And Jericho Burned

MJ
Compton
Genre: 
Paranormal

Lucy visits the New Sinai cult intent on rescuing her sister. Instead of escape, she faces being married to an unsavory member and her inheritance forfeit to the self-proclaimed leader with a “Waco style” ending in his future. Randy is a conniving zealot and father to her sister’s unborn child. Starving his followers and filling the belly of his gun locker is a recipe for disaster. To free her sister, Lucy will need the help of a pack of werewolf undercover agents doubling as a rock band. 

The story kicks off with a fast-paced start in the trenches of the cult compound. Living in primitive surroundings and with her sister about to give birth, Lucy needs a quick escape. The suggestion of taking her sister to see a rock band falls flat. Lucy abandons her sister and heads for the show where she meets a keyboard player, Stoker Smith, werewolf by birth and her future husband, except the future is a couple days away. Repetitiveness lingers on the issue that Lucy is Stoker’s mate. The basics about wolf hierarchy are revisited too often. Flow between the scenes is disjointed and emotional responses odd. The characterization of the large cast is well developed, but secondary characters, such as Randy, are given more focus, overshadowing Stoker. The author consistently debases Stoker’s position as a hero pointing out his “delta” wolf.  This novel mirrors a disjointed dream with confusing POV shifts occurring with each paragraph.

“And Jericho Burned” has originality bursting at the seams. There’s a definite connection between Stoker and Lucy, but the path to their happily-ever-werewolf-after is crooked.

Sloane Austin