An absorbing paranormal sequel with a striking hero.
A man gathers his allies in a fight against a soul-eating force threatening the world in this second installment of a supernatural series.
Thirty-six-year-old Steven Carpenter is one of the last few members of a dying organization. The Ordo Solis, created long ago by the Roman Catholic Church, has kept its eyes out for the return of Bane, an entity that devours people’s souls. None of the group’s branches in America, Europe, and Asia are faring well, but Steven and his only fellow Solis American believe they have video evidence proving Bane—or, as the protagonist dubs it, the Soulstealer—is coming back. Not everyone buys their story, as it’s the first sign of this evil being in close to a millennium. But Steven is sure he’s on the right track once the Soulstealer’s savage, cultlike followers the Raptors enter the fray. They threaten both Steven and his old love, former Solis American Raeleigh, demanding all copies of the reputed evidence. Surprisingly, the Soulstealer’s teenage human vessel, Nythan, seems to yearn for a peaceful resolution between the Ordo Solis and the Raptors (as well as cults in Europe and Asia). Meanwhile, Steven scours for help wherever he can find it, from the Freemasons to United States government agencies. If they can somehow legitimize the Ordo Solis and convince the public that the Soulstealer is a genuine menace, they may have the muscle to take out the entity. If those peace talks don’t work out, the terrifying soul-eater may kill millions.
Boulware describes this sequel as a “companion novel” to his earlier, Nythan-centric book. Both stories take place at the same time, and some scenes in the first volume play out again from Steven’s perspective in the second. It’s an intriguing and effective approach, as the once-sympathetic Nythan is now more ambiguous and a potential villain. But there’s plenty of new material, as Steven teams up with Ordo Solis member and “German fireball” Adeline Faehrmann and they travel to places like the Solis Commandery in Dietzenbach, Germany. The first half of the author’s taut narrative delivers plenty of action; it is filled with shocking deaths, unexpected turns, and scenes of Steven dodging Raptors atop his ultra-cool motorcycle. This leads to a slower latter half, as Steven and Adeline plot their course in getting the word out. These scenes nevertheless teem with suspense; there’s distrust among members of the global organization, and the public is already skeptical thanks to a false alarm about the Soulstealer’s return (a Raptor hoax several years ago). Steven is an appealing lead character who reluctantly takes the hero role, as he initially planned to leave the Ordo Solis. He endures losing a friend or two and still harbors feelings for Raeleigh, notwithstanding her engagement to someone else. Steven’s tenacity drives the plot, and it often seems as if he alone is trying to convince the world of the Soulstealer’s existence. While those who have read the first installment will know some details about the ending, this story’s denouement is still memorable.
An absorbing paranormal sequel with a striking hero.Pub Date: May 20, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-73470-637-6
Page Count: 286
Publisher: THEORYbee
Review Posted Online: Aug. 10, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.
Using mystery and romance elements in a nonlinear narrative, SenLinYu’s debut is a doorstopper of a fantasy that follows a woman with missing memories as she navigates through a war-torn realm in search of herself.
Helena Marino is a talented young healer living in Paladia—the “Shining City”—who has been thrust into a brutal war against an all-powerful necromancer and his army of Undying, loyal henchmen with immortal bodies, and necrothralls, reanimated automatons. When Helena is awakened from stasis, a prisoner of the necromancer’s forces, she has no idea how long she has been incarcerated—or the status of the war. She soon finds herself a personal prisoner of Kaine Ferron, the High Necromancer’s “monster” psychopath who has sadistically killed hundreds for his master. Ordered to recover Helena’s buried memories by any means necessary, the two polar opposites—Helena and Kaine, healer and killer—end up discovering much more as they begin to understand each other through shared trauma. While necromancy is an oft-trod subject in fantasy novels, the author gives it a fresh feel—in large part because of their superb worldbuilding coupled with unforgettable imagery throughout: “[The necromancer] lay reclined upon a throne of bodies. Necrothralls, contorted and twisted together, their limbs transmuted and fused into a chair, moving in synchrony, rising and falling as they breathed in tandem, squeezing and releasing around him…[He] extended his decrepit right hand, overlarge with fingers jointed like spider legs.” Another noteworthy element is the complex dynamic between Helena and Kaine. To say that these two characters shared the gamut of intense emotions would be a vast understatement. Readers will come for the fantasy and stay for the romance.
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9780593972700
Page Count: 1040
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
Maybe not the most thrilling thriller, but the role of AI in coping with grief gives this novel pathos and interest.
A widowed and disgraced plastic surgeon is drawn into a Russian oligarch’s evil schemes.
Witherspoon’s adult fiction debut, co-authored with thrillermeister Coben, opens as heart surgery performed by Dr. Marc Adams in a North African refugee camp is interrupted by the explosive invasion of armed militants. It's the last we will see of Marc in this dimension. The next chapter jumps ahead one year to a ceremony at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore where his widow, Maggie McCabe, is supposed to be presenting an award in honor of her mother. Miserable and anxious about appearing in public after having lost her medical license, she consults with her late husband on her phone—not via supernatural means, but using a "griefbot," an amazingly lifelike and functional AI app created by her genius sister, Sharon. Once the griefbot coaxes her to brave the sneering masses, she learns she’s been replaced on the podium anyway. But she runs into a former professor, a celebrity plastic surgeon, who requests a meeting with her at his office in New York and won’t take no for an answer. Next thing she knows, there’s $10 million in her bank account and she’s on a private plane heading to a palace outside Moscow where she’s been engaged to perform off-the-record surgery on billionaire Oleg Ragoravich (new face) and his girlfriend, Nadia (new boobs). And…we’re off. A whirl of surgeries, chases, and escapes ensues as Maggie gradually comes to understand who these people are and what they have in mind for her, and how it connects to Marc and their missing friend and business partner, Trace Packer. She is aided by her delightful father-in-law, Porkchop, owner of a biker bar in New York City and a very handy guy to have on your team if you've run afoul of an international criminal organization. From the palace in Rublevka the action moves to Dubai and then Bordeaux, climaxing in a high-stakes illegal heart transplant. But wait—is Marc really dead? What happened to Trace? Who is Nadia really? Though these smoldering questions don’t quite catch fire, it's a good first try for Witherspoon.
Maybe not the most thrilling thriller, but the role of AI in coping with grief gives this novel pathos and interest.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781538774700
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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