REVIEWED by Anabela M.
TITLE: Nightway Chant
SERIES: Coulter and Woodard Book 3
AUTHOR: M.J. Calabrese
PUBLISHER: Self-published
RELEASE DATE: September 1, 2020
LENGTH: 287 pages
BLURB:
There was a time in Detective Eagle Woodard’s life that he would like to forget, but Eagle’s past catches up with him and it’s threatening to destroy everything and everyone he holds dear.
Dr. Adam Coulter is recovering from a cancer diagnosis and Adam and Eagle’s relationship is stronger than ever, but the continued disappearance of their son, Michael, overshadows their happiness. A new threat appears in the form of a man Detective Eagle Woodard thought dead. Sergeant Dean Kessler aka ‘The Viking’ is on a mission to destroy his old Black Ops team mate. Secrets held in silence by Eagle for over a decade come to the surface, threatening his relationship with Adam and with Eagle’s family.
Not only is The Viking after Eagle, but when Dean Kessler finds his younger brother is in Albuquerque, he becomes a target for his older brother’s revenge as well. Eagle wants to deal with Dean on his own, but the people who care for Eagle the most aren’t about to let him do this by himself.
The question is, will Eagle be able to keep the worst part of himself locked away or will he need ‘The Skinwalker’ to help him defeat ‘The Viking’?
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This book begins about six months after the end of Book 2 in the Coulter/Woodard series. This is the third planned book in the Coulter/Woodard series. No others are planned at this time, but who knows if the muse will strike. There are secondary characters who might need to have their stories told, but if they do, then the stories will be standalone novels.
PLEASE NOTE: This story contains some scenes of BDSM, drug abuse, and violent death. If these are triggers for you, this book may not be for you.
REVIEW:
A shadow from Eagle’s past violently reemerged and threatened to kill everyone dear to him. Dean Kessler, aka The Viking, former member of Eagle’s special unit in the military, had already killed most of the other men of the team, while building a drug dealing empire, it seemed. He was vicious and cruel, dangerous to the point Eagle feared him. Obviously, they needed to catch Dean Kessler before he managed to harm anyone else. Eagle put as much law enforcement people as possible on his tracks, while Adam seemed to have a his own trap set in motion. The man hunt was one heck of a ride and, although I’ve read all the trigger warnings, I wasn’t ready for some of the things that happened. A lot of them were cringe worthy and violent, all the while interspaced with revelations about Adam and Eagle that honestly shocked me. Through many of the characters perspectives, one of which was also The Viking’s, truths came out that completely changed the way I saw both Adam and Eagle.
To make it short, after twists and surprises, turned out Adam’s convoluted plan for catching Dean Kessler was pretty much to let himself be found and captured, with no regard to who he put in danger with his scheming. Why? I had to wait the ending to understand that. In order to be found, he left a series of carefully planted “bread crumbs ” that caused the death of some people and serious injuries to another. With Adam taken, of course everyone is desperate to discover when Dean had him hidden. The first one at the place where Adam was being kept hostage was Rick Kessler -yes, Dean’s brother- who had the brilliant idea to track Adam’s phone…just some pretty good hours later, though. The whole chapter of the rescue, honestly, made me roll my eyes, no pretty way to say it. When Eagle showed up, too, with a gun, mind you, he doesn’t shoot Dean. No, because he had to fight him one on one… which made complete sense *eye roll. An accolade now, if I may. At the ending, Adam revealed that he let himself be caught because he wanted to hypnotize Dean, implanting an psychological block that would stop him from killing Eagle. Kinda twisted, right? Well, the way I see it, if Eagle had shot Dean as soon as he had him in range, hence no man on man fight, there would have been no need for any kind of block. Bam, immediately dead, with no opportunity to kill Eagle what so ever. But then again, without Adam and his machinations, I guess half the book wouldn’t of had a reason to even be written.
As a conclusion, for most of Nightway Chant I was convinced it would be the best of the series. It was thrilling, violent and suspenseful, until everything started to unravel. Ok that Eagle’s job in the military has been that of an “interrogator” (to be read torturer, extractor of information), ok that he had slept with what it seemed like half his unit, Dean Kessler amongst them…and later on, also Rick. Let’s say he wanted a taste of both brothers lol. Ok that Adam liked to dabble in sadism… I don’t judge. Ok that he clearly had a cruel streak. But the final chapters of the story shone a light on Adam that revealed him to be manipulative, calculated and lying. I had to arrive at the ending of the third book to be shown that he most probably had calculated his moves all through the other installments. Admittedly, I was never a fan of Adam, but now I’m wondering which, if any, of his reactions and emotions through the series have been authentic and which planned.
I only wish the author had written a different ending, I really do. Because Nightway Chant had the bones to be a brilliant thriller and I was impressed with how the plotline was constructed, with how everything was equal parts scary and engaging. At this point, I also wish I believed in Adam and Eagle’s love for each other. But who were they in love with, if neither had ever shown themselves for who they really were and they still kept basic secrets about their inner selves?
RATING: 
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