Lightning Game (Ghostwalkers 17) by Christine Feehan-Review & Excerpt
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 2, 2021
Danger and passion fuse in this electrifying GhostWalker novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan.
GhostWalker Rubin Campo’s rough upbringing made him into the man he is today: strong, steadfast and wary of outsiders. When he and his brother return to their family’s homestead in the Appalachian Mountains, he can immediately sense that a stranger has taken up residence in their cabin—a woman who just happens to be a GhostWalker too.
Jonquille looks deceptively delicate but is clearly a fighter. She also doesn’t seem to care that Rubin could kill her where she stands. She sought him out, wanting to connect on their shared interest in electrical charges. As one of the first failed GhostWalker experiments, Jonquille can produce lightning with her body—but she can’t control it.
Their connection is magnetic, their abilities in sync. Rubin knows she’s his match, the answer to a lifetime of pain and intense loneliness. But Jonquille came to him with hidden intentions, ones that threaten to destroy their bond before it can truly begin.…
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REVIEW:LIGHTNING GAME is the seventeenth instalment in Christine Feehan’s contemporary, adult GHOSTWALKERS erotic, paranormal romance series focusing on an elite group (4 teams) of enhanced men and women known as the GhostWalkers (GW). These ‘super soldiers’ were once part of an unauthorized government experiment performed by Dr. Peter Whitney but several soldiers have, since, opted into the program on their own. This is US Army Colonel and GhostWalker Rubin Campo, and female GhostWalker Jonquille’s story line. LIGHTNING GAME can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty but I recommend reading the series in order for back story and cohesion.
Told from dual third person perspectives (Jonquille and Rubin) LIGHTNING GAME follows GhostWalker Team four members, psychic surgeon Rubin Campo, and his brother Diego, on their return to their family homestead in the Appalachian Mountains where they will come face to face with an enhanced female GhostWalker Jonquille. For months, our heroine has passed herself off as a lab assistant in an effort to uncover the truth about herself, and her ability to absorb the power of lightning. Rubin Campo has been studying the possibility of directing lightning, and in this our heroine is desperate to learn to direct the use of her own powers. Rubin Campo knows immediately that Jonquille is the female whose DNA has been matched to his own, and in this Ruben is immediately protective of the woman with whom he will fall in love but all is not well for our story line heroine as another group of enhanced soldiers, this time controlled by another madman working for the US government, is determined to take down our story line heroine. What ensues is the slow building romance and relationship between Jonquille and Ruben, and the potential fall-out as a group of US soldiers has gone rogue, in an effort to protect our story line heroine.
Meanwhile, Oliver Chandler, a former associate of Peter Whitney, is trying to develop a new group of super soldiers, but in doing so, all but destroys the men he is hoping to control. Someone, only known as ‘Swamp Man’ gives the GhostWalkers pause, and in this, the rescue of a familiar face and name, bring the GhostWalker Teams together.
The relationship between Jonquille and Ruben is slow to build as Ruben’s brother Diego struggles to trust our story line heroine. Ruben knows that Jonquille is his fated mate, and in this, Ruben and Jonquille will work together to direct the lightning and energy for a better cause. The $ex scenes are limited, passionate and intense without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
Unlike several of the previous instalments in the GhostWalker series, and some of the author’s other series, LIGHTNING GAME does not focus on the sexual needs and wants of our story line hero. Ruben Campo knows Jonquille is the woman that calls to his heart, and in this, he doesn’t force his power, his alpha-ness, or an over the top attitude regarding a woman’s place, and the man she must serve. The growing love between our couple is heart warming and intimate, sweet and consuming.
There is a large ensemble cast of colorful, energetic and familiar characters including several members of other GhostWalker Teams–Ryland Miller, and several members of Team one; Ezekiel (Bellisia), and Mordichai Fortunes, Colonel Joe Spagnola, Gino Mazzo (Zara), Wyatt Fontenot, and everybody’s favorite grandmother Nonny Fontenot. We are introduced to Ruben’s brother Diego, and a new group of GhostWalkers, who may or may not have future story lines: Harris Ledes, Sean O’Connell, and Kevin Morris
LIGHTNING GAME is an energetic and spirited story line. The premise is riveting; the romance is inspiring and captivating; the characters are intense and dynamic.
As I had mentioned in my review of LETHAL GAME (#16), LIGHTNING GAME is also a bit of a departure from the author’s usually graphic violent and sex obsessive story lines. With the addition of several psychic healers, the GhostWalkers takes on a bit of the Dark (Carpathian) feel, paralleling the earlier works of the author’s series.
Copy supplied by Netgalley
Reviewed by Sandy
Rubin turned to look at his brother, not knowing how to feel about someone invading their cabin and actually working on it. No one had ever done anything to the Campo cabin other than a Campo. He stepped into the middle of the room and took a long, slow look around, taking in everything. His brother took his back, doing the same. It was a familiar position, but they were looking at a very unfamiliar cabin.
Their cabin didn’t even smell the same. Coral honeysuckle was rare to find in the mountains and yet the cabin definitely held the subtle fragrance mixed strangely enough with the scent of daffodils. His mother called them jonquils. All along the neighboring holler where they grew freely, they referred to them as Easter lilies. There was no hint of a musty smell at all. The loft held a new mattress. He could tell because it didn’t stink of the usual rodents that had burrowed their way inside the foam. A sleeping bag covered the top of the mattress.
Someone hadn’t been taking things from their cabin. Someone was living there. That someone was female. There were no flowers, but that fragrance told both men the occupant was a woman.
“I’ll get rid of any sign outside that we were anywhere near the place,” Diego said.
Rubin nodded. He was uneasy. When he was uneasy, it usually meant something was very wrong. “Be careful, Diego. I’ve got a bad feeling.”
“I’ve got the same bad feeling. Stay away from the windows.”
Rubin didn’t need the warning. He waited until his brother had slipped outside. Once Diego was out of the cabin, he felt better. He had never seen anyone who could match his brother’s ability in the forest. At least he knew Diego would be safe. He crouched low, squatting, the way his father had taught him, relieving pressure on his spine while he studied the interior of the cabin, inspecting every corner.
The floors were spotless. There was a handwoven rug at the foot of the ladder leading to a loft where the bed was. Four years earlier, they had roughed in a shower and toilet. It had been very rough. They had been used to an outhouse and an outdoor shower when they came to the mountains. The shower was still open, but it was much nicer. The floor of the shower had been set in smooth, polished stones over the plastic around the drain they’d roughed in. They had packed in a brand-new porcelain toilet when they came that year and it was spotless.
The kitchen sink was immaculate. The small gas stove had been thoroughly cleaned. That had been brought up only last year. Ordinarily, they made do with a small grill they kept in the shed around back. The woman who was living in their cabin believed in cleanliness. She hadn’t made things worse, but she had made changes to the kitchen and the bathroom, and even fixed the ladder going to the loft.
Rubin glanced up at the ceiling. They were planning on reroofing this trip. There had been water damage and they hadn’t been able to do more than patch the roof before they had to leave last time. There were no water marks on the ceiling. The wood had been replaced. That wood had been there since he was born. Even with water stains, his father and brothers had hauled that wood from the forest, trimmed it, notched it and put it in place. It had lasted all these years. An outsider had taken it down and replaced it. It didn’t matter that she’d done a damn good job. That was part of his family legacy—all he and Diego had left other than the graveyard behind the cabin.
Excerpt courtesy of Berkley Publishing
Christine Feehan is a #1 New York Times bestselling author multiple times over with her portfolio including over 70 published novels, including five series; Dark Series, Ghostwalker Series, Leopard Series, Drake Sisters Series, the Sisters of the Heart Series and Torpedo Ink. All of her series have hit the #1 spot on the New York Times bestselling list as well. Her debut novel Dark Prince received 3 of the 9 Paranormal Excellence Awards in Romantic Literature (PEARL) in 1999. Since then she has been published by various publishing houses including Leisure Books, Pocket Books, and currently is writing for Berkley/Jove. She also has earned 7 more PEARL awards since Dark Prince.
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