Review: Haunting Characters Do Indeed Capture Reader!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 16, 2013
If you get queasy when reading some scenes of murder, please know that this is a graphic violent novel. I have linked you to an article by the author so that you can learn about her issues in writing her novels on my blog, as well as pics and excerpts.I admit I got squeamish at some of the scenes. so, frankly, I went looking on her site to see if there was anything related to the inclusion of torture details... I must say that I understood what she meant about the characters driving the acts, and It was persuasive for me, so much so that I wanted to read the first two books in the Michael Sykora series, so quickly downloaded copies for some weekend reading...I liked the cover. No pictures could portray "killing instinct" anyway, right? Yet there were four male lead characters who could be classified as having that Instinct (many more, in fact) and Darcia Helle did an excellent job in creating the psychological background so that readers can quickly understand exactly what type of individual these four men are.Michael Sykora, the lead character, got involved after his fiancee was murdered. All he was able to feel for any type of justice was through revenge...He took it...And now he is in the business of helping others when someone they love have been brutalized or murdered...He's very good at it...So is Sean, his partner. He was an assassin who somehow got hooked up with Michael (haven't read the how of that yet--LOL). But as you will see from the narrative, Michael has been influential in teaching Sean to first stop to think about what he's being asked to do. Especially for Maria. He fell for her immediately, but it was more than that... He could not grasp a need to torture and film somebody unless...Yes, the man who wanted her dead wanted to have a snuff film for his vast collection and, of course, to sell as well... This man is the Sandman...He's runs a business something like Fantasy Island--except it relates to providing the "right individual" for what your fantasy is... And that leads to the fourth man, Lenny, who, like William, considers those individual his livestock...he's in it for the money and has no feelings for that stock as people for whom he should care...Since Sean had saved Maria rather than killing her, as soon as he had shared what had been planned for her, she wanted to be involved. She had been a bounty hunter and worked security, so was well prepared.Michael was now involved with Nicky. While she didn't have the same background and training, after meeting Maria and learning about what these men were doing, she demanded to be involved too. Michael was afraid, given his major loss in the past, but Nicky wouldn't back down. So all of them were involved, trying to track down who the Sandman was, why he wanted Marie dead, and then as the two groups knew about each other, a friend of Marie's who worked for the bounty hunting office, was taken...and tortured... Michael and Sean gambled that they would not really harm her, pending a potential trade for Marie...or at a minimum, adding her to the stock--after all, anybody still alive can help fulfill "somebody's" fantasy...I don't know about you, but given the "real" atrocities that happen every day in America--murder, kidnapping, human trafficing, rape--it has become more acceptable to read about vigilantes, revenge and justice (payback).If the government and law enforcement cannot take the real criminals off the streets, would we be happy to encourage men like Michael and Sean to act? It's a scary thought...And too easy to understand...Darcia Helle writes to entertain us...But she also says the characters await us..I liked the fact that she provides info on her "gruesome" writing. LOL! And I have to say that her characters and their actions were sometimes edgier than I could handle--so I read those parts quickly, but those needles stuck in my mind through the night...excuse the pun...Funny how one scene bothered me, but when it was the man getting the needles, it didn't...hmmm...Obviously if I went out and got the first two books in this series, I "got past" the fictional torture. But what sold me was the ending. When it comes right down to it, I'm willing to agree, at least in fiction, it is not just black and white...There's an awfully lot of gray, isn't there? I think the author did an exceptional job in working within the gray area and even coming out white in some ways... I know what I mean by that--I hope you do too...Highly recommended.GABixlerReviews