The Book Addict Reviews: Brightwing by Sullivan Lee

Genre: Fiction, Romance, Adventure & Thrillers
Order Online: Amazon.com
Author Info:  Website | Goodreads
Rating: 3 stars
Book provided by author for an honest review.

In A Nutshell:

This book took me by surprise.  It took me through a lot of emotions as the action progressed.  I cannot say that the characters were not likeable, but they are intriguing.  While reading this book, I started to see myself in an unexpected ethical dilemma.  Do I want to see the criminals get out of this situation to live their life of love and isolation or do I want the police to find them and punish them?    

Review:

The Product Description calls Brightwing “A Criminal Love Story.”  I do not think this book could be described in any other more accurate terms.  Edgar Battle is a convicted thief, Mallory Battle is a psychopathic murder, and Lucy Brightwing just pulled off a heist worth millions.  When they end up together it is a recipe for disaster.  At least that was my expectation, but Sullivan Lee delivered a story that I could not stop reading, but also a story that was not easy to read.

The characters are complicated; it is hard to label anyone as either good or bad.  Edgar Battle is smart and dedicated.  Even after his brother has messed up every good plan Edgar has put together, he cannot go back on the promise he made their mother to always protect his brother.  But Edgar is a thief who worked for organized criminal elements in New York.  Lucy Brightwing is dedicated to preserving a cultural history that only she can lay claim to.  However, she has no qualms about breaking the law to secure the funding she needs to reach her goals.  She also has no qualms about calling in favors, particularly when those favors come from agreements made by her tribe over a century ago.  I found that I did not like what the characters did, but their actions and their motivations intrigued me.  I found that part of me was rooting for Edgar and Lucy.  I felt they brought out more of the good in each other.  They were better together than they had been apart. 

The character I could never get behind, could never support was Mallory Battle.  Mallory has a pathological impulse control problem.  He cannot stop himself from lashing out, brutalizing, and killing anyone who is around him who catches his interest.  Every step of the way, Mallory seemed to make the problems worse.  There were many times when I wanted to throw the book because I was so frustrated with Mallory.  They would have a plan, an easy way to escape their situation, until Mallory pulled out his gun and started shooting people.  Now rather than a quick escape, they have more notoriety, more deaths attributed to them, and more people wanting to stop them.  It felt like Mallory literally could not control himself.  He had no capacity to think through his decision.  He had an idea—he moved on the idea.  No thinking.  However, I admit that my frustration with Mallory was a sign of how much I cared about the story.  I did not want to see Mallory screw things up for Edgar and Lucy.

One pleasant surprise for me was how well Sullivan Lee wove in the legends and stories of Lucy’s tribe.  As a child, I love to read the legends passed down by the Native American communities that lived in my area.  I loved to hear why the snakes had no legs or dogs could no longer speak in human languages.  I had not expected legends to be part of this story but was so delighted when I saw that.  I was more delighted when I saw that the legends that Lucy shared with Edgar became part of their story—how they communicated with each other. 

Recommendations:
Until Sullivan Lee releases more books, I am going to continue to follow her blog and read more of her books under the name Laura L. Sullivan. 


Sullivan Lee will be my guest blogger on Saturday.  Come back and read a little bit more information about Lucy Brightwing.