The Supernatural Bounty Hunter Files, #2
Craig Halloran
Two-Ten Book Press, Mar 2015
Kindle, 201 Pages
Also available in paperback
Genre(s) Paranormal
Source purchased at current price
Other books in this series
Smoke Rising #1, Where There’s Smoke #3, Smoke on the Water #4, Smoke and Mirrors #5, Up in Smoke #6, Smoke Signals #7, Holy Smoke #8, Smoke Happens #9, Smoke Out #10
My Disclaimer:
I purchased a copy of this book at the current price. I am voluntarily providing an honest review in which all opinions are fully my own. I am not being compensated in any way.
~ Judi E. Easley for Blue Cat Review
What it’s about…
Sidney Shaw and John Smoke are paired against one of the governments uber criminals. This time they are after a woman known as the Night Bird. And since the entire file is destroyed in a car fire on the way home for Christmas, they know nothing about this woman. But they soon will.
Night Bird wants Smoke and wants to get rid of Sid. Can these two escape her claws and bring her in? Or will Drake make a clean sweep of things again?
Technical Tidbits…
The cover isn’t as eye-catching as the first one, but it’s pretty good with the government dome behind them and the Drake symbol in front of them.
The storyline is similar. This one draws the two of them closer together and introduces some new characters.
The characters are getting a bit more complex in this book as we follow them into their second big conflict. They also meet each others’ “families” or “crews”. So many more characters tossed into the mix this time.
The pace stays steadily frantic for these two characters in this second book. They have almost no time to breath.
The tension is constant from the moment you find out who Sid’s new supervisor is.
This is where I when to Amazon and got book three, Where There’s Smoke. I just haven’t had time to read it, yet.
And this is where you STOP if you don’t want to see any SPOILERS…
The good, the bad, and the ugly…and how much it lit up my life… ✰✰✰✰✰
As soon as I saw Cyrus Tweel (ex-boyfriend) as Sid’s supervisor, I figured he’d cause trouble. But he didn’t figure into things anywhere near as much as I thought he would.
Sid’s cut her hair shorter this time because she can still feel the deader’s hands on her long hair. But the cover art doesn’t reflect this. I wish the artwork would keep up with the story with things like that.
We get to meet Sid’s family in the midst of a crisis with her Dad’s meds when she takes Smoke home with her for Christmas. While Sid’s all tied up with the problems in the family, Smoke is enjoying the home cooking and Sid’s Mom’s fussing over him. Something he definitely doesn’t get in prison.
Then we get to meet Smoke’s crew, Fat Sam and Guppy or Samantha Jean and Gilligan Guppy. These two are quite the characters, but they provide a lot of intel for Smoke with their connections and computers. Sid and Fat Sam seem to make a connection that could develop into a pretty good relationship.
We learn that Smoke is indeed being tracked with what they injected into him in the first book. But we still don’t know who the higher up is who is monitoring him. Cyrus is the one who actually gave him the injection, but he was only doing what he was told to do. Who is actually in charge?
And the Drake organization seems to be massive and always on top of things. They destroyed the building from the first book so there was no evidence. This time they burned the mansion and all the evidence was destroyed before the FBI was able to get there to process the site. So there was nothing for them to use against Night Bird. At least they had her so that Sid could show she wasn’t making up these wild stories of horrid creatures.
I have to wonder why we haven’t heard more about Congressman Wilhelm getting in trouble since he’s so obviously involved with Drake. I’m sure that’ll be coming up sooner or later.
And who is Mal Carlson? Is he a higher up?
Highly Recommended.
735 wc
a thoughtful reveal 