And we are back with the gripping “Dark Dreams Series” of one of our beloved paranormal/thriller writers, and bestselling, multiple award-winning author, JP McLean, that is also author of the “The Gift” Series that you should totally check out if you like paranormal romance books about flying.
Scorch Mark, this book, is the third book of the present series where we have our main character, Jane that has mystical marks on her body that protect her from evil, and people trying to kill her. The side-effect for her superpower? Well, narcolepsy every other day or so, with dreams about the past that she can and will influence, and that will have very real repercussions if she is not careful, you know, your daily bread and butter of joyful sleep. And yes, many of those dreams are about things that will probably get a normal person killed or hunted down, so if you are new to the series, read the first book here and join the party!
Now that we are acquainted with the powers of Jane, and the consequences of the marks, we think, “ah, JP McLean will not surprise us with these marks anymore”, but wait, there will be more to them, or might we say, less to them than in the previous books.
The dynamic of dreams and how they come about will change a bit, and Jane will have to adjust to all of it throughout the book, which will be interesting to read, we assure you that.
If you are new, and reading this review and let us explain this way: Think of astral projection, but a forced astral projection where you can’t control where you go nor how long you stay there, you just take your clothes with you and wham, off you go with barely a warning. Cool ugh? Yeap, this is what our MC has to deal with.
The book starts well, and we got our main characters and love-birds going to the grave of Jane’s mother, and in the way there, Jane gets recognized by strangers. Yes. She has never been there in her life, but, somehow, these strangers recognize her as she is passing by, to the point that they all stand at attention and then leave. Like… why? That’s what we are about to find out.
Talking about weird dreams, imagine being a cop and having a case where a victim, that was a gang member, that was killed by gunshots, didn’t have wounds and was also killed by a car, but the x-rays showed the bullets, and the gun to which the bullets were fired from was locked in a police safe and never left the place . Imagine being in charge of solving THAT and keeping your sanity, or your job.
Side note: I loved the way JP McLean ordered the chapters, everything just feels so clean and easy to the eyes, giving you a clear expectation of who’s POV or to which character the next pages will be direct to or will be about. Nice trick.
Once you stop to realize the setup of the book, and the characters, you will laugh a bit. It goes like this: The main characters are all connected somehow, and they run around in circles on each other, either wanting to bang each other, or, wanting to find each other, or being friends and pretending not to be friends for the sake of protection, hahahhahaha. Nice.
There are times where JP McLean puts details so sharp that you see it:
“A few moments later, Hunter pulled in beside her. He walked over and stood with his feet shoulder width apart, one hand deep in the pocket of his cargo pants, the other twitching by his thigh.”
So, the main characters, Jane in particular is being chased by people she doesn’t know, but that know her, and the only way that she can know about them is by having dreams she can’t control about a past that she must not influence (or she’ll mess up the future), where, funny enough, people can see her in these dreams and can interact with her if she is not careful enough, so yeah…
Side note #2: Well, unpopular opinion, but it’s an honest one and has to be said. We know that this is fiction, and love is forever beautiful, yes, but there are things that normally men deeply frown upon and do not tolerate in a relationship, and those things are connected to a woman’s past. Being a prostitute, is one of the big ones and yes, we don’t like to hear it, but body count does count when it comes to being accepted by a man, so we get it that this is fiction but, we have to say it for readers that think that a woman’s past cannot be judged, and also the part of accepting “everything” about a women is not very practical in real life. So yeah, we appreciate the author’s attempt at trying to show this and being positive about it.
The great thing about this is that although the author tried to put some hope in the past of prostitution towards the future, the author also, detailed the temptations and the dangers of the job very well. The fact that prostitution at times can be like drug-dealing in the sense that the past life always comes back around with great offers to entice you, or their dangers and loose debts thatt you have with your clients/haters/lovers that will put you in danger and keep you looking over your shoulder. JP McLean did an excellent job in this regard and kept it real.
Back to the goodies of the book 🙂
After being given an unsolvable case, and becoming obsessed with it, Dylan, the cop, gets a very wild partner that will make you ask: “why would one of your colleagues in a new team have a beef with you when you barely know each other? What gives? And then you will have to travel with such a subject. Is it just him? Is he planning or into something sketchy? Or is he just reckless?”, you will find out soon enough inside the book.
So, the more Jane dreams, the more she runs in circles and the funny thing is that the one that starts solving some mysteries is actually Sadie. It’s funny because you see that there are like three cops searching for the same thing, but it’s Sadie that gets the first clue as per why they are looking for Jane, and, buckle yourself for this one, the reason might be disturbingly familiar (pun intended). No spoilers, but when you find out why they are into Jane, you will be scared with the implications. Shit is about to hit the fan, fast.
Did the villains of the previous books and this one unite and are collaborating? That’s a question that the author forces you to think more than once, because of the cool of both and having the same “enemy” to zero in on, Jane. It’s curious. And that note…
It seems like JP McLean thought about everything, and every little possible detail, especially when the scenes of the trial come on. You can notice that she doesn’t forget to mention the psychological toll and the drainage that such ordeals usually take, even if just for a few hours, to the ones on the bench, nor did she forget about the delays and the waiting periods that they usually imply. That is very impressive work from the writer! And then you add up the accusing and defendant lawyers statements and how things can be twisted… devilish!
Talking about detail, one has to mention that the author also nails it when it comes to portraying the restless mind of a dedicated cop in an investigation and the questions he might ask even off-duty. That little detail would have been missed by many writers if put on the same situation. Impressive.
JP McLean made an excellent job in the plot consistency department, and this is not easy, specially because of the implications of the trials, secrets to keep, time-travel and butterfly effect in the future. Excellent stuff.
So, how crazy does this book get? And yes, the more you read, the more entangled and dangerous it becomes. Imagine having an army of gunman, with homemade, untraceable lethal guns with bullet proof bodies assembling in the shadows? Yeah…. That!
So, if you like a high-tension, fast plot twists, female-centred books filled with romance, drama (some spice) , and want to dive into a complex series full of details that will come back to haunt every single character in the next books, then you must get this book and series now.
Pros:
- Twisted, unpredictable plot with fast-changing events
- Excellently developed characters
- Consistency of the plot not only in regards of this book, but in relation with the others in the series
- Dabs of realism, pessimism and optimism when needed that balance the book quite well
- – Incredible touch when it comes about the human mind workings and how people do react in certain situations
- The Court scenes were intense!
- A book that will get you emotionally involved
Cons:
- The hope-giving of having a sex-work past and being able to be loved as a normal woman. But it’s understandable because this is fiction
Lesson of the book: Family will always come first.
Scribble's Worth 