Reviewed by Chris

 

TITLE:  Where There’s A Will

SERIES:  Panopolis #3

AUTHOR:  Cari Z.

PUBLISHER:  Riptide Publishing

LENGTH:  290 pages

RELEASE DATE:  April 30, 2016

BLURB:  

Being a Hero in Panopolis means living the high life: parties, money, influence, even reality television. And I’m one of the most powerful Heroes in the city. I have plenty of fans, a manager who looks out for me (after himself), and a job that pays the bills. I should be enjoying myself.

Unfortunately, the downside of my superpower means I can’t touch anyone, which tends to puts a damper on things. I probably don’t deserve all those perks anyway, since I’m working in secret with two of Panopolis’s biggest villains to undermine GenCorp—my main sponsor and the company that controls what gets through my force field.

I obviously don’t trust my corporate overseers, but they’ve hired a new scientist who actually seems interested in helping me. Dr. Mansourian might have the answers to all my questions—not to mention a starring role in most of my dreams—but he’s hiding something big. If I let him have what he wants, I might not live to regret it.

Then again, the way things are going in Panopolis these days, I might not live either way.

REVIEW:  

IN A WORLD WHERE ONE MAN PROTECTS EVERYONE BUT CAN TOUCH NO ONE…

He leaned in closer and gently ran the end of the straw over the back of my hand. I watched the cap trace my veins, winding up and and down for a few endless seconds before Ari finally lifted it away. It was only then that I remembered to breathe again…It was nothing like being touched by another person, but it was probably the closest I was going to get…

…AND WHO LIVES TO SERVE THOSE AROUND HIM…

I liked taking care of people, and I liked being a power for good. I especially liked the fact that I could go toe-to-toe with some of the baddest Villains to set foot in Panopolis, and come out on top. That was what I did now–it was my reason for being. 

…THIS HERO MUST TRUST THE HELP OF TWO VILLAINS…

 If people learn that I’m working with Mastermind and the Mad Bombardier, I’ll be tried and sentenced before the day is done, Hero or not.”

…A FRIEND…

Jean Parks was one of the few people who never hesitated when it came to touching me, even though she didn’t like the buzz of the force field. It helped that we were old friends, but her tenacity helped even more.

…AND A DOCTOR WHO HOLDS THE HOPE FOR A CURE…AND HIS HEART…

“We might not have much history together, but you haven’t been working at GenCorp for long either. I’ve got no reason to think you knew about any of this before, and besides…I want to believe you. I really want to, because I like you, Ari. Maybe way more than I should. Please don’t make me regret it.”

…AGAINST AN EVIL THAT HAS LURKED LONG IN THE HEART OF THE CITY…

The truth is, we don’t know how much we don’t know about what really goes on here in Panopolis.

…TO UNCOVER A SECRET THAT COULD RIP THE WORLD…AND OUR HERO…APART

“I know things about them, their owners, their sponsors, that they wouldn’t want to be exposed to the greater public…No matter what you say, I am inviolable here.”

 

THAT MAN IS CRAIG HANEY

THAT CITY IS PANOPOLIS

THIS IS WHERE THERE’S A WILL

Now in bookstores everywhere. Get it before they get you.

 

Craig Haney has lived his life since the accident that moved him from normal cop to superhero unable to touch any other living (and almost all non-living) things. But unlike Craig’s condition, this book reaches out and grabs you, never letting you go. Filled with flawed heroes, redemptive villains, and all sorts of skullduggery, Where There’s A Will takes the Panopolis series up several notches and leaves the reader desperate for more.

The theme of touch flows thru this story, bringing together hero, villain, and normals–all in a desperate attempt to connect to a world that is less real than ever before. From the general populous that is becoming more out of touch with reality, to the heroes who are increasingly out of touch with humanity, this book subtly invites the reader to question what is real and what is not. Especially when what you see is not always what is actually there.

“They came because I called them!” She pounded a filthy hand on the glass. “Because I didn’t want to be alone! Caught in glass with nothing to touch, no heartbeats to soothe me, nothing! They came to be with me! They only came to be with me; be kind to them, be kind!”

Craig, who has been forcibly separated from human contact since his hero-ing, is oddly enough one of the most in touch people in this book. Despite his powers, and maybe even because of his condition, Craig never loses his human touch. Unlike some other heroes, he goes out of his way to break the reins put on him, to reach out to the human populous of the city. Increasingly the Heros of Panopolis have been made into figures of celebrity…denying them their humanity, and their limitations. However Craig is well aware of how limited he is, and it shows. He can still see what makes a Hero–and the ability to look good on camera is not part of that.

This humility makes him all the more relatable, and as I read I couldn’t help but feel that if more Heroes had been like him, maybe Panopolis wouldn’t have been as bleak as it had become. Where others choose to hide their flaws, Craig forces himself to face them. He acknowledges how badly he messed up with Edward…probably even more so as the story goes on and the fate of Freight Train looks bleaker and bleaker. While I fully enjoyed the look at super villains in the first two books in this series, this third book makes you look past labels like hero and villain and see the many shades of evil and the complacency that feeds it. Neither side is blameless in this book. In fact there don’t seem to be sides so much as many warring factions all struggling to come out on top…all the while unaware of the hand that has been moving them around for its own gain.

In this world where nothing is certain, we are left unsure of everything. Of who the good guys are–or more importantly, who the bad guys are. Of whether Craig, Raul, Edward, and Ari can actually survive in a world that makes everyone a Hero while simultaneously chopping away at their pedestals. Of what will become of a city as twisted as Panopolis when Heroes fall and are left to die. As we inch closer and closer to the end, we are left to wonder if an ending, with tarnished happiness, is better than no ending at all.

Not to worry, though. Because where there is a will, there is a way, and where there is no way, then that is when you need Heroes the most. And Heroes, left to flounder, always seem to find a way to fly free in the end. Even if with slightly singed capes.
RATING:  

BUY LINKS:

Riptide

Amazon

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