Book 71, 2021 (Subtitle: "Hello, my name is Jae, and I'm addicted to Cal Leandros.")

Deathwish by Rob Thurman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Knocked back Deathwish in one day. It's the 4th book in Rob Thurman's "Cal Leandros" urban fantasy series. This time, Cal shared the 'main character' spotlight with his brother, Niko. The story was told in first-person point of view, but it alternated between them. It was...odd. Interesting, but odd. I'd wished, after reading the first book, that we could have seen some of this from Niko's pov, but the reality was...odd. In Cal's eyes, Niko is an infallible hero, and that comes through when he's telling a story. But Niko is far less kind to himself, although I enjoyed his unwavering faith in Cal.

Niko's vampire girlfriend, Promise, introduces the brothers to another vampire, Seamus, who wants to hire them to find out who's been following him. It should be a simple enough job, but things get complicated when Promise's daughter, Cherish, bursts onto the scene bringing her own drama with her. Worse yet, Niko had no idea Promise had a daughter, and truth and trust are incredibly important to him. Compounding the problem is that Cherish's brand of drama involves a pissed off immortal who wants to kill her. When Seamus turns up dead (as in, missing his head dead), it seems that Niko and Cal can concentrate on pulling Cherish's chestnuts out of the fire. The only problem is, Cal's other family is back, and they are hellbent on revenge. They have plans for Cal, but first they want him to suffer through seeing everyone he loves die, and they'll stop at nothing to accomplish their goal.

Hoo, boy. This one was one helluva rollercoaster ride. Cal and Niko got so little downtime that I was exhausted just from reading about it. The alternating povs was a tad jarring, but it was refreshing in its way. It was touching to learn just how utterly devoted Cal and Niko are to one another. We've always known it, from the first book, but seeing things from Niko's perspective was sobering and uplifting at the same time. Certain scenes had my stomach in absolute knots. Fortunately, there was plenty of Robin screen time to add some humor. In addition to Robin, we got to see more of Ishiah and finally learn why the two of them were at one another's throat so often. *cough*UST*cough* Unfortunately, that sort of popped my little Robin/Niko bubble, but so be it; I can always dream. :D

Fight scenes were frequent and violent, and both Cal and Niko were badly injured at times. There were some astonishing twists and sweet retribution, and maybe (hopefully) an end to Cal's endless torment. Characters were magnificent, from the heroes to the villains and everyone in between. Amazing story!

( Favorite lines )

Well, that was fun, but I think I'm going to actually try to read something a little more lite to cleanse my palate. That's the plan, at least. We'll see how successful I am. Oh, and yes, this one gets 5 stars! As if you had to ask...


Banner found on Pinterest; will credit artist if I find out who it is