Vengeance & Hunting Season / J.E. Taylor

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Thriller/Supernatural

Approximate word count: Vengeance 95-100,000 words. Hunting Season 70-75,000 words

Availability
(Vengeance)
Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: YES Paper: YES
(Hunting Season)
Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: YES Paper: YES
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

J.E. Taylor’s first book, Dark Reckoning, was originally released by Fido Publishing. The first of the Steve Williams series, Fido also originally published Vengeance, the second in the series. Both have been re-released by the author, along with the third installment , Hunting Season. Taylor also has a series of erotic thrillers (published by eXcessica). In addition, Taylor edits Allegory, a Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror zine. For more, visit the author's website.

Description:

Vengeance

Working undercover as a corporate lawyer for one of the biggest drug lords on the East Coast, FBI Special Agent Steve Williams is on the verge of making his case. He orders the arrest, when things start to unravel after a serial killer attacks his wife and his cover is in danger of being blown.

The Hunting Season

Killer Kyle Winslow escapes from custody and targets everyone important to Steve Williams. Can he stop him? How far will he go to do so?

Appraisal:

Vengeance is an intense, fast moving thriller. Steve Williams is one of those characters who, although on the right side, stretches the rules and makes overly risky decisions. He’s the kind of character who in real life I would despise (law enforcement stretching rules is a pet peeve) and wouldn’t last long, either by getting fired, incarcerated, or killed. But this larger-than-life persona is something I like in fiction. In Vengeance, Williams is clearly the good guy, and although he sometimes stretches the rules and takes some risks, it doesn’t cross the line – at least not by too much. Vengeance has some relatively minor supernatural aspects, although they are a major element in the story.

Hunting Season picks up where Vengeance ends. While a minor supernatural element was integral to the story in Vengeance, in Hunting Season it becomes a much bigger part of the story, with many more characters having supernatural powers. Steve William’s propensity to take risks and stretch the rules also increases, as does the body count. If William’s had crossed some of the lines he does here in the prior book it might been too far, but with the added challenges due to the additional supernatural elements, along with many of the events that happen, it seems like considering all the rules off is reasonable.

Although Hunting Season is much different from Vengeance, it is still a thriller and a logical story progression for the series. Thriller fans should like both, with your personal favorite determined by your taste for the supernatural.

FYI:

Despite being the second and third book of a series, I didn’t feel lost, even though I hadn’t read the first. Enough of the back story is given in each book that they can be read as standalone books.

Format/Typo Issues:

A small number of typos and word usage issues. Several of these are using the word waive instead of wave. I’m not going to waive my hand. No one could make that mistake more than twice.

Rating: **** Four stars