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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
Hearts on hearts on hearts
I ABSOFREAKINGLUTELY LOVE this series!!!!!! I've read through it twice and can not wait for the next one!!! Great story line great characters. I can't wait for Cayenne and Trap to be parents!
I ABSOFREAKINGLUTELY LOVE this series!!!!!! I've read through it twice and can not wait for the next one!!! Great story line great characters. I can't wait for Cayenne and Trap to be parents!
Fifteenth in the GhostWalker paranormal romantic suspense series and revolving around the Louisiana team of GhostWalkers. The couple focus is on Dr Draden Freeman and Shylah Cosmos struggling to survive in Sumatra, Indonesia.
My Take
I loved that start, lol. What can I say, I'm a sucker for the too-competent spec ops type *more laughter*, especially when they make such an impression.
Feehan uses a third person dual point-of-view from the perspectives of Draden and Shylah, which is the primary source of all the repetition...oy... I know I like it when an author reminds us of events, issues, and pertinent details from past stories in a series, but there is such a thing as OVERkill.
I do love that these two are partners, equal partners. And that while they accept their fates, they don't stop fighting. And...sigh...Draden is such a romantic...more sighing... That special event...even more sighing...
I also love the supportiveness and love this extended family has for each other. It's what keeps me coming back.
And I am definitely trying out some version of that shrimp dish Shylah is so excited about at the end!
The Story
A terrorist group destroyed a Sumatran village using a deadly new virus. The WHO staff are among the dead. Indonesian special ops soldiers are also among them. Their only hope is the GhostWalkers.
Now, Draden's only hope is that he can save a bullet for himself. And one for his new-met partner, Shylah Cosmos.
And Calvin believes the GhostWalkers are a joke...
The Characters
Peony "Shylah" Cosmos is an assassin for Dr Whitney with excellent tracking skills. She'd been sold to him by her parents. She still misses her "sisters": Belissia and Zara.
Dr Draden "Sandman" Freeman is a gifted surgeon who paid his way through medical school — gaining degrees in genetics, infectious disease, microbiology, and immunology — by being a sought-after model. Eliza had been his foster mother. The one who bought him from his drug-addled mother, raised him with laughter, and taught him about flowers, love, family.
These GhostWalkers are...
...an Air Force pararescue Team Four out of Louisiana overseen by Major General Tennessee Milton. Dr Joe Spangnola is the team leader, a psychic healer and surgeon. Malachai Fortunes is their fact man. Dr Gino Mazza (he's married to Dr Zara Hightower, Covert Game, 14). Diego and Rubin Campo are brothers, whom I think showed up in Power Game, 13. Dr Trap Dawkins has a super-high IQ, is fabulously wealthy, and has Asperger's with no clue about social cues — and he's married to Cayenne, who has tremendous spider powers and cannot cook to save anyone’s life. Dr Wyatt Fontenot is married to Pepper who's pregnant with twins, and they already have a set of triplets(!), the little viper chicklets: Ginger, Cannelle, and Thym (Viper Game, 11). Grace "Nonny" Fontenot is Wyatt's fabulous grandmother, offering the team a home. "Gator" Fontenot, one of Wyatt's brothers, and Iris "Flame" Johnson met up in Night Game, 3. Dr Ezekiel “Zeke” Fortunes, Malachai's brother, is married to Belisia, (Power Game, 13).
Azami Yoshiie is married to Sam Johnson, a GhostWalker from Team One (Samurai Game, 10) and managed to move a satellite for the guys.
Dr Whitney is...
...a brilliant crackpot and psychopath who has been experimenting on human beings, enhancing their strengths and psychic abilities, and splicing in animal genetics. Helena was the housemother who most cared for the girls. Violet Smythe is a GhostWalker who went very bad.
Three virologists had worked for Whitney: Tyler and Cameron Williams, brothers, and Agus Orucov were hired to create special viruses. WHO is the World Health Organization. Dr Henderson wants them burned. Barry Font is the terrified helicopter pilot.
Indonesia
The Kopassus is the government special forces branch. Bakti is a minor league scam artist who is way out of his depth. Eko is part of his team. Faisal Bataknese does a nice trade in false IDs.
The Milisi Separatis Sumatra (MSS) is...
...a terrorist group in who murdered the village of Lupa Suku in Indonesia. Intan Lesmono is the man who replaced the last commander.
Ethan Montgomery, a former schoolmate of the Wiliams brothers, is a playboy layabout always getting in trouble who is based in Mississippi. Calvin Montgomery is Ethan's loving, vicious father, and a member of the World Alliance. The stupid Candace is Ethan's stepmother.
The World Alliance is...
...a super-secret organization that rules the world. Cheng is an extremely wealthy paranoid sociopath with a sideline in selling secrets and allies in the terrorist world (Power Game). And is he ever pissed about his brother's death.
Greg is a flight attendant on Trap's plane. Daryl Monroe is Trap's assistant. Draden reckons Trap is one of the few in the army with his own private army of assistants, lol.
The Cover and Title
The cover is distressed in browns with the graphic a'slant and the head and shoulders of a dark-haired, dark-eyed Dr Draden Freeman, with the scruff of a beard in a black T-shirt. The background is a helicopter in a sky pouring with rain, with a triskhelion-style image in a deeper brown. At the top is an info blurb in white. The author's name is in a greenish-gold outlined copper across Draden's head. The title is in a bright yellow with bright green splotches at the bottom of the cover below Draden's neck. Below that is the series information, the black font outlined in a blurry white.
The title refers to the Toxic Game, as Draden and Shylah race to eliminate the terrorists and recover the virus.
My Take
I loved that start, lol. What can I say, I'm a sucker for the too-competent spec ops type *more laughter*, especially when they make such an impression.
"The Air Force pararescue team didn't seem affected by anything as mundane as the heat or terrorists. The crazy thing was, they were mostly officers. Doctors. ... These men had seen combat and looked as tough as nails. ... giving off a dangerous vibe..."This is one of Feehan's better stories (after that string of jokes she's done!), but I do have three niggles: the repetitiveness was so annoying; that weird paragraph about Draden and dragons that wasn't inserted very well; and, I do wish Feehan had been more explicit about the GhostWalkers' belief that Whitney had engineered the whole thing. I was confused. When I'm reading, I don't want to have to stop and try to puzzle out what the author is saying.
Feehan uses a third person dual point-of-view from the perspectives of Draden and Shylah, which is the primary source of all the repetition...oy... I know I like it when an author reminds us of events, issues, and pertinent details from past stories in a series, but there is such a thing as OVERkill.
I do love that these two are partners, equal partners. And that while they accept their fates, they don't stop fighting. And...sigh...Draden is such a romantic...more sighing... That special event...even more sighing...
I also love the supportiveness and love this extended family has for each other. It's what keeps me coming back.
And I am definitely trying out some version of that shrimp dish Shylah is so excited about at the end!
The Story
A terrorist group destroyed a Sumatran village using a deadly new virus. The WHO staff are among the dead. Indonesian special ops soldiers are also among them. Their only hope is the GhostWalkers.
Now, Draden's only hope is that he can save a bullet for himself. And one for his new-met partner, Shylah Cosmos.
And Calvin believes the GhostWalkers are a joke...
The Characters
Peony "Shylah" Cosmos is an assassin for Dr Whitney with excellent tracking skills. She'd been sold to him by her parents. She still misses her "sisters": Belissia and Zara.
Dr Draden "Sandman" Freeman is a gifted surgeon who paid his way through medical school — gaining degrees in genetics, infectious disease, microbiology, and immunology — by being a sought-after model. Eliza had been his foster mother. The one who bought him from his drug-addled mother, raised him with laughter, and taught him about flowers, love, family.
These GhostWalkers are...
...an Air Force pararescue Team Four out of Louisiana overseen by Major General Tennessee Milton. Dr Joe Spangnola is the team leader, a psychic healer and surgeon. Malachai Fortunes is their fact man. Dr Gino Mazza (he's married to Dr Zara Hightower, Covert Game, 14). Diego and Rubin Campo are brothers, whom I think showed up in Power Game, 13. Dr Trap Dawkins has a super-high IQ, is fabulously wealthy, and has Asperger's with no clue about social cues — and he's married to Cayenne, who has tremendous spider powers and cannot cook to save anyone’s life. Dr Wyatt Fontenot is married to Pepper who's pregnant with twins, and they already have a set of triplets(!), the little viper chicklets: Ginger, Cannelle, and Thym (Viper Game, 11). Grace "Nonny" Fontenot is Wyatt's fabulous grandmother, offering the team a home. "Gator" Fontenot, one of Wyatt's brothers, and Iris "Flame" Johnson met up in Night Game, 3. Dr Ezekiel “Zeke” Fortunes, Malachai's brother, is married to Belisia, (Power Game, 13).
Azami Yoshiie is married to Sam Johnson, a GhostWalker from Team One (Samurai Game, 10) and managed to move a satellite for the guys.
Dr Whitney is...
...a brilliant crackpot and psychopath who has been experimenting on human beings, enhancing their strengths and psychic abilities, and splicing in animal genetics. Helena was the housemother who most cared for the girls. Violet Smythe is a GhostWalker who went very bad.
Three virologists had worked for Whitney: Tyler and Cameron Williams, brothers, and Agus Orucov were hired to create special viruses. WHO is the World Health Organization. Dr Henderson wants them burned. Barry Font is the terrified helicopter pilot.
Indonesia
The Kopassus is the government special forces branch. Bakti is a minor league scam artist who is way out of his depth. Eko is part of his team. Faisal Bataknese does a nice trade in false IDs.
The Milisi Separatis Sumatra (MSS) is...
...a terrorist group in who murdered the village of Lupa Suku in Indonesia. Intan Lesmono is the man who replaced the last commander.
Ethan Montgomery, a former schoolmate of the Wiliams brothers, is a playboy layabout always getting in trouble who is based in Mississippi. Calvin Montgomery is Ethan's loving, vicious father, and a member of the World Alliance. The stupid Candace is Ethan's stepmother.
The World Alliance is...
...a super-secret organization that rules the world. Cheng is an extremely wealthy paranoid sociopath with a sideline in selling secrets and allies in the terrorist world (Power Game). And is he ever pissed about his brother's death.
Greg is a flight attendant on Trap's plane. Daryl Monroe is Trap's assistant. Draden reckons Trap is one of the few in the army with his own private army of assistants, lol.
The Cover and Title
The cover is distressed in browns with the graphic a'slant and the head and shoulders of a dark-haired, dark-eyed Dr Draden Freeman, with the scruff of a beard in a black T-shirt. The background is a helicopter in a sky pouring with rain, with a triskhelion-style image in a deeper brown. At the top is an info blurb in white. The author's name is in a greenish-gold outlined copper across Draden's head. The title is in a bright yellow with bright green splotches at the bottom of the cover below Draden's neck. Below that is the series information, the black font outlined in a blurry white.
The title refers to the Toxic Game, as Draden and Shylah race to eliminate the terrorists and recover the virus.
This couple Shyla and Draden didn't gel for me... possibly because all I'd ever heard of Draden in other books about Team 4 was - Draden, vein, now! Apparently he could get a line into a patient even in a speeding boat over waves, and by the time he was in his own story, they isolated him in the jungle... but it was okay... I suppose.
https://youtu.be/-vtdQAxiCeo
My YouTube Series Review available from 2nd May 2021
Merged review:
This couple Shyla and Draden didn't gel for me... possibly because all I'd ever heard of Draden in other books about Team 4 was - Draden, vein, now! Apparently he could get a line into a patient even in a speeding boat over waves, and by the time he was in his own story, they isolated him in the jungle... but it was okay... I suppose.
https://youtu.be/-vtdQAxiCeo
My YouTube Series Review available from 2nd May 2021
https://youtu.be/-vtdQAxiCeo
My YouTube Series Review available from 2nd May 2021
Merged review:
This couple Shyla and Draden didn't gel for me... possibly because all I'd ever heard of Draden in other books about Team 4 was - Draden, vein, now! Apparently he could get a line into a patient even in a speeding boat over waves, and by the time he was in his own story, they isolated him in the jungle... but it was okay... I suppose.
https://youtu.be/-vtdQAxiCeo
My YouTube Series Review available from 2nd May 2021
TOXIC GAME by Christine Feehan is the fifteenth book in the Ghostwalker series. While it can be read as a standalone novel, the reader experience will be enhanced if these are read in order. The story line takes place in the Indonesian jungle and in Louisiana. This is a paranormal romantic suspense novel.
Dr. Draden Freeman and his GhostWalker team are on a rescue mission in the jungles of Indonesia. When he gets infected by a virus released by a terrorist group, he forces his team to leave him behind to avoid spreading the virus. Meanwhile Shylah Cosmo is on a mission to track the creators of the virus and remain unseen. When Draden gets hit by a lucky shot from one of the terrorists, Shylah helps him and becomes exposed to the virus herself.
The story hooked me from the beginning. Draden and Shylah are compelling characters that the reader can root for. They felt three-dimensional and gained depth as the story progressed. The internal and external conflicts were well defined and arose out of characterization and circumstance rather than feeling contrived or forced. The stakes and tension were high enough to make this a page turner.
While this novel had plenty of action, it was much more than that. While this is a paranormal romantic suspense story, there were no instant steamy scenes. They did not occur until about 75% through the book. Instead, the story line built up to those scenes in a way that fit the characters' circumstances. The novel also tackles several themes including hemorrhagic viruses, biological terrorism, greed, power plays, romance, and much more.
Overall, the author did a great job of worldbuilding. The writing was absorbing, compelling, and compulsively readable. The plot was suspenseful, appealing, thought-provoking and perfectly-paced. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.
Dr. Draden Freeman and his GhostWalker team are on a rescue mission in the jungles of Indonesia. When he gets infected by a virus released by a terrorist group, he forces his team to leave him behind to avoid spreading the virus. Meanwhile Shylah Cosmo is on a mission to track the creators of the virus and remain unseen. When Draden gets hit by a lucky shot from one of the terrorists, Shylah helps him and becomes exposed to the virus herself.
The story hooked me from the beginning. Draden and Shylah are compelling characters that the reader can root for. They felt three-dimensional and gained depth as the story progressed. The internal and external conflicts were well defined and arose out of characterization and circumstance rather than feeling contrived or forced. The stakes and tension were high enough to make this a page turner.
While this novel had plenty of action, it was much more than that. While this is a paranormal romantic suspense story, there were no instant steamy scenes. They did not occur until about 75% through the book. Instead, the story line built up to those scenes in a way that fit the characters' circumstances. The novel also tackles several themes including hemorrhagic viruses, biological terrorism, greed, power plays, romance, and much more.
Overall, the author did a great job of worldbuilding. The writing was absorbing, compelling, and compulsively readable. The plot was suspenseful, appealing, thought-provoking and perfectly-paced. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.
urgh, terrible. I gave up around 150 pages. I really hate insta-love, like what is even the point?
Merged review:
urgh, terrible. I gave up around 150 pages. I really hate insta-love, like what is even the point?
Merged review:
urgh, terrible. I gave up around 150 pages. I really hate insta-love, like what is even the point?
I love the science in this series. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know what small stuff is researched and real, and what's fictional and intrinsic to this bookverse but it's fascinating. The ladies with spider genes are the coolest. And I loved the tiger scene. Great world and story building. Another great addition to a favorite series.
Merged review:
I love the science in this series. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know what small stuff is researched and real, and what's fictional and intrinsic to this bookverse but it's fascinating. The ladies with spider genes are the coolest. And I loved the tiger scene. Great world and story building. Another great addition to a favorite series.
Merged review:
I love the science in this series. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know what small stuff is researched and real, and what's fictional and intrinsic to this bookverse but it's fascinating. The ladies with spider genes are the coolest. And I loved the tiger scene. Great world and story building. Another great addition to a favorite series.
I was expecting more from this book and the chara.cters. :(
Merged review:
I was expecting more from this book and the chara.cters. :(
Merged review:
I was expecting more from this book and the chara.cters. :(
Draden & Shylah are pretty much on their own in this book. There's outside support, but very limited. The virus really hamstrings them, but they have to power through and remove the bad guys, while trying to help figure out a cure for this virus.
Another successful pairing for Whitney ... but there's a lot more manipulation going on with him that previous books. There's the shadow group that has come to light, that we get more glimpses of in this book.
Wyatt & Trap have to work overtime to figure out a cure ... it's definitely high stress situation ... which makes for a great book!
Another successful pairing for Whitney ... but there's a lot more manipulation going on with him that previous books. There's the shadow group that has come to light, that we get more glimpses of in this book.
Wyatt & Trap have to work overtime to figure out a cure ... it's definitely high stress situation ... which makes for a great book!
I just love these Ghostwalkers and am always amazed when this author brings of another great read!
Merged review:
I just love these Ghostwalkers and am always amazed when this author brings of another great read!
Merged review:
I just love these Ghostwalkers and am always amazed when this author brings of another great read!