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REVIEW: Unhinged by Onley James
Necessary Evils: Unhinged – Onley James
Adam Mulvaney lives a double life. By day, he’s the spoiled youngest son of an eccentric billionaire. By night, he’s an unrepentant killer, one of seven psychopaths raised to right the wrongs of a justice system that keeps failing.
Noah Holt has spent years dreaming of vengeance for the death of his father, but when faced with his killer, he learns a daunting truth he can’t escape. His father was a monster.
Unable to ignore his own surfacing memories, Noah embarks on a quest to find the truth about his childhood with the help of an unlikely ally: the very person who murdered his father. Since their confrontation, Adam is obsessed with Noah, and he wants to help him uncover the answers he seeks, however dark they may be.
The two share a mutual attraction, but deep down, Noah knows Adam’s not like other boys. Adam can’t love. He wasn’t born that way. But he refuses to let Noah go, and Noah’s not sure he wants him to.
Can Adam prove to Noah that passion, power, and protection are just as good as love?
Gaga for fictional psychos?
Meet the Mulvaney brothers: Atticus, August, Archer, twins Asa and Avi, Aidan and Adam. All gorgeous. All talented. All certified by a board of doctors to be psychopaths.
The boys were adopted by billionaire Thomas Mulvaney and trained to be secret vigilante killers who follow a strict code. Their father calls them necessary evil. Each Mulvaney brother stood out. Their interactions were a riot! Even Thomas left me intrigued. Adopt me, please!
Each book would feature one brother. I want everyone’s books!!!
First up, Adam.
Adam is the youngest. He is publicly known as a supermodel. One night, he was held at gunpoint by Noah Holt, son of one of his earlier victims. He deftly took control of the situation and showed Noah who his father really was. Turns out, the man was a pedophile and a major player in the child trafficking ring. This led the two, along with the rest of the Mulvaneys, to hunt down the other abusers who had participated in the crimes.
The story is a crime-solving procedural of sorts, where instead of a detective, you get a family of super-rich serial killers and their mysterious (and super sassy) hacker working together to put down other monsters. I totally love the concept! And Onley James pulled it off spectacularly!
Murder is the default crime in mysteries so I really liked that this is not a murder mystery. In most mysteries, I just enjoy tagging along in the investigation and not care too much about the killer. Here I enjoyed the procedural and I felt heavily invested in seeing the bad guys get their comeuppance.
This book has a pretty grim topic so TW for sexual abuse of children. However, the author did a great job handling the issue. There were no graphic details or anything on-page. The wordings were written with tact and sensitivity while still giving us a good sense of how horrific Noah’s experiences were. His brain blocked his childhood traumas but the more evidence they unearthed, the more his memories returned. It got so bad he had a melt down.
This is where both Adam and Noah shone the brightest.
“You’re not going to lecture me on drinking my problems away?” Noah asked.
“No. If this is what you need to cope, then I’ll keep you safe while you do it.”Their romance sprang practically fully formed overnight. I might not be too keen on the insta-ness of things but it fits their story in a way. As a psychopath, Adam doesn’t really feel emotions like love and empathy. But he can be rage-y, obsessive, and possessive. That he can decide Noah was his the moment he laid his eyes on the young man is in keeping with who he is.
But for a psycho, Adam can be surprisingly sweet. I loved how he adores Noah and took care of him when he was hurting badly. He doesn’t really understand human emotions but he asked other people for help so that he can comfort his boyfriend. How many men you know would do that?
Noah is perfect for Adam. He appreciated Adam’s possessiveness and obsession. He understood that Adam needed clear, concise rules to help him better navigate their relationship. I loved that they talk things out. Their chemistry?
Adam was a match and Noah was gasoline-soaked paper…
Adam might go all caveman protective on him but Noah is no damsel in distress. Our boy is a survivor and a fighter. I especially loved how when he was given the chance to take action, he took the ball and ran with it. Attaboy!
The book might be dark but is also very romantic, filled with squee-tastic lines that go right to the kokoro. One of the most beautiful scenes in the book was in the warehouse where Adam was tracing the stars connecting Noah’s freckles. It was so tender and quite breathtaking. It was one of those moments where time seem to stop and there’s nothing but that moment.
Unhinged is a fantastic series opener. It effectively set the Necessary Evils world. It effortlessly drew me into Adam and Noah’s story, as well as seamlessly introducing all the key players. The story is a heady mix of mystery, romance, humor, hurt comfort, and family dynamics. Sometimes devastating, often funny, many times swoony, always crazy good!
Rating:
4.5 Stars – perfection is only half a step awaySoundtrack: Unhinged
Artist: Lydia Kaye
Album: Seventh Sense
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UNHINGED
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REVIEW: Dead Speak by Pandora Pine
Cold Case Psychic: Dead Speak – Pandora Pine
Demoted to the cold case squad after shooting a suspect in the line of duty, Detective Ronan O’Mara knows that his career with the Boston Police Department is hanging by a thread. His first assignment is the case of Michael Frye, a five-year-old boy who has been missing for seven years. With no new leads or witnesses to interview, Ronan has to start from scratch to solve this mystery. When he sees a handsome local psychic on television, Ronan figures he’s got nothing to lose in enlisting the man’s help to find Michael.
Psychic Tennyson Grimm is riding high after helping South Shore cops find a missing child. He’s even being courted by the Reality Show Network about a program showcasing his abilities. He has no idea that his midday appointment with a customer, who instead turns out to be a police detective, is going to change the course of his life and his career.
With the blessing of the BPD, which badly needs an image make-over, Ronan is allowed to bring Tennyson in to assist with the Frye case. Being thrown together in front of cameras is never easy, but add in an emotional missing person’s investigation, a tight-lipped spirit, and a cop who’s a skeptic, and it definitely puts a strain on both men and their working relationship.
When the child’s body is found, the work to identify his killer begins. As Ronan and Tennyson get closer to solving the case, the initial attraction they feel for one another explodes into a passion neither man can contain.
Will working together to bring Michael’s killer to justice seal their fledgeling bond, or will unexpected revelations in the case tear them apart forever?
Whenever something somewhere happens, somebody shouts, screams, bellows. That somebody is usually Detective Ronan O’Mara, who as a police officer, certainly had no qualms yelling out confidential police info when his temper gets the better of him. I neither liked nor disliked the man. He was not a boring character, I’ll grant him that. But, jeez, get a hold of yourself, Ro!
Tennyson ‘Ten’ Grimm is a psychic with the patience of a saint. He’s able to deal with anything from grieving parents to hot-headed detectives with equanimity. I dunno what he sees in Ronan but he’s a psychic a.k.a. he can read people, so I trust he knows his business
Cold Case Psychic is a police+psychic procedural series that’s off to a 3-star start. Book 1, Dead Speak brought together the detective and psychic to work on a cold case of a missing child last seen 7 years ago. Their investigation was filmed for a reality tv pilot with the series name as their working title.
It bothered me that these two seemed to forget they were being recorded. I know that’s the point of reality tv but still. They talk about details of the case that should have been secret. They fight and blurt out very personal issues right inside the car with voice activated cameras. And Ronan’s captain never even mentioned his lack of professionalism. At all.
I would like to say I guessed the unsub early on but I didn’t. I only got the hint when I read the other reviews that complained about the villain being portrayed as pure evil. Probably if I was smarter or more invested (because at some points, I was just there for the ride) the glaring clues should have tipped me off. Heck, he was the only one who was consistently mean. Michael was slow to reveal the clues which made the story longer. This is understandable because he was a child, even if a ghost, and had to be handled sensitively.
Even if I knew who did it, it was still enjoyable finding out the hows and whys. I still felt a sense of anticipation with the big reveal and the climax brought out the heebie jeebies. Sure, it was a bit OTT with the voices in the head thing but it was still effective.
Ten’s growing found family was a pleasure to meet. The prequel is a must read for Carson and Truman’s story. They’re expecting triplets. Cole is Carson’s brother who is married to Cassie, who is Truman’s bestfriend and business partner. They have a 1 year old daughter, Laurel. The brothers are both psychics. Tennyson is mentoring them.
All in all, I wasn’t wowed but I’m up for the second book. If you like a passable police procedural with a winsome family of psychics you might want to give this one a go. But skip if you’re looking for a stronger connection between MCs, a more professional police behavior and a more mindboggling case of whodunnit.
Rating:
3 Stars – not exactly setting my world on fire but I liked itSoundtrack: Predator
Artist: Toni Childs
Album: The Woman’s Boat
