Review: WOW - An amazingly orchestrated face paced drama with dark undertones.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 21, 2014
The Mercenary by Victoria Pope***** 5 STARS *****A outstandingly orchestrated fast paced drama, with dark undertones, that kept me glued to the pages of this book.From the opening chapter where you meet the arrogant, 32 yr. old, self-proclaimed jackass and militant gun-for-hire Benjamin Kade "Kade". Who's life, for the past 4 years, has centered around interrogating and torturing said criminals on a forsaken remote island known as Satan's Hellhole...To - Carys Munro, a 27 year old paralegal from Glasgow who in her own words:  has no prospects to marry, no big career and couldn't even get a bloody pregnancy right...To  - the very last pages....which should bring tears to your eyes.The story unfolds with Carys and her family being kidnapped and brought to the remote island for their involvement with a notorious mob family from Scotland known as the Reardons.In Chapter 2:Carys coming face to face with Kade her interrogator.Her words are: """Of all the bloody bastards who could have been charged with interrogating me, they had to send in bloody Clark Kent. His sweat-glistened biceps covered in tattoos, his tall dark frame and dark hair filled the doorway and I stared at him in surprise. He was more like Rambo in some ways, with all that sweat and muscle, but something about him was definitely Superman. I laughed inwardly, knowing how crazy it was to think about that since he didn't obviously seem to care which one he was or how attractive he might be"""By Chapter 4:We have Kade doing what Kade does best (interrogate, torture, get the confession) and I still wince and my fingers still throb just thinking about: """My pinky nail was ripped off and I screamed until I was hoarse. Fresh air licked my exposed nerves, and nothing I could do could make the pain stop. Blood dripped down on the floor, and I so very badly wanted to faint but my brain wouldn't let me. "I ask again Carys""".As this fast paced, dark rollercoaster of a ride processes we find that Carys is willing to do anything, yes anything, to protect her family from certain torture and death, even if it means getting herself killed. And Kade starting to feel, in his gut, that something is just not right.  Before he knows it he's helping her orchestrate her families release. Then to prevent her rape and murder he flees the island with Carys in tow.  He's now sacrificed everything and his own future to save her and what in the hell was he thinking?  They are now both on the run and uncertain death looming over them.Will her family survive the perilous flight from danger?  Will Kade be able to rescue Carys when she is recaptured and taken back to the island?  Can Carys endure torture at the hands of Darcy again? Will Kade's past destroy Carys? Can he learn to survive again in the real world? Will that one devastating death destroy everything and everyone?...............................The two main characters (Kade and Carys) are written in the POV format, and are so brilliantly written that you can actually picture their story unfolding. Not to mention that the chemistry between these two is beyond hot with the sex scenes smothering on the pages. Victoria Pope also did a wonderful job of portraying all the supporting characters. One person, worth mentioning, is Darcy the dark deranged Irish psychotic madman that the author portrayed so well that your skin will actually crawl reading about him..This review was somewhat hard to write as I refuse to give anything away other than the two snippets above. I will say that it is quite intense and very dark at times that could have some readers cringing... BUT those sections are a major part and necessity to the overall dimension of the story which make the action scenes literally come to life, so much so that you want to cover your eyes or look away. (damn can't do that - I'm reading it)The Mercenary  - WOW -  Great job Victoria PopeReview written for Sinful Thoughts Book Blog