“Lost to the Shadows” eBook was published in 2016 and was written by Brandon Jett (http://brandonjett.com). This is Mr. Jett’s first novel.
I received a galley of this novel for review through https://www.netgalley.com. I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence, Mature Language and Mature Situations. The story is set in unidentified medium size town in the US. The primary character is 17 year-old Drake.
Drake and 16 year-old Rue are both orphans and have grown up at Saint Helens Orphanage. These two are also trained and experienced killers. The Fathers at Saint Helens have trained them well over the years and sent them on many missions to kill in the name of God.
Now a group of professional assassins have come to town and they are focusing on a laboratory that is about to demonstrate a new alternative fuel. Drake, Rue and the Fathers begin to intercept and kill the assassins.
This brings Saint Helens to their attention. Drake wants to try and save everyone, but he must learn to prioritize. Soon it becomes a life and death struggle with the assassins. He has to learn to make sacrifices to save those most important to him.
This was an interesting 6.5 hour read of 276 pages. There was a lot of bloody action so it was a fast paced book. Drake is a hard character to like. On one side he is the typical teenage boy with a crush on one of the girls at the Orphanage. His darker side though includes several murders, mostly of bad people, but not always. I want to say that this is a Young Adult Thriller, but the plot includes some pretty rough scenes. There are scenes with Drakes girlfriend, Meryl, using magic that I don’t understand. Is she just interested in the occult or is there supposed to be something to it? It is not explained. The cover is appropriate as Drake is rarely without a knife. I give this novel a 3.4 (rounded down to a 3) out of 5.
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John's Notes 