Review: All Hell Breaks Loose scores a high five!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 17, 2012
She's baaack! Gabi Bradford, aka Angeli Morte, the scourge of miscreant supers, Hunter par excellence, is on the road to recovery after a way too up close and personal battle royal with Dante, a demon controlling vampire. That brouhaha left her grievously injured physically, with the road to recovery termed miraculous. But there's healing and there's healing. What Gabi faces is a crisis of confidence, and placing patches on those holes where Dante had succeeded in nearly breaking her becomes job one.That job means going after newly turned lycanthropes terrorizing the city streets, assisted by her best friend, Kyle (also a Were). Given the danger of dealing with rogue Weres, Gabi counts herself lucky (maybe) that she's a Dhampir, immune to the virus and sporting handy new abilities--and a few that had revealed her Vampiric origins.Gabi has a day job that draws on her unusual ability to communicate with animals. A call from a Shapeshifter friend alerts her to a potential problem with Derek, a mutual acquaintance who happens to have a crush on Gabi. Rumor had it ... he'd been infected. She investigates, and it's far worse than she thought--Derek had inadvertently attacked his sister, Trish.And from there the author takes us on a thrill ride of epic proportions. We get an in-depth look at the Were mythology, how packs operate, how the newly changed adapt to their terrifying circumstances and what happens when dominants face off. The city's packs keep members on a tight leash, with retribution handed out for deliberately turning hapless citizens.But someone, or something, isn't playing by the rules and he has a rogue militia-style pack doing his bidding, including coming to conscript newly changed Derek. Fortunately Gabi was there, and she didn't approve. Fast forward to Julius' estate where Trish and Derek are ensconced to see to Trish's difficult transformation, females not faring quite as well with the lycanthrope virus.Julius, the hunkalicious Master Vampire, had withdrawn to grieve over his brother's death and the betrayals to his clan, including a massive dose of guilt over what Dante had done to the woman he cherished (fortunately that doesn't last long because my hormones needed a good workout). Julius, however, isn't the only vampire worth salivating over. The author introduces us to quite a cast of characters in whom we immediately bond, each of them unique and compelling. That goes for the Were side of the equation ... the secondary characters give depth, interest and a wonderful change of pace to the story arc. If I had to pick favorites? Hmm, might have to get back to you on that but Kyle is still top of my leader board.The stakes are high, the action rousing, the bad guys worthy opponents, and there are enough twists and turns in this tightly woven plot to satisfy the most persnickety paranormal action junkie. Not everyone walks away from the battles and there are some injuries that have consequences we rarely think about when it comes to paranormal beings.The denouement has Gabi coming to a potentially life-altering decision, and Julius hears a voice from the past that makes his blood run cold.Oh yeah. Book 3 cannot get here soon enough.As I mentioned in my review of A Cat's Chance in Hell, book one was not written in standalone style. If the reader opts to dive into book 2 first, then the author has a nicely written prologue to get you oriented to the who, what and whys of this very unique `Verse.Sometimes the sophomore set in a series fails to live up to the promise. Not so here. The author takes that `Verse and builds on it, keeping the mythology logically consistent and mercifully free of gimmicks, at the same time satisfying every bullet point for dark urban fantasy/paranormal genre expectations.If you like action-adventure with a side of smoking hot romance, run, don't walk ... because when All Hell Breaks Loose you don't want to miss the ride of your life.Another well done and five stars.Copy of ARC provided by the author for a review.