Reviewed by Anabela.m
TITLE: Mountainway Chant
SERIES: Coulter and Woodard Book 2
AUTHOR: M.J. Calabrese
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 286 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 30, 2020
BLURB:
Adam Coulter has returned and is coping with the horrific events of sixteen months ago as best he can, but not everyone is happy about it. His best friend and new husband, Detective Eagle Woodard, doesn’t want to speak to him and it’s starting to look like his fifth marriage isn’t going to be anymore successful than his other four.
FBI Agent Rick Kessler and Navajo Reservation Police Lieutenant Carlos Aiello, Eagle’s cousin, have pulled a reluctant Adam into another case. Five bodies discovered at the site of a planned casino, all dressed and painted up as Native American mythological characters offer confusing clues. Are they dealing with another serial killer?
Fighting to stay clean and sober, Adam’s 12 step sponsor is murdered. At first it seems unrelated to what he saw in the desert, but evidence comes to light that says otherwise. Revelations concerning Adam’s past and his father, Richard Coulter’s, connections to the local crime syndicate boss, Nelson Greybill come to light.
Can Adam repair the damage he’s done to his relationship with Eagle so he can help him solve this case? Can he win back the only man he’s ever truly loved, or will the demons of his past win the battle for his soul?
PLEASE NOTE: This is the second book in a continuous series. For full enjoyment please read Warrior’s Way before reading Mountainway Chant. Contains murder and mayhem, as well as dealing with an alcohol and drug addiction. If these are triggers for you, please skip this one!
REVIEW:
After the way Warrior’s Way ended, I was intrigued to see how Eagle and Adam’s story arc would go. I’m sorry to say I’m still not a firm believer in their romance. In the first book I felt that they were swept by circumstances and hormones rather than built a real connection, which was further proved this time around, too. Not to mention, a lot more tell than show as a writing style, with stated feelings but with little to nothing in the way of making them believable.
This time Eagle was a drunk mess and Adam the sober one, the first hating himself for the years of enabling Adam’s vices in the past and angry for being left behind, while Adam was as the same time hopeful for a second chance and resentful for not easily getting one. The truth about Michael didn’t help matters either. So, no, they weren’t at a good place, both struggled with communication and they hurt each other every occasion they got. I almost gave up on them and thought they’d be better off alone.
Also, the way I saw it, Mountainway Chant had the same weaknesses as Warrior’s Way. Although improved, the writing kept being clunky and the jumpy changes in points of view made my head spin. For example, a scene would start with Adam’s POV to then flip to whoever’s he interacted with, and god forbid there were more than two people involved, because then it became really hard to follow. And, why, oh why, did the author consider it necessary to give the reader an insight into Rick’s thoughts? That whole scene he had with Adam only made me shudder with distaste… would have felt better without it. Come to think of it, why was Rick Kessler in the story altogether?
A lot happened in the book and things moved at a fast pace. The murders and the investigations were interesting, although, for the bodies in the desert mystery the author kind of served the culprit on a platter. Honestly, what most kept me glued to the pages was the situation with Michael, Eagle’s son- who maybe wasn’t really his after all, but Adam’s? Also, the bad guy needed taken down, so I was curious how that would pan out.
As a conclusion, I’m a bit conflicted about this story. It had parts that I found interesting and others that irritated me, pages that intrigued me and others that I just wanted to skip. My rating is for the fact that I was engaged enough to finish reading it and for making me consider picking up the third installment.
RATING: 
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