I thought I'd try something a bit different when I was offered the chance to join the blog tour for The Deal. I do read a bit of fantasy now and again so I was intrigued by the blurb depicting an MI5-style afterlife as imagined by S.C. Cunningham.
A Paranormal Thriller for those
who dare to believe that there is something else out there...
At the age of four, Amy was taken…She survived.
A week later, another little girl was taken…She
didn't.
Angry that a bad man has gotten away with murder, feisty
young Amy Fox makes a deal with God. When she dies, if she’s been a
good girl, would God let her sit on a cloud for a while, invisible,
to get bad people who slip through his fingers?
Her deal and God long forgotten, career girl Amy
mysteriously dies. Her lifeless body is found beneath a London
underground commuter train.
She awakens in the afterlife to discover an
international network of like-minded souls who’ve all made the same
deal. A sophisticated MI5-esque justice machine sits in the skies,
protecting, righting wrongs, tracking criminals, and working within
strict rules of play…all against time.
Each country's Unit shares intelligence, surveillance,
and resources to deactivate dangerous situations. The only evidence
they leave behind during their earthly visits is a small white
feather sashaying to the ground.
In a chaotic world, powerful adversaries try to close
her Unit down. A complex SAS vigilante has been assigned to work as
her partner, but with his jealous violent ex-girlfriend on her heels
and with her own vendetta to settle, Amy has never worked so hard in
her entire earthly life. She has to wonder if making a deal with God
was a mistake.
What did I think?
What a surprising book; I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to which gives it a big thumbs up from me. I knew it was going to be something a bit different when I started it and it certainly is, but it also managed to hold my interest throughout as I really got to know the amazing characters.
Amy didn't expect to die that day. After waking up in a strange bed, she does the walk of shame and makes her way to the tube station. Next thing you know, she's on the tracks with a train barrelling towards her; did she jump or was she pushed? After a difficult childhood, Amy made a deal that she would get retribution when she died so she finds herself part of The Fallen in the afterlife. I loved the band of characters in The Fallen: Jack the dark brooding fatal attraction, Pyke the kind of supervisor who's timing is impeccable and Maggie who is ex MI6, swears like a trooper and loves her cup of tea. Needless to say, I warmed to Maggie immediately. Now where's me effin' cup of tea?
I loved the fact that even in the afterlife, Amy and Jack have their insecurities. They are clearly made for each other but each is frightened to make the first move, then Jack's wife arrives - cue the Eastenders dramatic theme tune. I'm not going to say anymore about the story as there are twists and turns that left me wide-eyed with surprise.
S.C. Cunningham has taken some popular beliefs and created an outstanding story. There are so many people who believe that finding a white feather means that they have been visited by a loved one or angel, rather than they have just shaken their duvet. I'm not a great believer in this as I feel my dearly departed loved ones all around me and I don't need to see a feather to know that they are there, but fair play to those who do believe. I liked how the white feather was woven into the story when the characters returned to Cloud 9 (love this too!).
I've hovered between a four and a five star rating for The Deal and settled on four stars, although I'm sure there will be many five star reviews forthcoming. The writing is excellent and the story is brilliant but it is difficult to read at times, even though I felt the graphic scenes had been kept to a minimum so as not to overstep my comfort zone. The hint is in the title, that this is book 1 in the Fallen Angel series, but it does lead nicely on to a sequel.
The Deal is completely different from anything I have ever read; it is an outstanding book that covers many issues in an ethereal but definitely punchy way. Step out of your comfort zone and try it - you won't be disappointed.
I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.
My rating
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About the author:
Author of The
Penance List, Unfinished
Business and The
Deal, Siobhan C Cunningham (S C
Cunningham) creates Paranormal Romance and Psychological Crime
Thrillers with a skilled mix of fuelled tension, dark humour, and
pulsating sex scenes. Having worked in the industries she writes
about, her novels offer a fresh level of sincerity and authority,
rare in fiction.
Abducted as a child, she survived;
and every night for months afterward, she prayed to God, asking for a
deal. This personal journey sparked the fuse behind the intriguing
and riveting fictional world she portrays in The
Deal, the first in The Fallen Angel series.
Twenty years later Cunningham crossed paths with a violent serial
attacker, sowing the seed for her mind-bending thriller, The David
Trilogy; The Penance List, Unfinished
Business, For My Sins.
An ex-model, British born of Irish
roots, she married a rock musician and has worked in the exciting
worlds of music, film, sports, celebrity management and as a Crime
Investigator for the British Police (Wanted & Absconder Unit,
Major Crime Team, Intelligence Analyst, Investigations Hub).
Her first novel, The
Penance List has been adapted to film
screenplay.
She is the proud mother to
contemporary Artist Scarlett Raven and owned by three dogs.
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