Acts of the Saints by K.A. Schuster

TITLE: Acts of the Saints
AUTHOR: K.A. Schuster
PUBLISHER: Samhain
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 88k)
GENRE: Thriller
COST: $5.50

In a dystopian world where ultra-conservatives have turned the United States into a battleground between zealots and resisters, four lives intertwine. One: Father Theo, an alcohol-dependent priest plagued by visions that incite him to find resolution. Two: Catherine, his divorcee companion struggling with her own inner demons. Three: Martin Sovalle, a beautiful bisexual man who shows Catherine that love has all the power she ever hoped it could. And four: The Summoner, the enigmatic leader behind it all, behind the newfound religious movements, behind the danger, and most frighteningly, behind the lure that draws Catherine and Theo ever closer to his Citadel…

Trying to describe this book is like trying to mold dry sand. No matter how I try, I can never get it to hold its shape, because it’s ever-changing and slips through my fingers. On the surface, it’s about two resisters attempting to get to the central figure of a powerful and dangerous religious group. But it goes deeper than that, with rich theological and philosophical debates, and questions about how far is too far.

Paragenesis is the name of the organization inflicting its strict moral code upon the American populace. At its heart is the Summoner, a charismatic individual that is almost more myth than man, with very definitive views on how he perceives the world and the God he worships. The book starts with Theo and Catherine already on their sojourn, the hunt to find this mysterious leader. They travel along an invisible underground railroad of resisters, gathering information as they go. For the purposes of protecting themselves, they’ve married, though Theo has maintained his celibacy. In a lot of ways, however, they really are as devoted to each other as man and wife could be, supporting their views, helping each other through sticky moral dilemmas, making hard decisions when the time demands they be made. Theo is fascinating. This is a man divided, still very much devout, still very much in love with his Lord, and yet, he’s being forced on a daily basis to see the atrocities that are being committed in the name of his preferred religion. Sometimes he deals with it poorly, retreating into his alcohol. At others, he is as passionate and powerful as he ever was in the pulpit, an instrument to be utilized, a force to be followed. The magnetic pull he feels for the Summoner is both frightening and fated, and as a reader, I was as tossed in confusion regarding the whole situation as he was.

Catherine, unfortunately, isn’t quite as interesting to me. She’s probably more relatable as one of the most normal people in the story, but her entire motivation hinges on her feelings for Marty, something I am never able to believe or invest in. Now, she is just meeting Marty at the top of the story. She’s been in St. Louis for a grand total of six hours. He’s gorgeous, and she’s sexually frustrated, so it’s very natural for her to be attracted to him. No problem yet. In chapter two, they get a chance to sit down and get to know each other, though we only get the beginning of their day-long conversation. At the top of chapter three, they have sex, which is good, and still I don’t have a problem. However, immediately following that, the house they’re in is attacked, and Marty is its victim. She has no more interactions with him in St. Louis except when he gets dumped back at the house the following morning and she helps get him medical treatment. All of this happens in chapter three. From that point on, Catherine uses her feelings for Marty as a guiding tool in almost all of her decisions. She worries about him constantly, which is fine, but very quickly, she’s decided she’s in love with him, and it’s because she loves him so much that she is able to follow through with Theo on their quest. I never got it. I never understood just what the big deal was that she would invest in him, mostly because much of their interaction happened off the page. At least, I’m guessing it’s that day long of conversations that tipped her feelings in that direction. She is understandably hungry for affection, but the way she threw herself so whole-heartedly into him never resonated for me. Because of that, it was very difficult to invest in a lot of her emotions when it came to Marty. For much of the book, he’s this ethereal creature, more symbol than man.

Ironically, the Summoner ends up being more man than symbol. This is the single most intriguing character in the entire story, though that’s partially due to the mystery shrouding him for a good part of it. We get snippets from his POV through the first half, but they are all just one big tease for the last third when more of his history and motivations come out. They are dark, they are twisted, and in the context of his theological make-up, they all have a morbid logic that is as chilling as it is mesmerizing. His relationships are the ones that prove most intriguing, whether it’s with his unctuous assistant Griggs, damaged Theo, or even Catherine.

All of this gets wrapped up in dense, articulate prose, and while there are some exquisite turns of phrase – I especially liked, Remnants of ice broke through the skin of Lake Superior like violently fractured bones. and One bleached streak lay like a moonbeam directly above his left eye – it often feels like the prose is trying just a little too hard. Some of the effect of the evocative language gets lost when it’s loaded with ten-cent words that ended up distracting me at times rather than drawing me in. It slows down the read, though the pacing also gets weighted by the intricate world building. For instance, at the very start, the reader is thrust into the middle of a group conversation – Theo and Catherine amongst a group of resisters. On top of not knowing the primary characters at that point, I also didn’t know any of the other seven men in the scene – yes, seven – nor any of the politics or situations about which they’re discussing. Instead of hooking me in, it ground me to a halt almost right away, as I struggled to keep straight these nine strangers while at the same time, tried to get a grasp on the world they lived in. It took time to adapt, though thankfully, that wasn’t the pattern throughout the book. Once the general political and religious atmosphere is understood, it’s easier to get involved.

But this is the kind of book where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I raced through the last third, tense, worried, and wondering how in hell everything was going to play out. Reservations I might have had early on vanished as I read, and while I can’t say that I was fully satisfied by the ending – the last few pages felt incredibly rushed, and then it just stopped – it remained true to much of what the entire story promised. It provoked me into thought, and into considering my review, and wondering just what in hell was going to happen next, and ultimately, what in hell I was going to do next. Compelling, if flawed. Rather like its charismatic priests.

Readability	8/10 – Some absolutely gorgeous turns of phrase, but dense plotting/world building keep it a slow read until the end
Characterization	7/10 – Some characters shine, while others are overshadowed
Plot	9/10 – I loved the idea and machinations
Entertainment value	8/10 – Compelling and thought-provoking
World building	8/10 – Dense and more than a little frightening, I found myself having to re-read passages in order to keep all the details straight
TOTAL:	40/50

Slave to Love by Nikita Black

TITLE: Slave to Love
AUTHOR: Nikita Black
PUBLISHER: Whispers Publishing
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 124k)
GENRE: BDSM thriller erotic romance
COST: $7.95

SIS officer Caroline Palmer is itching to get into Homicide…until Mick McGraw pulls her in on a special task force to find a new serial killer in town. It’s not that she doesn’t want to prove her mettle. It’s that Mick isn’t known as the Iceman for nothing. And that she’s been harboring a serious crush on him for a year, a crush he soundly rebuffed. And that taking the job means posing as his lover in a Master/slave relationship…

I’ve had this sitting on my virtual TBR file for the longest time, so since I’ve had some extra time on my hands with Halloween over and before Thanksgiving shows up, I pulled it out. And promptly devoured. Seriously. I could not. Stop. Reading.

The first half doesn’t read like romance. It’s straight out of any erotic thriller I have sitting on my paperback shelf, because I haunt the mystery section of my local B&N as much as I do the romance section. The writing is taut, the characters are vivid, and the crime violent. Caroline seems marvelously competent as she trades zingers with the other cops, and especially when she is first confronted with Mick. She can more than hold her own, so even though she’s leery of the assignment, she also knows she can’t refuse. It’s a smart woman I’m more than willing to throw in with, in her attempts to hold Mick at bay.

Ah, Mick. Homicide cop. Untouchable. Gorgeous. Unavailable. A grade A jerk to Caroline much of the time, with a dark, seductive, sinister side I absolutely, positively could not resist any more than Caroline could. I know I shouldn’t like him. He treats Caroline like crap in the beginning. He pushes all her buttons, winds her up, and does everything he can to get her to bend to his will. And yet…and yet…there was something else there. He’s clearly damaged goods. Highly protective of his heart and his past. And maybe it’s the “let me kiss it better” instinct that sometimes rears its head in me taking over my better common sense. I’m not sure. What I am sure about is that while he was becoming Caroline’s Master in every sense of the world, I was there, holding my breath, wondering if the dark side was going to come out and play. Because it is dark. There’s a scene of forced consent. There’s the manipulation of Caroline’s job. There’s a lot of things that might set off warning bells with other characters. They did ding here, but…well, not very loudly. Because his need for power, to show ownership of Caroline, combined with his tormented side that he so carefully guards, completely got to me.

The story is definitely edgy. The serial killer is a sex crime killer who picks his prey from a BDSM club. Mick does everything he can to prepare Caroline for it, though in his defense, he also gives her opportunity to back out before she’s in too deep. Their games are fairly intense, and while the prose borders on purple in those scenes – I’m sorry, but I can’t see the word “tumid” without snickering and rolling my eyes – the rest of the writing is crisp and tight enough to make up for it.

As dark and seductive as Mick is, this was the most intense ride I’ve taken in a story in a while. I was as breathless when I finished it as I was at every crucial point throughout the book. A keeper, and one I’m definitely rushing off to buy in print.

Readability	8/10 – Slightly purple prose during the smut in the first half, but so well structured with such fascinating characters that I couldn’t put it down
Hero	9/10 – A jerk. Grade A most of the time. But there’s something so icy and seductive about him that I just don’t care.
Heroine	7/10 – Strong enough, though some of her vacillating on the want him/don’t want him got old.
Entertainment value	9/10 – A total guilty pleasure. Extremely seductive and thrilling in more than one sense of the word.
World building	8/10 – The BDSM world is portrayed well, though I would have liked more clarity in their normal lives.
TOTAL:	41/50

The Set Up by J.P. Bowie

TITLE: The Set Up
AUTHOR: J.P. Bowie
PUBLISHER: Total-e-bound
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 21k)
GENRE: Gay thriller erotic romance
COST: £2.49

Movie extra John White Eagle is about to get the ride of his life from superstar Greg Mathis. But not even illicit sex is worth being suspected of murder…

If you go to the publisher’s website and read the blurb for this short novella, you’ll find that it’s much longer than the very brief one I provided. But you know what? If you read that blurb, you will have pretty much read the whole book. The conflict that is introduced in the first paragraph doesn’t even happen until 7k into the story, it takes another 10k to get to the sting detailed in the second, and then…the story’s nearly over. I almost wish I’d just stuck with reading the blurb. I wouldn’t feel like I’ve wasted my time then.

I’ll admit I bought the story for a selfish reason. I find Native American men incredibly sexy, so when I see one as a hero, I have a tendency to succumb to the urge to buy. But even though the story is told in 1^st person from John’s POV – or maybe because, because I was privy to his thoughts – I never engaged with John. In fact, I couldn’t get over the feeling that the man was an idiot obsessed with sex. I don’t fault him for jumping into the sack with the hot superstar on the film he’s shooting, but from the moment John shows up at the hotel to back Greg up in the face of Greg’s blackmailer, his IQ takes a nosedive. Then when the police show up to arrest him for the murder, he spends as much time lusting after the cop interrogating him as he does worrying about the prospect of going to jail. I have no sympathy for him when things go even further south, because he seems more interested in falling for the cop than he is in the fact that he’s the prime suspect in a murder investigation. And that he never suspects the cop of being anything but straight with him, because he’s just too cute and nice to lie. Riiiiiiight. Oh, and did I mention that his dead grandmother passed down a little psychic gift? The ability to enhance the sexual awareness of whoever he’s making love to. Are you groaning as much as I did?

The second hero in this is obviously the cop, but he fails to engage for different reasons. He’s not introduced until almost halfway through the story, which leaves little time to really get to know him. Add in the factor that I’m convinced from the moment they release John that something is up, and the cop never really stands a chance with me. I was of one of two minds – if the cop is setting him up, he’s a jerk, and if he’s not and he’s honestly falling for John, then he’s an idiot and the worst cop ever.

The thriller aspect in this is nonexistent. The set-up is so incredibly obvious that I don’t feel anything but disdain for the dumb hero, and the play-out of the climax contrived. Without either a believable romance or any aspect of a smart plot, I can’t say that I’m interested enough to try any of this author’s other work.

Readability	6/10 – Technically little wrong, but the lead is so dumb and the plot so oversimplified that it ends up being a chore to read.
Hero #1	2/10 – An absolute dimwit with sex on the brain
Hero #2	3/10 – Flat and boring.
Entertainment value	2/10 – I had so little sympathy for the lead, it was impossible to find enjoyment elsewhere.
World building	6/10 – Mediocre at best.
TOTAL:	19/50

Ebony by T.C. LoTempio

TITLE: Ebony
AUTHOR: T.C. LoTempio
PUBLISHER: Whiskey Creek Press
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 82k)
GENRE: Thriller Horror
COST: $5.99

Few people escape the town of Ebony, and the few that do always come back. Such is the case for reporter Jess McCall. She never thinks she’ll return until a mysterious envelope from her estranged sister forces her hand. Worried that something has happened, Jess returns to Ebony, only to be faced with story after story about why Amanda’s not around. None of them satisfy her. It takes teaming up with fellow reporter Frankie Marshall for some of the pieces to come together, but the truth of Amanda’s – and other’s – disappearances is almost too horrific to face.The undead. Voudou. An insane mastermind. How are they ever going to survive?

The book starts out taut and intense, with an opening scene that sucks you in. Unfortunately, the momentum set by the beginning starts to falter a third of the way into the story, so that by halfway through, it’s derailed enough to fail to deliver on its early promise. This is about the time the author hits the pitfalls of necessary exposition, and too many scenes are spent researching and explaining voudou for the average reader. It’s given in long, clunky scenes that had me glazing over just like Frankie the first time he heard it. By the time I hit the third of such scenes, I was skimming. It was either that, or stop reading altogether.

A good editor should have helped this promising author correct those, but unfortunately, I suspect the editor on this book wasn’t as strong as she needed. There are several incorrect word usages throughout the book, as well as several continuity errors that pulled me out of a scene (Frankie referring to Amanda once when he clearly met Jess, for instance). Maybe she got sucked into the story enough to miss them. That’s a shame for Ms. LoTempio, though, because those kinds of errors keep Ebony from being a truly creepy read.

Where the book shines is in creating memorable characters, both with the citizens of Ebony and the town itself. Anybody who ever grew up in a small town knows a girl like Tally Whitehall, or has encountered the wall of silence that greets Jess on her return. As a heroine, Jess works just fine, though sometimes I wondered how she ever survived some of her reporting assignments if she acted out on the field like she did in Ebony. Her chemistry with Frankie is compelling, but I was a little disappointed when his history wasn’t used to better advantage in the story. He was, for me, the strongest and most believable protagonist of the bunch. I would have preferred to see more of him and less of a couple others.

I love a good horror story, but ultimately, this book falls a little short. With tighter plotting, this could have been one of those stay-up-until-midnight-finishing stories. As it is, it was a mildly enjoyable distraction for a couple of days.

Readability	7/10 – Easy prose is hindered by some sloppy editing and clunky blocks of exposition that kill momentum.
Heroine	7/10 – Spunky enough to counter the really stupid moves she occasionally makes.
Plot	6/10 – There’s a lot of deus ex machina in how things get resolved, and while the story has potential for being truly creepy, other elements cripple it.
Entertainment value	6/10 – Enjoyable, but not nearly as scary as it could have been
World building	8/10 – To the author’s credit, Ebony came to life for me.
TOTAL:	34/50