Genre: Paranormal, Romance
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Reviewer: Maryann
About The Book
Four members of The Vampire Guard—Forge, Blair, Declan, and Lucas—face a dangerous and elusive enemy. And this time, it’s personal.
When massive tech outages impact everything from Wi-Fi to traffic control, Blair, Forge, Declan, and Lucas think it’s a simple matter of catching troublesome hackers. But they quickly realize far more is at stake.
Millions of dollars in art are the target of a thief who’s not afraid to kill—and he’s no stranger. Not only has he escaped capture, twice, a decade ago, but he’s had a hand in life-altering tragedies throughout their lifetimes.
Once it becomes clear that art theft is just a fraction of his plan for mass destruction, they realize time is running out. The clock’s ticking. Catastrophe is imminent. Can they find and disarm all the bombs in time or will countless lives be lost?
The Review
A vampire’s life is not always easy! After a near-death implosion that Blair shouldn’t have been investigating, he suffers through the painful recovery. The Vampire Guard (Blair, Forge, Declan and Lucas) now have an urgent assignment to solve: who’s behind the explosion, a black out and the cut-off from all technical devices?
When the guard puts their expertise together, they discover that they’re up against an evil culprit who has affected all of their lives. The case includes several interesting flashbacks: Simon and Forge’s first contact with Lucas. And Robert Turner, Blair’s father, and their connection to Jonas Forge.
As the case progresses, Blair is recuperating and eagerly developing new devices that are instrumental to solving the mystery. One of these is a camera that can take pictures of vampires, which leads to a shocking find in the case.
Elizabeth Noble creates a fantastic second installment for “The Vampire Guard” series. “Quarry” is not all about werewolves and vampires. It’s also about friendships that continue to grow and survive the course of time. Even with the complexity of the story, the writing is perfect, the story flows easily and I never lost interest. There’s also ongoing suspense, action, and a variety of highly emotional moments: an epic sword battle, a classic weapon for any vampire’s demise, and a variety of high tech gadgets that has Blair Turner squarely in his element with technology.
The flashbacks and reminiscing are high points of the story. They bring out humor, explore the start of new friendships, and reveal heartbreaking moments and relationships between fathers and sons. One even has Jonas Forge showing off his musical talent with Red Mist.
There are both former and new, colorful characters from the different teams. Armored Train includes Samuel and Sophia Porter, Ori Bier, and Kai Richter. Northern Lights has Dane Ross, Sayyna Yartsev, Maisy Chavez and Palle Eklund. All of these characters bring their own talents with them, and some very interesting history.
There’s a wonderful and enjoyable ending as characters from “The Sleepless City” come back into the fold for a cameo. And as always, Moose steals the show!
I also highly recommend the first book that introduces “The Vampire Guard” series: Code Name Jack Rabbit. And all of these marvelous characters really start with “The Sleepless City” series that gives you a very in-depth look into Simon, Ben, Jonas Forge, Blair Turner, Declan and Lucas Coates.
I want to say with “Quarry” that it doesn’t get any better than this, but I’m sure Elizabeth Noble will prove me wrong. The next installment to “The Vampire Guard” will be Endosymbiont, and it sounds like there’s more suspense and excitement to come!
The Reviewer
Hi, I’m Maryann, I started life in New York, moved to New Hampshire and in 1965 uprooted again to Sacramento, California. Once I retired I moved to West Palm Beach, Florida in 2011 and just moved back to Sacramento in March of 2018. My son, his wife and step-daughter flew out to Florida and we road tripped back so they got to see sights they have never seen. New Orleans and the Grand Canyon were the highlights. Now I am back on the west coast again to stay! From a young age Ialways liked to read.
I remember going to the library and reading the “Doctor Dolittle” books by Hugh Lofting. Much later on became a big fan of the classics, Edgar Alan Poe, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker and as time went by Agatha Christie, Ray Bradbury and Stephen Kingand many other authors.
My first M/M shifter book I read was written by Jan Irving the “Uncommon Cowboys” series from 2012. She was the first author I ever contacted and sent an email to letting her know how much I liked this series. Sometime along the way I read “Zero to the Bone”by Jane Seville, I think just about everyone has read this book!
As it stands right now I’m really into mysteries, grit, gore and “triggers” don’t bother me. But if a blurb piques my interest I will read the book.
My kindle collection eclectic and over three thousand books and my Audible collection is slowly growing. I have both the kindle and audible apps on my ipod, ipads, and MAC. So there is never an excuse not to be listening or reading.
I joined Goodreads around 2012 and started posting reviews. One day a wonderful lady, Lisa Horan of The Novel Approach, sent me an email to see if I wanted to join her review group. Joining her site was such an eye opener. I got introduce to so many new authors that write for the LGBTQ genre. Needless to say, it was heart breaking when it ended.
But I found a really great site, QRI and it’s right here in Sacramento. Last year at QSAC I actually got to meet Scott Coatsworth, Amy Lane and Jeff Adams.
