SHADOW FALLING (Scorpius Syndrome #2) by Rebecca Zanetti-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 30, 2016

Before the Scorpius Syndrome tore through North America and nearly wiped out the population, Vivienne Wellington was the FBI’s best profiler. The bacteria got her anyway. But she survived. She recovered. And when she woke up from a drug-nightmare of captivity, her skills as a hunter of men had gone from merely brilliant to full-on uncanny. Her mysterious rescuer wants her to put them to the test. But no matter how tempting he is, with his angel’s eyes and devil’s tongue, Vinnie knows she shouldn’t trust him.

If the FBI were still around they would rate Raze Shadow as one of the bad guys. His military training can’t wipe out his association with the Mercenaries, the most feared gang in a thousand miles. His loyalties are compromised. He won’t even tell Vinnie his real name. But there’s no FBI in the new America of fear and firepower, only instinct and risk.

And the way his arms wrap around Vinnie tells its own story. Whatever else Raze is concealing, he can’t hide his desire . .

•••••••••••

REVIEW: SHADOW FALLING is the second full length installment in Rebecca Zanetti’s THE SCORPIUS SYNDROME cross genre Sci-Fi/ UF/Dystopian series focusing on a biological pandemic sweeping the world that has already killed 99% of the US population. This is former US soldier and mercenary Raze Shadow, and FBI profiler Vivienne (Vinnie) Wellington’s story line that looks at life in the aftermath, and the fallout from an unknown bacteria-from space. The story line advances the series approximately one week. For more background information and some history, there is a prequel novella-SCORPIUS RISING-which can be found in the ON THE HUNT anthology (August 2015).

SOME BACKGROUND: Some of those infected with the biological virus have survived to become something known as a Ripper, but there are two types of Rippers inhabiting the world-one is a zombie like creature who feasts on the living; the other is a survivor whose brain has been altered resulting in a stronger, more powerful enhanced human being sometimes bordering on the sociopath ideology. If you are a fan of the series The Walking Dead, you will see many similarities in the story line premise including the search for food and supplies, attacks of the ‘undead’, and various groups of survivors vying for power and control.

Told from several third person points of view SHADOW FALLING focuses on Vinnie Wellington’s recovery following her harrowing ordeal as a prisoner of the newly self-declared President of the USA. A couple of weeks earlier, Raze Shadow rescued our heroine, and in the ensuing time found himself oddly attracted to the woman suffering with PTSD, hallucinations, an unfiltered brain to mouth loss of control, and some supernatural side affects following a regimen of drugs used to control her mind. What ensues is the building relationship between Vinnie and Raze, and a potential act of betrayal when Raze’s reason for returning to the Vanguard compound is soon discovered. Compound leader Jax Mercury doesn’t trust the newest arrivals, and Raze’s presence starts sending out too many red flags for the current team leader. Raze is a dominant force whose protective nature finds our hero struggling between right and wrong.

The relationship between Raze and Vinnie is one of mutual benefit. Vinnie suffers with PTSD, and Raze’s attraction to Vinnie finds our couple roommates in a compound with very little extra space for new arrivals. Vinnie needs the reassurance of Raze’s presence, and Raze is a man determined to complete his mission, and Vinnie is vital to the job. The $ex scenes are intimate and intense.

There is a large ensemble cast of characters including Jax and Lynn (Mercury Striking #1), medic Tace, soldier Sami, and a host of secondary and supporting survivors at the Vanguard compound. There are three other factions vying for control including the current self-imposed US  government; a group hoping to keep themselves ‘pure’ of the virus; and another compound that will come under fire when Raze sets out on his personal mission.

SHADOW FALLING is a fast paced, action packed story of survival in a post apocalyptic world destroyed by a space-born pathogen of unknown origin. The premise is imaginative and inventive; the characters are flawed and broken, energetic and dynamic-survivors in a world that challenges everything they had ever known; the romance is captivating, emotional and electric. Keep your mind open to the possibility that life as we know it can be gone in the blink of an eye.

I did have a couple of issues with believability as it pertained to a couple of events at the Vanguard compound but it is an urban fantasy story line where reality is subjective to the mind’s eye.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Scorpius Rising (On the Hunt Anthology)
Mercury Striking
Shadow Falling

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy