RIOT (Scarred Souls #4) by Tillie Cole- a review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / BAM /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 7, 2017

Stolen by the Arziani Georgian crime mob as a child, 152 was raised and conditioned to be a Mona—the most subservient of the Arziani Blood Pit slaves.

Gorgeous and kind, she has been and under the imprisoning influence of the Type B drug and under the command of the Blood Pit Master’s sister, Mistress Arziani, for most of her life, until the Master calls her back home to Georgia.

He wants her under his total control, and Master always gets what he wants.

But when 152 is gifted to the Blood Pit’s fearsome champion death match fighter as a prize, 152 suddenly finds out that the men who appear most brutal, may just own the kindest hearts. And love may be found, even when living in hell.

Freedom, family, love, 152 will have to fight for what she wants and ultimately make an impossible choice.

•••••••••

REVIEW: RIOT is the fourth and final? Installment in Tillie Cole’s adult, contemporary, SCARRED SOULS dark, erotic, romance series focusing on the Russian Mafia, the Georgian Bratva criminal underground, cage fighting, sexual slavery, and the Russian blood pits. This is death match fighter Ilya Konev (aka 901) and Inessa Belrova’s (aka 152) story line. RIOT can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty although I recommend reading the series in order for cohesion and backstory. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary. Inessa Belrova is the missing sister to Valentin (Ravage #3).

WARNING: RIOT contains scenes of graphic violence and sexual imagery including scenes of rape, murder and torture that may be disturbing for some readers.

Told from three first person points of view (Luka, Ilya and Inessa) RIOT focuses on the struggle to be free. Ilya aka 901 was kidnapped as a child and trained in the death matches for the Arziani Georgian crime mob. As a fighter 901 has never known anything outside of the arena and the cell that has imprisoned him for close to twenty years. Drugged to perform 901 is eventually caged with a young woman known only as number 152, the Master’s High Mona (or consort). When 901 refuses to accept the gift from his Master he soon realizes that to reject 152 could mean the death of the woman that will eventually call to his heart. What ensues is the building but forbidden relationship between 901 (Ilya) and 152( Inessa), and the struggle to gain freedom from the man who has destroyed too many lives.

The relationship between Ilya and Inessa struggles with the question as to the how and why. Why were they thrown together and for whose benefit will their relationship help. Ilya and Inessa have never known love, comfort or the touch of friendship without the pain or repercussions of torture and abuse. The $ex scenes between Ilya and Inessa are intimate and intense.

There are a large number of secondary and supporting characters including all three of the previous story line couples. We are also introduced to several other slaves and death match fighters-some will not be so lucky to survive, as well as the Arziani Georgian crime lord whose psychotic personality fuels the life and death fights in the arena.

RIOT is a graphically violent story line with scenes of rape, torture, abuse and death. Some of the slaves wish for death on a daily basis, while others struggle to stay alive through the torturous beatings and daily drug injections used for submission and control. The premise is dramatic and intense; the characters are broken, tragic and dynamic; the romance is fated and traumatic. RIOT is a heartbreaking story of betrayal, loss and pain; rescue, love and revenge. For fans of the Starz Network’s SPARTACUS the final showdown is akin to Spartacus’s take down of the Dominus- Quintus Batiatus.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Raze
Reap
Ravage
Riot

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy