Darkest Before Dawn
KGI, Book #10
By Maya Banks
ISBN# 9780425276990
Author’s Website: https://mayabanks.com/
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi
Honor Cambridge has a calling to help those in need. That calling has led her to work in a relief center in a war-torn area of the Middle East, helping those that can’t help themselves. There is a militant terrorist group, A New Era, that is causing havoc in the area and they don’t like people helping those they terrorize. They bomb the relief center and Honor is buried under the rubble; she’s the only survivor. The men come in taking a body count, but were forced to leave with the instability of what was left of the building. Honor had to dig herself from beneath the wreckage, gather what supplies she could, and flee before the terrorists could return and find her. However, A New Era had a list of who was working at the center and knew that she was unaccounted for. So, they set out to find her to make an example of what happens to those that go against them.
Guy Hancock has been hunting down evil crime lord, Maksimov, for years. He’s aborted his mission twice to save innocents, but he can no longer do that. If he must sacrifice one for the many that Maksimov would hurt and kill, he must do it. His current mission leads him to hunting down Honor before A New Era finds her so he can give her to Maksimov, get close to him, and they can dismantle his empire. After he’s had his fun with her, Maksimov ultimately will sell her back to the very men that Hancock saves her from. However, Hancock and his men never expected the warrior they found in Honor. She makes a group of emotionless killing machines truly feel and they don’t like the betrayal they will have to dole out to her.
There were parts of this book that I liked, but also parts I didn’t. I’m not much for survival books, so Honor’s trek through the desert trying to save herself was pretty dull for me. Thankfully, it didn’t last too long. The book got much more interesting once Hancock found her. I have liked Hancock for some time, and I knew as much as he said he wouldn’t abort another mission that he totally would!
However, the thing that bothered me the most about this novel is how Honor acted after she found out what Hancock was planning. It was the ultimate betrayal! And, after her initial angry reaction she forgave him, wanted to be intimate with him, and was doing all she could to not make him feel bad. Really? He is sending you to a much more painful death than you would have gotten if he’d let the terrorists have you from the beginning and you’re worried how he’s feeling about it? Girl, please! I can’t even with you. This was just too unrealistic to be believable and I found it obnoxious. I didn’t want to read the book at this point, but I persisted anyway.
The book got better once Hancock woke up, as you would expect! Although I was unimpressed, with the longer than it needed to be predictable epilogue. I had hoped Hancocks’s story would be a bit more epic than it was, but it definitely wasn’t the worst of the series. And, it did have some bright moments, I just wish I had liked it better overall.
