Reviewed by Tidal

TITLE: Torn and Frayed

SERIES: A Gabriel Church Tale #2

AUTHOR: Rodd Clark

PUBLISHER: Driven Press

LENGTH: 277 Pages

RELEASE DATE: January 9, 2016

BLURB:

“Conscience isn’t something all people are born with…”

Gabriel Church is a portrait in contrast. It would be easy to get lost in his pale-blue eyes, ache with the need to feel the strength of his masculine frame. He appears to be nothing but animal and instinct. The only people who know the full depth of that truth are dead, murdered, or two thousand miles away.

Gabe is a serial killer. For the first time in his life, he has more on his mind than his own survival. This time he is running from Seattle to protect the only person he thinks innocent in his laundry list of crime and murder: Christian Maxwell, his biographer and unexpected lover. Drawn to a place he never thought to return, Gabe finds new and different realities. Realities that insist he let go of his tragic past, those incredible perceptions of God, and his own divinity. He must open his eyes to what the love of a good man can do to heal a broken soul.

But when the killer is confronted by his own willingness to love and sacrifice, he is forced to ultimately ask the question: Just how far will he go to save a life . . . when all he’s ever done is take them?

REVIEW:

This is the second installment in the Gabriel Church series. I must admit this is a gritty powerful read. I came with a certain degree of expectation and curiosity. I went on the first ride, it was not what I expected, and I was excited to see where both Gabriel Church and Christian Maxwell had progressed. Granted I will be the first to tell you that I converse with the television as well as books as I read them and this book I did more than usual.

Gabriel has style, charm, and swag. I love the peek that we get inside his mind. He has reasons for killing the people that he has killed and has a high code of ethics that he lives by. In the last book, he lures Christian, the aspiring writer penning his hope or writing Gabriel’s story, in like a spider and he freely goes like a moth to a flame. Gabriel did not expect that in making himself seem vulnerable he would also begin to care. Christian did not think he would fall so hard spending so much time in interviewing Gabriel coupled with steamy sex in the hotel room.

I thought that Gabe and Christian would pick up where they left off but it did not happen in the way that I wanted. The story was not predictable by any means. That was a plus. I love character studies in damaged fragmented people and learning why they are like that – learning this does not give a license or excuse but a degree of comprehension into their motivation and thought process.

Christian waited for Gabe to return and he did not, so slowly he moved on with his life but the neatly sewn up crimes that Christian unwittingly became a party to start to unravel. A smart detective is on the trail and Gabriel is coming back to straighten things up. It is not a straight line to get there. We also witness a lot of collateral damage. We see Gabe question himself, justify himself, and resign himself.

Sometimes the right choice hurts the wrong people the most. This book mirrors life in the way that people that we come to care are wrongly taken from us. I remember yelling at my Kindle while reading this book the same way you yell at the stupid person going downstairs in a horror movie or the stupid busty blond running into the woods to save her boyfriend not to do it…but the right people did not listen. It happened multiple times.

The strength of those strategies are these. THE GOOD: I liked the book; I cared about the characters both the good ones and the bad ones. I understood everyone’s torment and knew well their inner demons. THE BAD: Without giving spoilers, Gabriel made lots of wrong choices right at the time that he could have made good ones as I was rooting for him to make them. Relationships did not resolve the way I wanted and the ending that I wanted did not happen the way I desired leaving me saying to my book, “How could you do that?”…or “I did not see that coming.”. The IN SPITE OF IT ALL ANYWAY: I got a good story that kept me guessing without immediate gratification, still seeing glimmers of redemption and hope for people, relationships and resolution. It also means that I am hoping for a book three because I need to see where this ride goes. I love the writing style. This book is well worth your time. Lastly, I did not feel like a perverted voyeur staring at some accident scene when I finished the book.

RATING: 

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