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RELENTLESS by Tera Lynn Childs

RELENTLESS

From the Hero Agenda series, volume 2

by Tera Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs

Pub Date: June 3rd, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4926-1661-0
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

With occasional timeouts to lock lips, underdog villains heroically turn the tables on a villainous hero in this sequel and (likely) closer to Powerless (2015).

Lest any hint of complexity intrude, areas of Colorado and one site in New Mexico stand in for the whole world, and, except for megalomaniac leader Rex Malone, the heroes are faceless thugs whose sole role is, à la Imperial Storm Troopers, to shoot wildly and die. Both heroes and villains are conveniently endowed with single superpowers and nicely labeled with natural neck tattoos. The action begins as former “ordinary” Kenna rescues her villain boyfriend, Draven, with help from a mixed bag of villains and renegade heroes, and climaxes when the white teen takes on Malone in another “secret hero lab” (the first having been destroyed in the opener). It’s filled in between with inconclusive ambushes and firefights, along with lip-swelling smooches and labored teen banter. Meanwhile, as further evidence that the whole scenario is phoned-in, Malone utilizes a form of mind control that only seems to work when it suits the plot, and Kenna develops a “serum” (more accurately a chemical compound) that magically confers immunity to superpowered but not regular attacks.

Even the snogging doesn’t generate much heat in this cliché-ridden climax.

(Romantic thriller. 12-15)