Friday, October 13, 2023

Review: Ascension of the Phoenix by Jessica Piro


 Genre: Suspense/Thriller

Description:

“Detective Leila Wells has apprehended every criminal to cross her path, except for one. And when Bryan Foster returns, he devastates her world. To cope, she finds release in street fighting.

Successes with her fighting partner grant them an invitation to participate in the Rulers of the Realms Fighting Tag Tournament. But as she fights, a power begins to rise within her—a dark and angry blaze urging her toward revenge.

To rise from ashes, one must be a phoenix.”

Author:

Jessica Piro has multiple health issues the keep her confined to a wheelchair, but that hasn’t prevented her from being the first in her immediate family to graduate from college, and she gets lots more action through her characters as an author who writes in multiple genres, mostly thriller and suspense. For more, visit Ms Piro’s website.

Appraisal:

The thing that strikes me most about this book is that it is different from what you might expect at first glance, and yet still a satisfying read. The protagonist, Leila Wells, is a police detective, which could reasonably lead you to believe that she would be searching for a criminal who committed a specific crime. And she does a bit of that, but it isn’t the focus. The genre labels used to describe the story are thriller and suspense, and it fits those. But there is also a big part of the story that could be described as paranormal or supernatural or some such term, or maybe it is all just in Detective Wells head, and those labels wouldn’t fit. I’m sure different readers will have different interpretations. Ultimately the result is a tale that delivers on the promised suspense and thrills in a story with some unique qualities for the genre.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

Format/Typo Issues:

A small number of proofing misses.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 90-95,000 words

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