Zombie

Title: Zombie
Author: Joely Skye
Cover Artist: Lyn Taylor
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Buy Link: Buy Link Zombie: Minders, Book 2
Genre: M/M Contemporary Paranormal romance
Length: Novella
Rating: 4 stars out of 5

A guest review by Jenre

Summary review: This second installment of the Minders series was a tense drama which had me on the edge of my seat.

THE BLURB

Dreams of escape become his worst nightmare…

Minders, Book 2

Two years after Josh McKay captured escaped Minder Kiran Brunner, Josh’s life is in ruins. Desire had a hand in letting the beautiful monster sink psychic hooks into his will, and now he is essentially a prisoner of the agency, his every move watched for any hint of a connection that could lead to Kir.

Unable to stand by and let an amoral Minder destroy his lover, Kir extracts Josh from the agency’s compound and sweeps him away to a secluded cabin to heal. It’s just the two of them, Kir and Josh. Both wounded at the hands of the agency, both struggling to find the will to trust each other through the agency-induced barrier of hatred and fear.

Kir has all the patience in the world. What he doesn’t have is time. Whatever love they have rebuilt may be too fragile to withstand the future they face…

This emotional, angst-ridden story is part two of a three-part story and ends in a cliffhanger. The author recommends they be read in order for maximum m/m enjoyment.

THE REVIEW

*Warning: This review contains spoilers for the first book in this series, Monster*

Zombie is the second book in Minders series which has recently been reissued with new covers at Samhain. I enjoyed book one, but wasn’t wholly convinced about the way the romance aspect worked. This story follows on two years after the end of Monster. Josh has just about recovered from his time with Kir and the other Minders but he’s kept under strict supervision at the agency compound. Occasionally Kir sends Josh an email, and they’ve discovered a way to encrypt a message so that they can correspond without the agency knowing what’s in the messages. As the story begins, Josh is in his office when one of the Minders from the previous book, Brad, turns up. Brad quickly manipulates Josh into becoming his lover and it’s up to Kir and his sister to save Josh from becoming nothing but a mindless zombie to Brad’s unwanted attentions. Kir takes Jake to a remote cabin to recover but Josh is so messed up that he doesn’t know whether he can ever trust Kir again.

The story had a very tense opening and I was quickly drawn into the frightening way that Jake was under Brad’s command.  It’s a shame then that this section provided the main niggle I had about the book.  I presume that the compound where Josh is being held has strong security, with cameras and other measures to protect people from the Minders. However, Brad easily infiltrated the compound, even having a house there.  Also Kir and his sister were able to easily come into the compound to rescue Josh and took him away with what seemed like no trouble at all. I could understand that the Minders were able to slip in past the guards by manipulating them but their powers don’t extend to security cameras. Surely someone must have been wary of Josh’s relationship with Brad, given that he’s under such strict supervision by the agency and questioned it.  This was the only unbelievable note for me in the book. Given that the first section is the set up for the main part of the story which is Josh’s recovery, I decided to let those niggles go and enjoyed the rest of the book.

The section that worked really well for me was the time that Josh and Kir spend in the isolated cabin.  Josh takes a while to recover from Brad’s mistreatment, and when he finally gains back some ability to think clearly he is understandably ashamed at being duped by Brad.  He’s therefore wary of Kir and Kir’s motives.  This section of the book moves slowly as their relationship, at first built on suspicion, gradually changes and deepens into acceptance and love.  I thought that this was done in a very sensitive way with Josh’s thought being clearly explained, and also Kir’s feelings signposted through his actions.  I particularly liked the way that Kir used his body language to gain Josh’s trust.  My complaint about the previous book was that I didn’t feel the connection between the characters but here it comes across in spades and led to some very romantic scenes.  It also worked as a piece of drama and much of the story is tense. This meant that I read quickly, eager to know how the story and the relationship would unfold.

The story ends on yet another cliffhanger, but as this is clearly stated in the blurb, I didn’t mind. I have book three to look forward to when the series is concluded and I shall look forward to seeing if these two men, who circumstance brings together only to force them apart, can stay the course and let love win over mind games and violence.