Synopsis
Scourge is an action-packed, paranormal fantasy novel that will take you on an intense, emotional, and nail-biting rollercoaster ride from start to finish.
Fear crawls the streets in New York as homeless are killed one by one. As police detectives Angela Benson and Joe Anderson begin to investigate the chain of murders, they soon realize these are not ordinary homicides, and it’s not only the less fortunate being impacted. As they dig deeper, they unravel a deeper, darker, more ancient mystery that may impact all of mankind.
Readers of urban fantasy; readers who love worlds of magic, danger, and adventure; readers that want multiple interesting, likable, and unique characters with complex storylines; readers that enjoy a plot that unfolds slowly and steadily with anticipation and twists the reader won’t see coming; and readers who love page-turning suspense that may keep them up at night will love this novel. Scourge is part of a saga that will not disappoint, and it won first place in the CLC Book Excellence Award for Paranormal and Urban Fantasy in 2023!
Review
Scourge by Rodney McWilliams follows two detectives as they investigate gruesome murders in New York City. These are not ordinary murders, spurred by crime or passion. They seem almost ritualistic, and there is more to them than can be understood by the human mind.
This book is written in the third person omniscient with a focus on Detectives Angela Benson and Joe Anderson. Joe is a kind-hearted man who has lost a great deal in life. Police work has become his way of giving his life meaning when he thought he had nothing left.
Against the wishes of her father, Angela answered the call to police work. She felt drawn to a career where she could maximize her impact on the immediate world around her. She is strong and determined, despite the strain it has put on her relationship with her parents.
Though Angela is a new partner to Joe, he becomes a mentor to her—a father figure. I enjoyed watching them bond. Not only did they support each other as partners but protected each other as friends.
McWilliams focuses on these two detectives, but the book offers us a view into every aspect of the murders. We get scenes of the medical examiners looking over the bodies. We get detailed accounts of victims before they meet their end. And McWilliams spares no detail to create an immersive story. The amount of research that went into every facet must have been vast. From police procedures to layouts of the business district of NY, McWilliams ensures the reader is right there with the characters experiencing every smell, the materials of which things are made, and precise descriptions of each area.
Not only are Angela and Joe’s backstories explained throughout, we get a lot of information on everyone we meet. I think I found Thomas’s story to be one of the saddest. Each character is unique and diverse and reacts to things differently depending on their station in life. McWilliam’s characters are another well-thought-out facet delivered to the reader in King style with a full backstory, allowing us to imagine each scene in as much detail as possible.
As we get deeper into the investigations of these murders, we also get scenes from the killers themselves although McWilliams does not offer us all the information at once. As we get little snippets, we start to realize that the killings are more than person-on-person violence and the entire balance of good and evil is at risk.
Once you discover who the killers are, there are still secrets to be unveiled and the story becomes a wild race to the end. A well-written story that kept me on my toes until the very end, Scourge will keep you up late at night scrounging for more answers.
Leave a Reply