The Blood of Brothers (Unabridged)
Author: Domino Finn Narrator: Jason Jewett Provider: Blood & Treasure Running Time: 12 h 04 min Intense and clever. Like Sons of Anarchy with werewolves.” – Phillip Tomasso, best-selling author of the Vaccination Trilogy. Diego de la Torre is officially an outlaw now, a full-fledged member of The Seventh Sons Motorcycle Club. The werewolf MC runs the wild lands of Sycamore with ease. At least until a dead body shows up and points to them as the culprits. Detective Maxim Dwyer presses the Seventh Sons hard, but there are other guns in play. California bikers look to expand their drug trade. A mercenary outfit seeks revenge. Top that with an overbearing FBI agent who undermines local police, and both detective and outlaw have their hands full. Brothers or not, Sycamore’s about to get a whole lot bloodier.
This is a mystery/thriller/fantasy, involving cops, motor cycle gangs, Native Americans, and … werewolves. I like the trend I have seen over the last few years to treat such groups as werewolves not as monsters or aberrations, but as one of the many species with which humans share the planet, and with whom they must live. Sometimes when species meet, there are mutual benefits, and things go well, sometimes not. But in such books as this, humanity must come to understand that they might not be the entirely dominant species on the planet. I have also seen werewolves interpreted in many ways, and while, of course, there are certain elements that are common to all of them, each interpretation also has its own unique spin. The author presents this species very well, and even provides an acceptable, if not entirely believable, rationale for their existence.
The plotting in this book is very tight, and the story moves along, sometimes at breakneck speed, which is very appropriate for this story. I have to also admit that the author writes awesome fight scenes, those involving guns and those involving fists. The characters are well done, too, and there are no totally “good” guys and no totally “bad guys”. Each person is a mix, just as are we all, and clearly driven by their own motivations and agenda, as people (or werewolves) must be, so these characters ring true for me.
The writing is strong, straightforward and brisk, and while the author shows the emotions of his characters, he never dwells on them overmuch, which wouldn’t work for this story. Even though it is a action packed thriller/mystery, it has, at its heart, some very serious observations about the nature of families, tied by blood, culture, occupation …or species, and what happens when those ties are strained by guilt, grief and ambition.
The narrator was excellent, with excellent pacing, phrasing, and expression. Each character had his or her own unique “presence”, so that it would have been easy to know, without having to be told, who is speaking at any given time. He also manages a Mexican accented English with finesse.
All in all, this was a very satisfying read, and I give both book and author 5 out of 5 stars, and recommend this book for those who aren’t put off by graphic descriptions of violence.
I received a free copy of this book from AudioBookBlast.com in exchange for this unbiased review.
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