Reviewed by Chris

TITLE:  Hexbreaker

SERIES:  Hexworld #1

AUTHOR:  Jordan L. Hawk

PUBLISHER:  Widdershins Press LLC

LENGTH:  233 pages

RELEASE DATE:  May 6, 2016

BLURB:  

Will a dark history doom their future together?

New York copper Tom Halloran is a man with a past. If anyone finds out he once ran with the notorious O’Connell tunnel gang, he’ll spend the rest of his life doing hard time behind bars. But Tom’s secret is threatened when a horrible murder on his beat seems to have been caused by the same ancient magic that killed his gang.

Cat shifter Cicero is determined to investigate the disappearance of one friend and the death of another, even though no one else believes the cases are connected. When the trail of his investigation crosses Tom’s, the very bohemian Cicero instinctively recognizes the uncultured Irish patrolman as his witch. Though they’re completely unsuited to one another, Cicero has no choice but to work alongside Tom…all the while fighting against the passion growing within.

Tom knows that taking Cicero as his familiar would only lead to discovery and disaster. Yet as the heat between them builds, Tom’s need for the other man threatens to overcome every rational argument against becoming involved.

But when their investigation uncovers a conspiracy that threatens all of New York, Tom must make the hardest decision of his life: to live a lie and gain his heart’s desire, or to confess the truth and sacrifice it all.

REVIEW:  

I was truly psyched to learn that Jordan L. Hawk was going to turn the world she created in her short story The 13th Hex (which I had the chance to review in the Charmed and Dangerous anthology) into a series. I adored Dominic and Rook, and found the world of familiars and their witches to be highly fascinating. Not to mention that any world that Jordan Hawk creates is bound to have all sorts of fun little avenues to explore, and the short story just didn’t have enough time to do more than a fraction of them justice.

We met Cicero briefly in The 13th Hex as a fellow familiar and friend of Rook. Now Cicero gets his own story, as the cat familiar sets out to find just what happened to his friend Isaac, and what it all has to do with the hex-death of one of their friends. All of this is made easier (and much much harder) when Tom Halloran shows up to the MWP with a similar case from across town. Nothing but a normal beat-cop (at least that is what he wants everyone to believe), Tom was witness to a man murdering his wife under the same hex that caused the death of Cicero’s friend. Together they must figure out who is setting these hexes before they have more than just a handful of deaths on their hands.

There is only one, ok two, problems. One, Cicero takes one look at Tom and knows he has found his witch. And two, Tom is not really Tom Halloran, but Liam O’Connell–a man who was once part of a tunnel gang that used hexs much like the ones afflicting the city today.

Caught between the lies they keep to themselves and the truths they must uncover, Cicero and Tom attempt to save a city all the while attempting to cling to the little bits of freedom they could so easily lose if the truth comes out.

When it comes to historical paranormals, there are very few authors I trust more than Jordan L. Hawk to deliver a stunning story. Set in late December 1897 in New York City, this story is a captivating blend of historical fact and magical imagination. I loved how the magic of hexes, and the use of witches and familiars were weaved into the existing historical world. Like most historicals that exist in a slightly alternative time-line, there are certainly differences in how the world works, but the overall feeling of this book rang true to me.

Since The 13th Hex was rather short it didn’t get a lot of chances to go into detail about the lives of the familiars and their witches. Here though we get a deeper, and truer look into just what it is like to be one of the magical men and women of New York City. And let’s just say it is not all flowers and bowl of cream. Familiars, even those under the protection of the MWP, are pressured to find witches (even if it not their witch) so to pay back the city for their care. And becoming feral (or without a witch’s or government protection) is a dangerous proposition. Being beaten and starved by a witch till a familiar gives into the bond is a very real possibility. It is no wonder that some people wish to fight back.

But how far they will go, is the real question. One made all the more deadly when the absinthe hexes start popping up and killing people. Especially since Tom knows exactly what they are, even if he cannot say where they are coming from. In usual Hawk style, you can never really be sure who is pulling the strings till the end of the book (and maybe not even then) but the journey is well worth the price of admission.

Not the least because of Cicero and Tom. Secrets and lies and love…all three push this story to the brink and hold the reader there, trapped needing to know what happens next but dreading it all the same. You know that Tom is gonna have to come clean. You know that Cicero is gonna have to choose his witch. You just don’t know how badly they will hurt each other in the process…or what the cost of healing might be. These two make an excellent pair. Not only as lovers, but as detectives. The author may know how to write wonderful mysteries, but it is the characters she creates that really sell the story. So much life is breathed into them that it is hard to believe that they don’t exist somewhere, in some place, whispering their secrets to Jordan Hawk while she sleeps.

I cannot say how much I enjoyed this story. Not to the fullest extent, at least. There are always things I keep back because you need to discover them on your own. But I will say that this is the beginning of a great new series and i am eagerly anticipating whatever shall come next for these characters and those we have not had a chance to get to really know yet. Once again Jordan L. Hawk proves her place as one of my favorite authors, and her characters as some of my favorite men.

RATING:  

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