish disguises and masks so when they attack, they remain unidentified and can appear to be unreal like an ominous spectre or a figment from a nightmare. Then they disappear just as suddenly as they appear with no one the wiser about where they came from, where they disappeared to, their real names, or in some cases if they ever existed at all.

It is fitting that they call themselves The Shadows, because that is their most prominent weapon. They use shadows to sneak in and out of streets, alleyways, houses, and nature. They conceal themselves as they extract information and kill those whom they are assigned to. They do this to avoid emotional and mental connections with their targets and because they are not within that outside world any longer. They no longer trust it. Instead they are hidden, secret, observing a world in which they are no longer a part of except to take something from it at the behest of someone else. 

Ironically as Ada remains hidden like her colleagues, her true, most honest, most authentic self emerges. Before she was living a shallow existence in a luxuriant shell. She was never honest with herself, always playing the perfect and dutiful daughter as her parents were playing the loving and proper caregivers. As a shadow, she is able to use tremendous strength and agility in fighting opponents. Her chess training allows her to strategize so she can solve problems and find solutions that result in victory. Her literacy and education helps her to visualize possibilities and research pertinent information that prove useful on assignments. As a Shadow, she is able to use skills and knowledge that would not have been possible in her previous life.

Despite all warnings. Ada’s biggest drawback is that she develops a conscience and begins to genuinely care about certain people. As her body and mind develops as a Shadow, so ironically does her heart. She becomes attached to a younger Shadow and while they engage in vicious battles and backstabbing, she withdraws from actually killing her even though she has plenty of opportunities to do so. On an assignment where she poses as a governess for an employer whom she has to steal some documents from, she bonds with the young girl that she teaches, perhaps seeing her younger self or a more assertive version in this child. She stands on the edge of a romance with the girl’s brother until Ada does something unforgivable in the name of her assignment, something that closes her connection to the outside world forever.

The strongest bond that Ada develops oddly enough is with Nadine. Despite subjecting her through physical and psychological stress that tests her endurance and ability, Ada feels a strange emotional bond with her. Call it Stockholm Syndrome. Call it codependency. Call it BDSM. But something develops between the two women that becomes mentor-student, mother-daughter, sister-sister, friend-friend (maybe lover-lover?). It is one in which the two hide much from each other but ultimately reveal the true depths of their love and loyalty. A love and loyalty that far superseded and exceeded the love that Ada and her parents, especially her father, shared.  

In being rejected from the bright and beautiful but dishonest world in which she lived, Ada had to find herself in a world of honesty and authenticity, a world of tough choices and real emotions, a world of courage, stamina, thought, and sacrifice, a world of darkness and of shadows. 

 

The Wallace House of Pain by S.M. Stevens; Muted Rage (The Forge Trilogy in The Shadow Guardians Series Book 2) by G. Russell Gaynor; In Search of Cognizance by Nabraj Lama

The Wallace House of Pain by S.M. Stevens

One of the best books that I read last year was Beautiful and Terrible Things by S.M. Stevens. It was a witty and insightful character study about a group of six friends: Charley, a bookseller, Xander, a political activist, Jessica, a financial analyst, Sunny, a solar energy systems sales associate, Terrence, Xander's fellow activist, and Buwan, an artist. The novel covers a period of several months where the friends face various personal internal conflicts, such as new romances, family drama,and shifting careers, and political external conflicts such as racial profiling, immigrant xenophobia, and income inequality. It's a wide reaching novel that covers various topics but also brilliantly captures its six protagonist’s traits, characteristics, and eccentricities that make them stand out as individuals and part of a group.

Stevens reentered that universe with the short novel, The Wallace House of Pain. Instead of an expansive novel about many things and having six leads, this one is shorter and more intimate focusing solely on one character. 

This time the lead is Xander Wallace himself. The short novel covers six chapters in which Xander brings each friend to his Conservative parent's house for dinner. The contrast between the fiery opinionated Xander, his rigid uncompromising father, Jim, his placid demure stepmother, Kathy, and his iconoclastic diverse friends is quite apparent.

Since this story is more compact, we get a closer look at Xander's background and experiences and how they contributed to his lifestyle and decisions in the novel. He is someone who saw a lot of artifice and superficiality. A home with plenty of affluent creature comforts but an inability to live his truth. He loves his parents and vice versa, but feels like he has to play a role for them.

 Xander can't discuss his work in any meaningful way. While he voices his political opinions, it can be very draining as he, and his parents especially his father, talk circles around each other never coming to an even ground. Xander has to hide his bisexuality, his political involvement, and even his name (His friends call him, “Xander” while his parents call him, “Alex”). Xander can't be his authentic self as he hides parts of himself from his family.

Much of Xander's real self is revealed by the family’s conversations with his friends. Terrence connects to his commitment to political activism. Sunny represents Xander's sexuality and gender identity. Jessica is indicative of the passion and talent that leads to finding a gainful career. Charley reflects his emotional and social connections with others. Buwan reveals Xander's self-expression and creative thinking as he uses his activism to shape the world into a better, more idealistic place with actual racial harmony and equality. 

Through the short novel, the larger aspects of Beautiful and Terrible Things are referred to particularly a Black Lives Matter protest that is a central climax in the previous novel. Xander's friends and his real self can no longer be denied as he reveals the real him to his father and stepmother, bisexual Liberal environmental social activist and all. He is able to be the open honest authentic person that we saw in the novel and be that person to his family.

The Wallace House of Pain is a small thread in the tapestry of the larger work but a very important one.

 

Muted Rage (The Forge Trilogy in The Shadow Guardians Series Book 2) by G. Russell Gaynor 

In The Blind Smith, the first book in G. Russell Gaynor’s The Forge Trilogy in The Shadow Guardians Series, tech billionaire genius John James “J.J.” Moore is severely wounded and rendered blind in an attack that kills his security team and his lover. He is recruited by a secret organization of spies and assassins and obtains the code name, “Augur.” He is able to use his new found abilities and organization to seek vengeance upon his enemies, including traitors to the organization.

The second volume, Muted Rage, elevates J.J.’s status significantly within the organization. Instead of being the rookie student, J.J. is now actively recruiting and training new members. His latest recruit is Sonya Bocharova, a Russian deaf woman. He sees a lot of himself in her. Her arrival can't come at a better or worse time because their enemies are closing in and ramping up their attacks.

This volume focuses primarily on action and plot which works well in the Political Spy Thriller subgenre. Sometimes the various characters and sides are disconcerting because it's hard to tell who is with which organization. Readers and characters are conditioned to be on the lookout for traitors and double crosses so just because someone seems on one side doesn't mean that they are going to stay that way. Sometimes it's a surprise twist but mostly because everyone is so suspicious, have ulterior motives, and live in worlds of morally gray, it's to be expected. Betrayal is the most logical step in their development.

The action also serves as a means for the various sides to show off their intellect. In the first book,  J.J., was playing 3-D chess while everyone else is playing checkers. In this book, everyone else is playing the same game of chess. Every character, including J.J., is trying to outfight and outsmart each other. As one organization gets an advantage, the next one fires back and so on. It keeps the Readers invested with its suspenseful tone.

While action is the primary facet to this book, there is some time for insightful characterization particularly in J.J.’s evolution from fresh newbie to hardened veteran. He was always somewhat arrogant in the previous book, though he had moments where his naivete was noticeable. There were also times when his conceit cost him dearly.

In this volume, J.J.’s character ascends to frightening levels. His Authoritarian streak is more paramount. Now that he is leader, his leadership style is iron will. In one chapter, one of J.J.’s colleagues calls him out on his personality and J.J. answers in a way that suggests that he is unapologetic and will only get worse. It raises the possibility whether in a future volume, characters may be driven to stop John James Moore rather than work with or for him.

So far though, J.J. still shows some glimmers of kindness. This is particularly noticeable in his dialogue with Sonya. They have a great deal in common, both have disabilities that they have or are in the process of using to their advantage as assassins. They both carry a lot of grief and anger.

 J.J. is at the point where he can guide someone else to channel that anger and put it to good use and Sonya sees a higher opportunity to protect others and unleash vengeance. With the help of sign language and technology that allows them to communicate, the two come to an understanding and partnership, perhaps even a friendship or more.

The action and lead characters help Muted Rage act on many of the things that were hinted at in the first volume. It prepares and keeps Readers in suspense ready for the next one.

In Search of Cognizance by Nabraj Lama 

It has been my pleasure to work with Nabraj Lama on his book, In Search of Cognizance. It is an evocative and insightful travel book about journeying to find a practical and spiritual path.

After a period of stress, frustration, and unanswered questions, Lama received a position from The Sacred Himalaya Initiative: Sacred Landscapes and Sustainable Futures. The project focused on studying and documenting the relationships between ecology and religion focusing on sacred spaces like Mount Kailash, a place that he studied on his own. The urge to travel to the Tibetan mountain consumed him so he decided to visit it. Lama had two objectives for the journey: to complete the project assignment and pursue a personal quest for spirituality. He describes this trip as one of “self-discovery and growth, as well as an exploration of the interconnectedness between humanity, nature, and the divine.”

This book is both rich in sensory detail and deep in spiritual meaning. It fills the senses with physical descriptions of the landscape and soothes the brain and emotions with its themes of connecting the physical plane with the spiritual. 

Lama’s gift for description is noticeable as he recounts the various settings before him. For example, he referred to Humla as “a hidden gem within the Himalayas (that) boasts breathtaking natural beauty, ecological diversity, and a rich cultural tapestry…a living testament to nature and culture.”

“With its towering green cliffs, cascading waterfalls, bountiful herbs, swift rivers, mesmerizing landscapes, and dense forests, Humla is truly remarkable,” Lama wrote.

The places that Lama and his companions visited were indicative of the countries and the people. One of the places that they visited was Dharipuri, a fish-shaped rock that according to legend were once a pair of real fish that transformed into rocks. When Lama observed the rock, he was struck between the obvious difference in the Tibetan and Hindu communities and the contrast of the downstream where fish were present and upstream where they were not. “The reasons behind the cultural and ecological divide remain elusive, but the fish-shaped rocks will forever stand as a testament to the mysteries of the region,” he said.

Besides places, Lama is adept at recounting the people that he encountered on his journey. His traveling companions, local villagers, officials, and hospitality workers are richly characterized. Among them was Ram Bhakta Sunar, a luggage handler. He owned three mules that carried tourist's luggage from one point to another. He cared for them so they provided for his family. During the off season, Ram let them run free in the forest and only retrieved them for work. He had goals such as wanting to get married at age 19 and one day have a family. Learning about Ram gave Lama some insight to what life was like for villagers, especially the ones that were dependent on tourism and the local environment to survive.

During the trip, Lama and his colleagues witness local concerns such as conservation, poverty, and the pinch of authoritarianism. Nowhere is this more prevalent than when they entered TAR, China. The travelers were ordered not to carry any items related to the Dalai Lama, wander off, enter, or take photographs of anything that they weren't allowed to. They were forbidden from bringing notebooks, books, cell phones, or other controversial items. It's a stark reminder that when traveling to other countries, one must be aware of the land around them and be careful when observing laws and regulations. 

The places that they visited reflected the local culture and folklore. Among those are the sacred lakes, Manasarovar and Rakshas Tal. Rakshas Tal is called the Lake of Demons and its black waters invited legends and stories that it was once frequented by demons. Manasarovar is considered sacred waters and is revered by various religions. It is believed that the waters purify the souls of those who bathed within it. 

The two lakes show the transformative power between the physical and spiritual world, that folklore is often used to describe nature and nature is often used to augment local lore.

Like many long travels, Lama writes about the problems which can occur. There was physical pain experienced by Lama and other travelers (particularly one woman who had menstrual pain while climbing a steep path). There were times where the groups separated and couldn't find each other for awhile. Of course there were times of complications like getting lost, missing a hostel, personality conflicts and all of the usual problems associated with travel. 

One of the most meaningful complications which led to some important lessons occurred while walking along the Dolma La Pass. It was a narrow but crowded path where travelers, locals, and animals teemed along the path. Lama opted to take small steps and opted for shortcuts rather than get in people's way. He was happy to see people helping each other, guiding, or pulling one another down the path.

 Lama himself decided to go through great effort on the path. He crawled through a narrow passageway to test his karma. He finally reached Mt. Kailash Kora to pay his respects, meditated, sang, and shared camaraderie with his companions and other visitors. The struggle of going through the pass was just as important as the destination of Mt. Kailash Kora. Lama said that the kora stands “as a powerful testament to the enduring human spirit and our unwavering pursuit of personal growth and self-realization.”

The trip was one where Lama wanted to seek spiritual fulfillment. His journey to Mt. Kailash gave him more than that. He wrote that he gained fulfillment and enrichment from this journey. 

Lama had “a newfound sense of serenity and inner peace, reflecting on the transformative experiences encountered along the way,” he said. “…The return journey transcended the physical realm, evolving into a deeply introspective and emotional endeavor… I realized that this voyage had left an indomitable mark on my soul, forever changing perspective on life, spirituality, and the power of nature.”

The journey allowed Lama to confront his fears and anxieties.He recognized kindness, respect, gratitude and selflessness that transformed his life and those around him. He recognized the interconnectedness of humanity, nature, and the divine. The experience gave him a stronger sense of purpose and spirit which he continues to share as a Research Scholar at Lumbini Buddhist University, and his articles and books on spiritual and cultural topics.

Lama's book shows Readers that the natural world can be the key for one to reconnect to the metaphysical world and to achieve mental, emotional, and spiritual clarity and peace.

The Others (Book 1 in the Council Trilogy) by Evette Davis; Blue by Charles Keatts; The Blind Smith (Book 1 in the Forge Trilogy in The Shadow Guardian Series) by G. Russell Gaynor; Eveningstar: Awakening by Samantha Curl

 The Others (Book 1 in the Council Trilogy) by Evette Davis; Blue by Charles Keatts; The Blind Smith (Book 1 in the Forge Trilogy in The Shadow Guardian Series) by G. Russell Gaynor; Eveningstar: Awakening by Samantha Curl 

The Others (Book 1 in The Council Trilogy) by Evette Davis

The entire review can be found on LitPick.

Evette Davis’ The Others is an intriguing concept that is illustrated with intrinsic copious details that fully explores it.

Political consultant Olivia Shepherd is suffering from a professional crisis when she encounters Elsa, a spirit called a Time Walker. Elsa informs her that her rival, Stoner Halbert has made a deal with a demon and is using that influence to grab power. As if that's not enough there is a hidden society called The Others: vampires, fairies, witches, ghosts, and other creatures. They live alongside our own and affect the human world around them. Olivia has some untapped abilities and must use them and her newfound friendships within the Others community to make some important political changes of their own, ones that will benefit humans and Otherkind not dominate it as Halbert wants to do.

The Others Society is captured brilliantly because it seems so much like the normal 21st century human society. The Others live in houses, have regular jobs, and go about their daily lives.

Once she is introduced to the concept, Olivia realizes that she is surrounded by The Others. Her best friend Lily, a teacher, is a fairy. William, a musician whom Olivia begins a relationship with, is a vampire. Gabriel, a multi billionaire who mentors Olivia, is a witch and so on.

There are also some other interesting facets to the plot. William and Olivia begin a tentative romance that is conflicted by differing views but a strong emotional and physical connection.

The political landscape is adequately explored and has some very timely relevance in an already eventful Presidential election year.

The Others takes a fascinating concept and lets the imagination run wild with it.

Blue by Charles Keatts

Blue by Charles Keatts is not an easy book to read. It's confusing, rambling, and disjointed, but it is also honest, introspective, and real. It shows the mental decline of a creative artist who is losing himself to addiction, depression, disconnection, and the despair felt by the people around him.

The Narrator mostly ruminates on his struggles and those of the people around him. They are highly artistic and highly troubled. There's Robert, a music critic, who falls into addiction and various love affairs. His painter friend, Ann soothes herself with heroin. The Narrator, a novelist and poet, has flashbacks of his unhappy youth and is overcome with depression, manic thoughts, and alcoholism. Other names and situations float through the book and disappear quickly as the Narrator’s sanity spirals.

This book is not an easy read. The narrative is confusing, repetitive, jumps from one point of view to another, and rambles on with little to no point. At times it comes across as boring. It tries for a stream of consciousness narration ala James Joyce or Virginia Woolf and sometimes it works but often it doesn't.

Blue works by capturing the slipping sanity of a brilliant but unraveling mind. The Narrator can't keep his thoughts together so it shows in the chapters. He repeats himself, tangles his thoughts, forgets names and places. Even his descriptions of Robert and Ann are causes for concern because The Narrator purposely leaves information out. It is unclear who Robert and Ann even are in his life. Are they friends of his? Is he Robert? Are they parts of his psyche? Fictional characters whose conflicts bleed into his own? We don't know and it is left to interpretation.

At times however, the narration is too complex and pretentious for its own good.

Blue contrasts with another recent book, blue: season by Chris Lombardi which also captures a stream of consciousness narration but does it better than Blue. blue: season is also narrated by a character who is a genius but has a fractured mind but this is a book with a character and plot. It doesn't lose focus so it can tell a good story along with a smart introspective narrative. We care about the characters and want to explore this strange journey into one woman's struggle with mental illness and traumatic memories of her past.

Blue on the other hand is more concerned with showing off the narration than putting it together in a book. It's hard to understand who the Narrator is or who the other characters are partly because of the limited perspective. We only see everyone through the Narrator's eyes. They all live miserable lives and that's it. The bleakness overpowers and since The Narrator jumps around, we can't really know the characters beyond mere sketches. The misery just piles on them without any full understanding of who they are as people or a reason why we should care about them when they reach rock bottom.

Blue is hard to comprehend and sometimes hard to care about, but it is an introspective and honest book about a brilliant mind that is falling apart. As those around him suffer from their own problems, he has to deal with his own heartaches and disappointments. The Narrator lives inside his own head and finds solace in his writing. If in fact, Robert and Ann are fictional characters that he created, he is perhaps using their addictions and psychological problems to confront or even avoid his own. 

As his life and the other's collapse, The Narrator who once found solace in his own mind can no longer trust it. He completely retreats into the fragmented remains in his mind as they slip away into nothingness. 

The Blind Smith (Book 1 in the Forge Trilogy in The Shadow Guardian Series) by G. Russell Gaynor

Note: This book was not selected because of current events. This schedule was made beforehand. Use caution when reading this review.

Even though G. Russell Gaynor’s The Blind Smith is 112 pages, it is a tightly wound and taut thriller about betrayal, revenge, and using one's own abilities and power to get that revenge.

An assassin blinds teen tech billionaire John J.J. Moore and kills members of his security team. He is taken in by Bob, a mysterious figure who teaches the young man how to be an assassin. Within a few years, J.J. excels in his training and recruits some new assassins to help him plan his revenge on the people who attacked him and killed his friends.

The opening chapter begins with a violent attack and there are some other subsequent action oriented chapters. However, the emphasis in this book is on gathering intelligence and planning strategies. Fighting harder takes a backseat to fighting smarter.

J.J. is particularly skilled in the whole “fighting smarter” mindset. He fits the description of someone who “plays 3D chess while his opponents play checkers.” In the beginning of the book, he is taught to use his other senses to become a formidable fighter ala Daredevil.

This style not only sharpens his physical strength but his mental strength too. He almost obtains a second sight and awareness into his allies and opponents's thoughts and actions.

With J.J.’s physical strength and analytical prowess, he is more than formidable against his enemies. Half way through the book only a few years into his training, he is already recruiting and leading his own groups. He picks into his protegee’s desires for revenge and anger at being wronged.

He helps his new recruits channel their anger into being a fighting team that makes up for the deficiencies that he lacks. They will be his force for revenge over the enemies who attacked him and the traitors that allowed it.

The Blind Smith is a brilliant game between a genius who is conditioned to fight and those who he is conditioned to fight against.

Eveningstar: Awakening by Samantha Curl 

Samantha Curl’s first Eveningstar novel, Awakening, skillfully tells three separate stories with the same characters. Curl then entwines them into one wide reaching expansive Epic High Fantasy that passes through three universes.

Alethia Eveningstar is the daughter of The God of War and Queen of the Stars and is destined to defeat Kakaron, God of Chaos before she can inherit her father's title. Kakaron seduces and betrays Alethia before making an escape. The Goddess-to-Be has to live ten or eleven lives encountering and fighting Kakaron before their final battle. Most of the book is set during two of those lives: Our Realm, where she is a high school girl in modern times discovering magic powers while dealing with new friendships, romance, and studies and the Other Realm, a Medieval like forest where her powers manifest as she is involved in a love triangle between her betrothed and a handsome and familiar stranger.

For a short novel of 178 pages, a lot is accomplished in an impressive manner. Curl devotes enough time to all three universes to give us ideas of the plots, settings, and characters and how they overlap and interact with each other. 

With time and interdimensional travel and the decision to set alternating chapters into different worlds, Awakening can be a very difficult book to follow. But thankfully many plot points parallel each other enough so if it already happened in one universe, the Reader will expect it to happen in another.

The key is to make each universe unique from the others and Curl does this superlatively. We know that Alethia and Kakaron are destined to encounter each other in each universe. 

There are also friends, relatives, authority figures, and romantic rivals that carry over in amusing ways. It gets to the point where the Reader goes “Okay there's this character in Our Realm. She should appear in the Other Realm right about..now.” It becomes an interesting game to see how quickly the characters' doppelgangers appear and in what way plots shift in the various worlds.

There are some interesting twists to keep Readers from expecting or assuming too much. One character strangely can jump from universe to universe so instead of being a reincarnated soul or a double, he's the same person in all three worlds and is able to teach Our World Alethia this ability so she can see what her Other Realm counterpart can. The circumstances of how Alethia and Kakaron meet, what forms they take, who seduced who, and how they discover the truth are different each time. Different enough that in one universe, Kakaron’s reveal is a genuine surprise. It keeps the momentum going in this strange novel.

Eveningstar: Awakening has a lot of fun playing with the laws of time and space and taking the Reader along with it.

 

New Book Alert: Vicious Ripples (The Desire Card Book Four) by Lee Matthew Goldberg; Fourth Desire Card Book Brings Things to the Falling Action Act

 

New Book Alert: Vicious Ripples (The Desire Card Book Four) by Lee Matthew Goldberg; Fourth Desire Card Book Brings Things to the Falling Action Act

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Stop! Before you read this review, I must give you a homework assignment. Please read either the previous books or my reviews for the other books in the Desire Card Series: Immoral Origins, Prey No More, and All Sins Fulfilled. I am going to reveal some important things in this review and I do not want any Reader to go in unprepared. Needless to say this review contains MAJOR HEAVY DUTY SPOILERS!!!!!

You back and prepped? Okay good, on we go.

Any follower of Shakespeare's plays knows that each play follows a basic five act structure. Act 1 is the introduction, Act 2 is the rising action, Act 3 is the climax, Act 4 is the falling action, and Act 5 is the resolution.

Lee Matthew Goldberg's five volume The Desire Card Series is Shakespearean in structure (and come to think of it in theme and characterization as well).

The first volume Immoral Origins was the Introduction. It introduced us to the Desire Card organization and their beginnings in the 1970's as they grant the wishes of the wealthy for a price. We meet the employees operating in disguise as Hollywood stars such as newcomer Erroll Flynn and the Card's enigmatic founder, Clark Gable. We see the rivalry formed between Gable and head of the European branch, Sir Laurence Olivier and what happens when Flynn tries to get away and revert back to his original identity of petty thief, Jake Barnum.

The second volume, Prey No More is the rising action, set forty years later when the Desire Card has gained power and influence in various business and political circles. They have operators all over the world and one of them, J.D. Storm AKA James Dean, goes on the lam. This results in lots of murders and J.D.'s hatred and thirst for revenge against the card and the people behind it.

All Sins Fulfilled the third book is the climax when well to do, Harrison Stockton needs a liver transplant and solicits a certain card to fill that request. This ends in some major revelations that reveal the people behind the masks, particularly Gable who is much closer than Harrison had previously been aware. It also culminates in J.D.'s act of revenge against Gable, the Card, and all it stands for.

The fourth volume, Vicious Ripples, is the falling action demonstrating what happens after the earth shattering revelations from All Sins Fulfilled are revealed.(The next volume, Desire's End appears to be the resolution where the Card and its treacherous founder come to their long overdue finish.)

Vicious Ripples is set immediately after J.D. Storm, now using the name Marcus Edmonton, has kidnapped 10 year old Gracie Stockton, the daughter of Harrison Stockton and his ex-wife, Helene Howell. Besides combining the protagonists from the previous two volumes, the kidnapping is for a darker and more serious reason. 

Gracie is the granddaughter of Jay Howell, businessman and multi billionaire. Oh yeah and Howell has another important distinction, a side hustle if you will. He is the creator and founder of the organization behind a certain card that we have been familiar with for the past year.

That's right, Jay Howell is also known to the Readers as Clark Gable, the mysterious and sinister head of the Desire Card. 

J.D.'s demands are simple. He wants the Desire Card disbanded for good. Also, he's not the only one who is after Howell/Gable. 

Harrison has his own unresolved issues with his former father in law. Howell's European rival, Oliver AKA Sir Laurence  Olivier (wow original) wants to cut into the competition. Ambitious and driven, Detective Monica Bonner is overcoming her personal loss by investigating Gracie's kidnapping and some mysterious deaths connected to the card. Gee, it seems like creating an organization that thrives on theft, drug dealing, murder, and other illegal nefarious acts to fulfill other's darkest desires seems like a bad idea since in the end it creates so many enemies who would like to see one dead. Who would have thought?

Even though many things were revealed in the previous volume and this one, there are still enough twists and turns to make Volume Four a good read. In fact, it's better than All Sins Fulfilled because there aren't as many slow parts which bring down the protagonist until they discover the card and start using it. By this point, the Reader knows about the Card, how it's used, and who the players are. The question is what are they going to do as their world comes crashing down around them?

Of course if you are a Narcissistic master criminal like Howell, you are going to do one of two things: scheme against your enemies and get as much as you can or if you go down, you take everyone else with you. Either way, Howell is backed into a corner and is going to strike at his enemies.

His few remaining supporters are like the last survivors on the Titanic still clinging to their Hollywood identities: Audrey Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando, Mae West, and a new James Dean. Many of them are freelancers who stick with Howell for financial gain. Others because they have nowhere else to go. Still others, namely Audrey and Dean, have personal reasons to stick close to their fearless leader. It is a sad pathetic group that remains, not like the far reaching, intimidating, glamorous, and hedonistic Desire Card operatives of the past.

It's also pretty clear that Howell uses these operatives like he uses everyone else. While he does have the capacity to care for certain people and is genuinely worried about Gracie, the narrative makes it clear that he values the Desire Card over everything else. 

Now that Howell's mask has been removed and his true self has been revealed, he is shown to be a self centered despicable creep who would sacrifice anyone to keep his operation running. (Not going to miss this guy once he's gone.)

It is interesting the various ways in which Howell's enemies go through to take him down, never actually combining their resources to fight the common enemy (Maybe that will be saved for Volume Five). Oliver uses his own card connections such as a couple of traitors in Howell's midst and his own operatives like Evchen, his second who assumes the identity of Marlene Dietrich. He fights duplicity with duplicity and strives to be every bit as cunning as his rival.

Monica uses the law and her own detective instincts. Because she also suffered the loss of a child, she relates to the Stocktons even though she is not in their socioeconomic class. She, like Helene, is a grieving mother and wants to relieve Gracie's parents of the burden of loss that she lives with every day. In a series full of criminals, illegal activity, and narcissists galore, Monica Bonner is the lone moral center.

While Harrison is out for the count through most of the book, he and Helene use their family connection and inside knowledge of Howell's home life and what he does when he's not in the mask. In fact, much of the intel is provided by overhearing conversations and searching through private files. It also opens up a lot of development for Helene who was once Daddy's Little Spoiled Pampered Princess and now has to face the truth about her father and where her rich life came from.

J.D.'s course of revenge is by far the strongest and most gripping. He was once a hitman with a heart of gold who walked out on the Desire Card when he began to question their methods. He had a chance to build a decent post-Desire life and then lost it all.

Now in Vicious Ripples, he has become everything that he once despised. A ruthless assassin with no conscience and is willing to hurt innocents to get his needs met. He is the final result of what the Desire Card turns people into: remorseless monsters with nothing left to lose.

Some of J.D.'s best moments are when he is with Gracie. The flickers of conscience still remain as he watches over the girl and tries to explain who her grandfather really is. He also watches in bemusement and horror as Gracie begins to accept her grandfather's identity and even absorbs some of the lessons that the adults around her are teaching. She learns them all too well in some very horrifying scenes that suggest that she too is the final result of the Desire Card's sinister dealings and Howell's insatiable avarice.

As great as this volume is, there are two rather questionable things. In one chapter during a confrontation between Howell and an enemy, something strange, sinister, and almost supernatural happens. It seems to come out of nowhere but perhaps it is an intentional callback to an earlier theory about the Card's origins. (Now with that scene, is the theory back on the table?)

The other question is a missed opportunity, or rather a missing piece to the revenge puzzle. We have seen most of the previous protagonists take on the Desire Card save one, Jake Barnum, the main character in Immoral Origins. While yes his death at the ending of the first volume would mean he can't be there physically, it's upsetting that some plot threads in that book were left dangling and he isn't there in spirit.

Jake's former girlfriend, Desire operative Marilyn Monroe, was alive, well, and remained a Card operative at the end of Immoral Origins. That's the last we hear from her and she makes no reappearance nor is referred to in subsequent volumes. You think that since Jake couldn't be there, at least Marilyn or better yet a potential offspring of theirs, could be there to settle an old score. (Of course I may be getting ahead of myself. Desire's End may answer that question.)

Well, the only thing left is a resolution. It will be interesting to see what happens when Desire's End takes a pair of scissors and finally cuts the card.

New Book Alert: Prey No More (The Desire Card Book 2) by Lee Matthew Goldberg; More of the Good, Creepy, and Sinister Same

 

New Book Alert: Prey No More (The Desire Card Book 2) by Lee Matthew Goldberg; More of the Good, Creepy, and Sinister Same

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Just when you thought it was safe to use your credit card, the Desire Card team is back to severely cut your throats-uh interest rates. Well before they cut your throat, your organs, and the organs of your closest friends and family members.

Set approximately 40 years after the first book Immoral Origins, the antagonists of Lee Matthew Goldberg's creepy and sinister crime thriller series have grown their operation exponentially. Once in a hideout near Hell's Kitchen New York, the main office is in a swank penthouse. Instead of wearing human-like masks of Old Hollywood stars, the do badders can now opt to get surgery to look like the stars of yesteryear. Some don't even don the Hollywood identities, so a Desire Card employee could be anyone: your lover, your mother, the hotel desk clerk, that nice old lady across the street, anybody.

Once with two offices in New York and London (with the London office only having two employees), Desire now has offices and operators all over the world and have their fingers in just about every corrupt activity going on. What hasn't changed are the Old Hollywood identities that many who work for the card live under, though now not everyone, and that the entire outfit is still overseen by the amoral enigmatic Clark Gable.

The protagonist in this one couldn't be more different from the predecessor's Jake Barnum AKA Erroll Flynn, if he tried. Instead we get J.D. Storm, Iraqi War vet and former sniper, now operating under the name and guise of James Dean. Instead of the wide eyed petty crook that Jake was, J.D. has been in the Desire Card game for some time. He has acquired a reputation for good marksmanship and ruthless efficiency. He and his partner, Humphrey Bogart are not to be trifled with.

Unfortunately, J.D. has a handicap that prevents him from being 100% good at his job. He is afflicted with a terminal case of conscience. He hesitates to go after a young woman and then when he and Bogart are to kill a man in front of his young son, J.D. refuses and goes into hiding. The Desire Card do not take resignation lightly. I mean he didn't even give two week's notice-rude! So, J.D. is on the run and never knowing when the Desire Card will catch up to him or who is affiliated with them.

Besides this, we also go into the background of J.D's life before he joined the card and how he got involved. He grew up in a small town in Washington state and had a girlfriend, Annie, who worked as a mark for a gang of thieves. She used her body to distract cashiers and clerks while her colleagues robbed them. J.D. suggested that she could go legit. In response to that suggestion, Annie left to join her gang and J.D. left to join the Army.

While on the battlefield, J.D. was trained as a sniper, only to be shot in the eye which could be detrimental for a sniper (no depth perception). So upon returning home, J.D. gets an eye patch and an overwhelming feeling of PTSD. He joins a support group which includes a woman named Rita, who looks a great deal like Rita Hayworth. Guess who she works for?

This beginning and the chapters where J.D. returns to his small town and reunites with Annie reveal the type of character that J.D. was and might still have been if the Desire Card hadn't gotten hold of him. He was once a good guy who couldn't stand to see innocents suffer. He was protective of abused women and children. During his time with the Card and even during his exile from them, his once idealistic protective nature is crushed. By the end he becomes the very monster that he once feared, one who will willingly kill the innocent without conscience, to get even with someone else.

What is revealed throughout this volume is how much The Desire Card has grown in size, prominence, and means. One way this is evident is in the recruitment process of new agents. In Immoral Origins, Jake and other newbies wore faceless masks and did petty crimes like delivering drugs and other suspicious packages before moving up to big crimes and Hollywood names. J.D. did not go through that. He was handed the James Dean mask right away and given murderous assignments instantly.

From a storytelling standpoint, it makes sense that Goldberg wanted to skip this part since he didn't want to repeat himself but it also reveals something more sinister about Desire's current practices. They don't test the recruits because they don't have to. They already know what they have done and are capable of doing. All they have to do is look up records, research names, find their weaknesses and strengths, and voila another star is added to their heavens or rather hells.

 Once a frightening organization hiding in the shadows, the Desire Card is now upfront and somehow more dangerous. Who knows how many CEO's, politicians, tyrants, celebrities, and people both famous and infamous have made deals with the Card? How many world events can be laid at the feet of Gable and Co.? How many innocent lives have been killed and operators rubbed out when they, like Jake and J.D., have seen the light? There is no telling and with an organization as large and as powerful as Desire Card, little chance of bringing them down.

After all, since we the Readers and the characters know very little about how the Desire Card operates, it could go on forever. There is a strong possibility, even suggested in the text, that the identities behind the mask change. There are a couple of Old Hollywood identities that I know for sure cannot be the same characters in the previous book. Also who's to say that this Gable is the same person as before? 

In the 70's, Gable was more than likely middle aged and had been around for some time to create and organize the card and learn what he knew about the people behind him. That he is still alive and active is possible, but not likely. Though if he is the same man as before, it does bring some interesting possibilities as we learn more about him (and definitely crosses out one of my previous theories about him). 

We learn that this Gable has a family including an adorable granddaughter and Chip, a flamboyantly gay son, whom he gives out of the way jobs to get rid of him. Chip especially bears an intriguing speculation. He's about late 30's to early 40's which meant that he might have been born around the same time or right after Immoral Origins. So if Gable is the same man as before, Chip's mother may also be a familiar figure from Book 1 as well. 

As the Desire Card becomes larger, their stranglehold on their agents and clients become that much greater. They are practically unstoppable. Who knows how much larger they can grow and how many are destroyed by Book 3? One thing is for certain, it will be as sinister, suspenseful, and as hard to put down as the rest.