Garret Reed is the new head of the Nighthawks, a group of
investigators who help keep the peace in the London of
Bec
McMaster's Steampunk world. FORGED BY DESIRE begins
after
he takes over the helm of the guard group from the
previous
leader, Lynch, who is now a Duke on the ruling council of
Bluebloods. Garret has a secret, however. The numbers of
his craving virus has risen to almost unacceptable
levels,
inching closer to the point of where bloodlust can take
over his body. Garret is keeping this damning fact to
himself as he struggles to make his own mark as the new
leader of the Nighthawks. He is also trying to keep his
increasing attraction to Perry, one of his investigators,
under wraps.
Perry Lowell also has a secret. She has been a Nighthawk
for ten years, and is one of the best agents of the
Guard.
She is also one of the few known female Bluebloods, and
quite powerful. No one knows how she came to be a
Blueblood, or that she is running from a past where she
had
been the thrall of a powerful man who has recently been
released from prison for her murder. In her
previous
life, Perry had been the victim of experiments,
in which she would be cut and abused yet heal quickly,
and she had been infected with the craving virus for just
that purpose. Perry has also been in love with Garret
for
years, but has kept her silence fearing it would end of
their longstanding friendship and working relationship.
After two young women from the wealthy Echelon are found
murdered in an unsavory manner in a slum area of London,
the Nighthawks are called in. The women looked to have
been infected with the craving virus, and then had
unspeakable horrors inflicted on their bodies. When
Garret
and Perry arrive to investigate, she quickly realizes the
marks of the evil scientist who had performed the
experimentation on her own body, a man she thought she
had
killed. Perry keeps this information to herself, fearing
her past will come to light. As the investigation
continues, however, the personal danger to her becomes
greater; and Perry's secret past edges closer to blowing
up
in her face.
FORGED BY DESIRE is perhaps the best book so far of Bec
McMaster's ingenious and original London Steampunk
series. Although all of the books in this alternative
Steampunk world are excellent reads, there is an edgy
grittiness to FORGED BY DESIRE that has not been as
prominent in previous books of this inventive series. The
world McMaster has created is reaching its stride, and
more
innovative storylines are coming into play in this well
written, gripping story. There is the niggling issue of
an
investigator of Perry's experience keeping a personal
secret that ultimately hinders an investigation; as a
plot
device it defies logic. Still, the engaging leads and
excellence of the storyline keeps the reader enthralled
in
the story. As there is enough backstory given to catch
the
reader up in the London Steampunk world, FORGED BY
DESIRE
can easily be read standalone.
Ten years ago, Perry fled her thrall contract to find
sanctuary among the Nighthawks. In that time, she's become a
respected woman of the Guard, and she's wanted Garret Reed
for as long as she can remember. But when a new case takes a
chillingly familiar turn, Perry finds herself once again in
the path of a madman...only this time, there's nowhere left
to run.
A desire that can't be tempered
Out of their depth and racing against time, Perry and
Garrett must learn to trust the desire sparking between
them...or risk losing themselves forever to the darkness
stalking London's streets.
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