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19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Werewolf hitman..., December 13, 2004
People know him as Tony Giodone. No one knows his real name. He is a hitman, hired assassin, and a werewolf. Tony is still getting used to what he has become. One year ago he had been stalking his mark, but his mark ended up ripping Tony's throat out. With no one to teach him how to deal with his new abilities, Tony taught himself. He has learned which scents mean he is being lied to and which mean someone fears him. But most scents he has yet to figure out. He is slowly learning how to use his changes to his business advantage, except during the full moon when he locks himself away. Sue Quentin won the lottery last year. She should be happy, thrilled. Instead, she wants to hire Tony to kill her. The moment she meets Tony she is disturbingly attracted to him. He returns that attraction. Even when she accidently learns he is a werewolf, she feels the pull of him. Their relationship is still on shaky ground when Tony's enemies decide to harm Tony by going after Sue. Tony and Sue find themselves in a world of high stakes card games, kidnapping, larceny ... and shapeshifters of all kinds. **** This super natural romance is told from Tony's point-of-view. The back ground of the shapeshifters does not go into deep detail. Readers learn only what Tony does as the story progresses. Yet is gave me enough information to actually thirst for another glimpse into the darker world. Do not think that you will easily put this book down whenever the telephone rings. Very well done! **** Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Left me Cold, December 30, 2005
Reading this book is an exercise in remaining detached, unless of course you fancy living in the mind of the first person male narrator - a hit man for hire who charges extra for rape and torture. Tony, the hit man's love interest is Sue, a needy, whiney, depressed recent lottery winner who can't come up with any better way to make use of her millions to escape her controlling family from hell then to hire Tony to kill her.
This lovely plan is complicated by the fact that Tony is also a werewolf. Sue inadvertently gets locked in the hotel room with Tony on the night of a full moon and learns his secret. They begin to bond due to Tony's werewolf telepathic powers and love follows. But will Sue's love for Tony be enough to change her mind about wanting to die? Does Tony love Sue enough to let her go by killing her for pay if she doesn't change her mind?
The book held my attention but I found it deeply disturbing. As another reviewer mentioned, I was most upset by the authors' attempts to suggest that being a part of the mob and earning your living by killing is just another lifestyle choice. The respected therapist that Sue sees (who is also a childhood friend of Tony) doesn't seem to think there is anything wrong with Sue spending her life with a man who may end up on death row and tells her that if thought Tony could be helped by being put in jail, he would turn him in. I wanted to shout, "What about helping the people that Tony is planning on murdering you amoral moron!" If Tony had been involved in illegal gambling or even drug running, the simplistic arguments offered in favor of moral relativism might have worked better, but I draw the line at attempting to justify cold-blood murder. It would have been far more palatable if Tony simply didn't care that it was wrong and left it that.
The were-world is secondary to the mafia world and doesn't make a real appearance to the final chapter where a huge and distracting information dump is done despite the fact that it is irrelevant to the book.
I found this an odd choice for a romance book. There was a love story of sorts, but few of genre markers were in evidence, with emotional resonance being the most obviously absent. Like many reader the recommendation by LKH drew me in, but I found it a very different sort of book. LKH's heroine, Anita Blake is a deeply moral character who only kill's the bad guys, even though what defines a bad guy has evolved over the series and was not the model for Nick. A closer match is LKS's Edward, the sociopath assassin, but even Anita was smart enough not to get involved with him.
Not recommended for readers looking for conventional morality or sympathetic characters. But if you want to read something completely different, this isn't half bad.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Complex and intriquing tale, January 5, 2005
I gave this four stars for the writing and for the talent it took to come up with this unusual plot. I, however, could not get beyond the fact that the hero was an assassin, a member of the Mafia (Family), liked his job and did not hesitate to kill for money. I'm not saying that he got a thrill out of killing, not at all, but nevertheless this was the job he chose to do. I do not buy the fact that the victims deserved to be killed, or that he took jobs of that type deliberately. I also don't think this deserves a sequel if the characters are to remain the hero and heroine. Then it would no longer be a romance, but a mystery or horror story. The ending was complete in itself and did not hint at a followup. By the way I did not like the smell thing or the mind reading, it just overtook the story or became the story. The book was almost totally one character, the hero and the teller of the story. I barely know what the heroine's true personality, feelings, etc. or how she justified her relationship with her family and with the hero. Weakness is the only thing that comes to mind and I don't think that was the authors' intention. Since most of the other readers enjoyed the book, I feel that it must be a matter of taste and this story left a bad taste in my mouth.
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