Review – The King

The long anticipated Bowers Files sequel breaks in stores today, July 2nd. Once again Steven James grabs readers by the throat and doesn’t let go in The King, book six of his over-the-top popular Bowers Files series. This time readers find agent Bowers at the FBI Academy in Quantico, where he teaches his state-of-the-art geospatial investigative theories. His daughter Tessa and fiancée, Lien-hua Jiang have put their heads together to plan Patrick’s and Lien-hua’s soon-to-be wedding. Patrick’s life as a special FBI agent has drawn to a close and the future of their new family looks bright.

And it was, until Patrick’s arch enemy, Richard Basque, a psychopath he caught as a young Milwaukee homicide detective is granted a new trial. Basque is soon “…set free based on controversial forensic evidence and conflicting eyewitness testimony.” Now he’s a psychopath bent on revenge, who plans to gain Patrick’s undivided attention with a new killing spree. However, the story doesn’t begin there.

Instead the narrative opens in the apartment of Corey Wellington, an attorney in apparent good health, just a bit depressed over his recent breakup with a girlfriend. He thought life was good, so why was he awake at 5 A.M. wondering… what it would be like to be dead, to finally be free of all the hardships and struggles and disappointments of life. When his next thought assured him, your life isn’t that bad!

He couldn’t know he would soon lose the mental Ping-Pong gymnastics he carried on with himself. That he would grab the “longest knife” from the “knife block” in the kitchen, walk into the living room and with a “…swift, smooth motion drive the blade high into his abdomen and lean forward.” He only knew he had to get this right or it would be a long and messy, messy death.

In his last seconds Corey heard the door open and saw “…a woman and young man enter the living room…” His soft words “help me” ignored as the couple said, “…it shouldn’t be long…”

Thus begins a fast-moving, action-packed tale of revenge, international conspiracy and terrorism that reads like two stories in one until James knits them together as the book draws to a close. That story-melding brings many “ah-ha” moments where readers realize the brilliance of James’ plot-within-a-plot that never disappoints, instead it’s one that demands to be read at a blistering hot pace.

Steven James builds unbelievable, mind-boggling suspense through characterizations and plot without relying on the shock value of curse words, blood and gore. He is not an author to discount or dismiss.