Darkness and Blood #bookreview

First sentence: Pablo de Silva, ex-CIA agent, awoke from the restless sleep of a man on the run.

About the story: When a former American spy, Pablo de Silva, and his former handler, Stuart Bishop, discover top-secret information, they must use their wisdom and wits if they want to remain alive.

My thoughts: Darkness and Blood is the sequel to Haberman’s The Killing Ploy. While I thought its predecessor was an interesting read, I felt Darkness and Blood was so much better. It seemed Haberman had a better handle on the characters. While some of the dialogue didn’t always seem like what CIAs would say, it didn’t put me off. It was more developed in this book than the first.

My only complaint while reading is that there were times in the narrative when I had to re-read a sentence. I like italics to show when a character is thinking. To me, it helps separate the dialogue and the narrative, making the scene more clearly. There weren’t a whole lot of italics within the story, except for when someone speaks French.

As always, the backdrop of the story was great. It took me from the comfort of my own home and I felt I was there along with Pablo and Stuart.

Darkness and Blood was a quick and fun read. I love spy novels and this didn’t disappoint! Although it is a sequel, I don’t think it matters in which order the books are read. The plots are completely different and we get to know enough about the characters in the second book to thoroughly enjoy it.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Does it interest you? Buy it here!

*For more reviews, visit: Angela Kay’s Books*

A little bit about the author:

A University of Texas graduate, Steve Haberman pursued legal studies at UCLA before embarking on a career as a legal assistant. Profitable stock market investments made travel abroad possible, and he has since visited Europe extensively and frequently, including London, Paris, Prague, Berlin, as well as Milan and Budapest. Many of these feature as settings in his two e-book novels. “Murder Without Pity,” a murder mystery with tragic echoes from the past, occurs in Paris. “The Killing Ploy” (with heavy overtones of “fake news” before that was topical) is set partially in several Continental capitals. His two works in progress, “Darkness and Blood,” the sequel to “The Killing Ploy,” and “Winston Churchill’s Renegade Spy” also use foreign locales. He is presently planning another three month trip abroad for research on a fifth thriller, this one set in the post World War II apocalyptic ruin of the German capital.