New Book Alert: Cleopatra's Vendetta (A Stryker Thriller) by Avanti Centrae; Complex,Suspenseful, and Exciting Combination of Fanciful Adventure with Gritty Thriller

 

New Book Alert: Cleopatra's Vendetta (A Stryker Thriller) by Avanti Centrae; Complex,Suspenseful, and Exciting Combination of Fanciful Adventure with Gritty Thriller 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Avanti Centrae's books could be considered the Indiana Jones of adventure novels. They are exciting suspenseful chases in which the characters find some lost treasure that contains knowledge about history that challenges our previous perceptions of the past. Of course there are villains following close behind with the drive to kill the good guys, steal the treasure, and bury the information.

Centrae's previous series, The Van Ops is a great example of these adventures, featuring twins who are part of a secret government organization that searches for these treasures. Her other series, The Stryker Thrillers combines the style of the more fanciful adventure novels with the more grounded political thrillers. It's a strange but effective crossover of genres.

The estranged wife and daughter of Timothy Stryker, leader of M2, a military SpecOps Unit, have been kidnapped. It's up to Stryker and his sister-in-law and fellow M2 member Sam to find her. Meanwhile, Stryker's partner Jeronimo Guerrero Reyes is investigating a series of assassinations of high profile leaders with the assistance of Jane Parish, a British agent. Eventually it is revealed that the kidnappings and assassinations are linked because of an ancient religious sect called Sons of Adam that is tied to the true circumstances surrounding Cleopatra VII's death and it had nothing to do with asps.

There are some exciting moments that are to be found such as when Stryker and Sam trail a suspect to a bar to learn about Angie and Harper, Stryker's wife and daughter's whereabouts. Then there is the moment when Rey is an eyewitness to an assassination and follows the hitman through India.

Angie herself has some gripping scenes during her captivity when she struggles to find out where she is and what her captors want her for. Every character has several moments where they have to use strength, skill, and intelligence to get out of a bad situation.

There are also some great chapters that piece together the story of Cleopatra and characters explore what might be her tomb. The clues are tantalizing and very revealing about who she was and what information the Sons of Adam want to suppress.

This is the kind of book where there is a cliffhanger in nearly every chapter and the Reader can't wait to see what happens next and what it all leads to.

Even though politics are often involved in Adventure stories (usually the characters are employed, hired, or stopped by some government), it is often in the background with fanciful almost cartoonish representatives. Since Cleopatra's Vendetta is combined with the political thriller genre, there is an air of gritty reality to the suspense that goes beyond the archaic clues and narrow escapes in most of these books. 

Stryker's team for example is a veritable buffet of PTSD, addictions, and horrible pasta that make them characters that wrestle not only with antagonists outside but their own inner demons.

 While she and Harper are kidnapped, Angie fears that they might be taken by a human trafficking ring (and she's not too far off). 

Many of the protagonists commit violent actions in the name of gathering information and work for shady government representatives who couldn't care less if they live or die. Even though the adventure is rooted in the old tradition of black and white, good vs. evil, Cleopatra's Vendetta features characters who live in a world of muted gray.

There is treasure to be found, information to be learned, and a history that is faced and seen with new eyes. Most of it surrounds the true character of Cleopatra. Even the opening prologue focuses on the Egyptian queen moments before her death. 

Like the adventure surrounding Cleopatra and the clues about her death, the aura of mystique is removed from her giving a more complex portrayal than most of her representations. Usually, Cleopatra is portrayed as a highly wealthy femme fatale who took both Mark Antony and Julius Caesar as lovers. 

But many historians do not focus on Cleopatra's rule and immense leadership skills. She was considered one of the last great rulers of the Egyptian royal dynasties. She successfully wrestled the kingdom from her brother Ptolemy and was a consummate strategist who spoke several languages and studied the philosophers in learning how to adapt her thinking. In fact, her unions with Caesar and Antony weren't solely for carnal pleasures as they were to form powerful alliances with the Romans. She was thought in her day to be the reincarnation of Isis, Egypt's Goddess of fertility, magic, healing, death, and rebirth. This book restores the Egyptian queen's character and makes her just as powerful in death as she was in life. 

To focus only on Cleopatra's beauty and her lovers tell only half the story. It's like talking only about Elizabeth I's relationship with Robert Dudley but not focusing on her long reign and leadership. In her own way, Centrae allows her characters to bring the real Cleopatra's legacy to light.

The thriller aspects of espionage match well with the adventurous look at history making Cleopatra's Vendetta a complex, suspenseful, and exciting combination.

Weekly Reader: The Doomsday Medallion (A Van Ops Thriller) by Avanti Centrae; Van Ops Takes On Nostradamus In Another Thrilling Adventure

 

Weekly Reader: The Doomsday Medallion (A Van Ops Thriller) by Avanti Centrae; Van Ops Takes On Nostradamus In Another Thrilling Adventure

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: If you are as fascinated as I am with Michel de Nostradamus and his famous prophecies then you should enjoy Avanti Centrae's third Van Ops Thriller, The Doomsday Medallion. Even if you are not and just enjoy a good adventurous treasure hunt sprinkled with plenty of suspense and character development then you still should read The Doomsday Medallion.

Centrae's third go round follows the same pattern as the previous volumes The Lost Power and Solstice Shadows in that it involved three Van Ops agents: Maddy Marshall, a psychic and Aikido instructor, Will Argones, Maddy's twin brother an engineer and expert knife fighter, and Bear Thorenson, Will's friend and Maddy's boyfriend, a seasoned agent with an interest in the humanities particularly history, art, and literature.

In the first volume, The Lost Power,  the trio found themselves searching for the Aragon Chasse while on the run from Russian assassins who killed their father and Will's wife. The second volume, Solstice Shadows, found them recovering a stolen star chart that would lead to a great power while encountering treacherous relatives and a looming war.

This time the trio's adventures take them right on the path of Avril, a 16 year old social media sensation who has impressed and frightened many with her spot on predictions. Her latest one involves a military takeover in the South China Sea. This accurate foretelling makes her the target of some suspicious characters who attempt to kidnap Avril and her guardian, Monique. Will, Maddy, and Bear are assigned to watch over the girl who is more powerful and more important than your average psychic. She is a direct descendant of Nostradamus and possesses knowledge on where some of the famed seer's missing quatrains are and what they foretell.

The book doesn't jump around as much as the previous books. Mostly Doomsday Medallion is set in France and Italy. While the settings don't give the Readers their "Imagination Frequent Flier Miles" that the previous books do, French and Italian art and history are explored more frequently. Key scenes are set near cave paintings and Renaissance art to reveal that strong connection to the past.

The adventure sequences are as exciting as those that can be found in many blockbuster films. There are some pretty tense moments such as when the twins infiltrate a kidnapping attempt on Avril. Many times  they are followed by enemies that want to make short work of them. Centrae makes her books extended chase scenes and leaves the Reader with breathless anticipation with every close call that her characters get.

While the adventure is tight, Centrae never loses sight of characterization. In The Lost Power both Maddy and Will share the spotlight. In Solstice Shadows, Maddy gets more attention while this one evens the score by having Will be the main focus. While the twins live active lives full of adventure, Maddy has been able to form a family with Bear and her adopted son, A.J. Will has not been so lucky.

He still feels the loss of what might have been after his wife, Maria's death. Here he feels a paternal protective connection with Avril wanting to be the father figure in her life that fate so far has deprived him. Their chapters together are sweet and humorous with the world weary adult and the bright sassy kid arguing with and supporting each other through this adventure.

In fact Avril herself is also a very well written character who easily stands out in this book. She is gifted with this phenomenal inherited power that she doesn't fully understand but still wants to share in her own right.

Like her famous ancestor, she is uncertain and vague about what she sees and shares her information with others for them to interpret. With Nostradamus it was through writing poetic quatrains. With Avril it's creating TikTok videos. Whatever reaches the masses, am I rite?

 However, Avril is also a regular kid who loves her pet gecko, worries about her guardians, sasses authority figures, and makes social media her second home. It would be interesting if the series continues to see her equally involved in future adventures. The ending resolutions seem to foretell this.

The Doomsday Medallion is another great Van Ops adventure. I predict Book Four will be just as good.

New Book Alert: Solstice Shadows (A VanOps Thriller) by Avanti Centrae; Follow Up To The Lost Power Offers More Adventure, Suspense, Treasure Hunting, and Characterization

New Book Alert: Solstice Shadows(A VanOps Thriller) by Avanti Centrae; Follow Up To The Lost Power Offers More Adventure, Suspense, Treasure Hunting, and Characterization

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: When last we left the Wonder Twins, Maddy Marshall and Will Argones and their secret agent friend, Bear Thorenson, they found some obelisks that acted as a superconductor and a star chart that points to an ultimate power source. This journey led them to the top of the Great Pyramid of Giza where Maddy used the superconductor to create ball lightning to blast their pursuers sky high. Will accepted the offer to join Van Ops still in mourning for his murdered wife, Maria. Maddy got accepted into a secret organization, the Order of the Invisible Flame, and considered joining Van Ops and adopting A.J., her orphaned student in aikido martial arts, while beginning a romance with Bear.


The second volume in the Van Ops series, Solstice Shadows, is pretty much more of the same. Usually, that's not a good thing but in this case, that is definitely a compliment. Avanti Centrae gives us more adventure, more treasure hunting, more suspense, more exotic locations, and more great characterization. It is not better or worse than the previous one. Instead they are equals in great escapism and high adventure.


The star chart that Will, Maddy, and Bear found is stolen from Maddy's apartment. Now, a dangerous assassin, with a taste for garroting his enemies, is after them. Meanwhile the Indian ambassador to Russia is murdered and his mistress is kidnapped and tortured. It flies right into Will and Maddy's world when they learn that the mistress is their step-grandmother and that they were attacked so their enemies could find the star chart and the location of the power source.

So now the twins, Bear, and a pair of new allies are led on yet another treasure hunt to look for this power source before the winter solstice (where the chart predicts that it can be found). They have to hurry because their enemies knocked out the power in the Philippines where a terrified populace is rioting and A.J. is hiding with an ally.


The novel jumps around from various locations to the Maldives, to the United States, to Brazil, to Russia, to Israel, to Mexico, to Belize, to the Philippines, to Turkey, to Morocco, to Egypt, to Sudan, to Jordan. If Readers want to take an imaginary journey to get their mind off their troubles, this book is the literary equivalent of getting your Imaginary Frequent Flier Miles.


The adventure is pure Indiana Jones meets James Bond. Everywhere the characters go, they run into villains in hot pursuit and have to use their wits to escape. There are many tense passages such as when Will and co-agent, Jags have to travel through the Sahara to avoid assasins.

Another suspenseful moment is when Maddy, Bear, and Will come to the archaeological dig of Anu Kumar, an archaeologist who can provide information on the star chart. She becomes the sole survivor in an attack that almost comes out of a psychological thriller or a horror movie.


The characterization is as sharp as ever mostly because Centrae doesn't forget the human element that lies in the adventure. Maddy goes through some angst and indecision throughout the book. She is reluctant to join VanOps because of how guilty she felt about committing murder in the last book, even though it was in self defense of herself, Will, Bear, and A.J. She is also torn between living a normal life as an adopted mother and getting back together with her ex fiancee or saving the world and taking all these dangerous risks with her new boyfriend, Bear. There is an emotional moment where Maddy has to face the consequences of keeping secrets even from her and Will's older sister, Bella.

One part that doesn't quite fit is her relationship with A.J. While she clearly cares for the boy, the fact that he is in danger in this book, yet again, suggests that he could become a frequent target by their  enemies. Maddy debates whether to adopt him, but this book gives several good reasons why she shouldn't.


Will also benefits from the extra care that Centrae provides in writing him. He is no longer grieving for his late wife. In fact, Maria's death and his last adventure has turned him into a dedicated agent who has learned to use his physical skills in knife throwing as well as his mental skills in engineering.

Will also has a potentially romantic relationship with Jags and a lot of cute moments as the two are running from their potential assailants. Jags also provides a sympathetic ear when Will confesses that he feels guilty about being involved with another woman so quickly after Maria's death.


While the antagonists aren't as well written as Ivan, the Hitman with a Heart of Gold from The Lost Power, there is some depth provided within Pyotr Argones, a relative of Will and Maddy's that is after them. While chasing the twins, Pyotr is also worried about his mother who is kidnapped and tortured by a sinister Russian character called the Baron. Oh yeah, and his mother is the aforementioned Indian ambassador's mistress. Pyotr realizes that he is a pawn in a larger game and the players that claim to be on his side could careless about him.

With extra adventure, locations, and great characters on both sides, Solstice Shadows continues the excitement started by The Lost Power. The VanOps Series is a series that could be considered The Great Escape.

New Book Alert: Van Ops: The Lost Power by Avanti Centrae: Thrilling, Suspenseful, And Engaging Treasure Hunt Begins New Series

New Book Alert: Van Ops: The Lost Power by Avanti Centrae; Thrilling, Suspenseful, and Engaging Treasure Hunt Begins New Series

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews



Spoilers: Thanks to the Da Vinci Code, for a time in the early to mid 2000’s, you couldn't throw a rock without hitting a book about a treasure hunt. Several books were written where the protagonists looked for some treasure or knowledge that had been hidden for centuries that could shake up the known usually western world. The protagonists are on the run from dastardly villains, usually working for the church or government that are determined to keep the secret.

One of the better of those treasure hunt novels was 2005’s Labyrinth by Kate Mosse which involved books that contained references to the Holy Grail, the history of the Cathars in France, a commentary on gender roles, and two strong female protagonists in modern day and 13th century France.


We return to that trend that now reaches 20 years old (yikes) with Avanti Centrae’s The Lost Power, a book in her Van Ops series. When done right, these treasure hunt novels are interesting lessons in history and speculative fiction, filled with intense suspenseful action-based passages, and feature interesting characters that guide the action. Lucky for us, Centrae gets it right.

Twins, Will and Maddy Argones are invited to visit their father who tells them that he has important news. Before he can reveal it, however both he and Will’s wife, Maria, are killed by an assassin's bullet. The twins barely have time to grieve before their father’s attorney sends them a letter which tells them to return to the family's ancestral home Aragon Castle in Spain and locate the Aragon Chassé, a small box that contains an object of immense power. This quest takes them and their old school friend and current military man, Teddy “Bear” Thorenson on a journey through Spain, Israel, and Egypt with dangerous assassins in hot pursuit.

The book is an escapist fantasy of exotic locations and roller coaster actions designed to end several chapters with cliffhangers. There are various tense situations where the Argones Twins and Bear hide from assassins in various locations including the Dome of the Rock and a hot air balloon. There is an interesting subplot when the trio take part in various tests to determine their strength, knowledge, and worthiness to find the Aragon Chassé.

The characterization is brilliantly executed. Will and Maddy both shine with individual moments. Maddy is a seventh level Dan and martial arts instructor and uses those skills to defend her loved ones. She is also psychic and has premonitions of people being hurt or kidnapped. She shows a strong maternal bond with A.J., a young student who unfortunately gets caught in the middle of these struggles.

Will is also well written. He is a skeptic where Maddy is intuitive. While it stretches credibility over how skeptical he can possibly be, with not only a psychic sister but going on a journey that includes some unexplained phenomena, but this can also be attributed to Will’s stubborn nature. Also, the plot offers scientific possibilities which gives Will, an engineer opportunities to use his expertise. On an emotional front, Will shows genuine grief over Maria's death which is refreshing to see when in many novels of this sort ignore the personal tragedy when someone dies in favor of action. This book shows the grief that would be involved when someone dies particularly when they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Bear isn't as developed as the twins but he offers some interesting possibilities when it is revealed that he is part of Van Ops, a secret military organization that studies unexplained phenomena. He also harbors a secret crush on Maddy and shares some sweet heroic moments with her.

The antagonists are fairly decent as well. The stand out among them is Ivan, a gun toting hit man who hides a heart as big as the number of his confirmed kills. Ivan can be a ruthless killer, but that's not all to his story. Centrae reveals that he is worried about his kidnapped son whom his employers hold hostage in an attempt to get Ivan to obey them. Ivan also shows protectiveness over the kidnapped, A.J. revealing the fatherly side he hides behind his gruff violent exterior.

The search for the Aragon Chassé is pretty tight as clues are given and tests are required to find the object. When the Chassé is revealed, it proves to be every bit as powerful as advertised and during the climax that power is unleashed in a violent and ultimately satisfactory moment.

The Lost Power is a treasure hunt worth going on with a thrilling plot, great characters, and a truly intriguing adventure.