Kirsten Reviews: Downfall by Rob Thurman
Downfall by Rob Thurman
Cal Leandros #9
I let it go—all of it. Everything I’d been saving up all my life, building and growing inside me, too much to hold in one half-human body. It pushed and fought to be free with a force that turned me into a bomb with a timer vibrating on zero. I was free.
But so was everything I’d fought so hard not to be…
Brothers Cal and Niko Leandros know trouble when they see it—and then proceed to wipe the floor with it. But now it seems their whole world is falling to pieces. Cal’s nightmarish monster side is growing ever stronger, changing Cal physically as well as mentally. Which is exactly what Grimm—Cal’s savage doppelgänger—wants. And when a covert supernatural organization decides that it’s time to put Cal down before he threatens pretty much everything else in existence, the brothers find themselves in a fight they actually might lose. But the dark temptations Cal has denied all his life may prove to be exactly what can save them.
Even if he must fall forever…
Downfall by Rob Thurman is the ninth of the Cal Leandros novels featuring Niko and Caliban Leandros, brothers who hunt monsters and are perpetually on the edge of going up against something that may be too much for them to handle. But this time, it’s Cal’s heritage that is the true enemy, as he is rapidly undergoing the transformation that will end with him becoming fully Aufe, ie a monster.
On top of this, Cal has been targeted by more than a few of his enemies. The Vigil are after him after he revealed himself, and consequently the supernatural to humans, Delilah, his ex, now Alpha of the Kin (part of the werewolf purity movement) has contract out on him, which means there are Kin popping out of the woodwork, and then there’s Grimm—Cal’s savage doppelgänger who is trying to bring out Cal’s Aufe side, preferably with as much violence as possible.
Robin Goodfellow plays a much larger role in this book, and the plot also deals with how he’s connected to the Leandros brothers, and what he will do in order to protect his friends. Goodfellow may often seem like a hedonist uninterested in putting himself in harm’s way, but readers should remember that he’s very old, extremely clever, and will fight just as dirty as the Leandros brothers in order to keep them safe. Thurman uses history, mythology, and different povs in order to reveal their shared story, which is more complex than it appears.
Of course, the monsters don’t always do the expected, and the bond between the Leandros brothers isn’t going to be broken by something like this, although it remains to be seen where they go from here. It should be noted that this is not the final book in this series, as Thurman says there are at least two more books yet to come, and the events of Downfall leave plenty of space for new mishaps, adventures, and enemies.
(Received a copy from the publisher)
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Other Reviews:
All Things Urban Fantasy
Smexy Books
Previous Books:
1. Nightlife
2. Moonshine
3. Madhouse
4. Deathwish
5. Roadkill
6. Blackout
7. Doubletake
8. Slashback
