“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” – Khalil Gibran
The second Book I was asked to review for Gary Winston Brown is Intruders. Intruders is the sequel to Jordan Quest, the prequel of the series.
We start this novel where we left the previous, Jordan Quest is a success. We start this tale in auditorium where, during a question and answer session with the American Association of Police Chiefs, she proves her capabilities to all those who have attended, even the skeptics.
“Jordan Quest wasn’t concerned. Skeptics came with the territory.”
When a vision takes ahold during this session, Jordan sees a girl, named Becky Landry. The police department weren’t even informed of this discovery. This seemed to prove all skeptics wrong and made them believers.
At the end of the session, Jordan is approached by Special Agent Hanover of the FBI who showed her a photograph of two girls, two girls who have recently gone missing; AWOL on holiday in Los Angeles, Zoe and Shannon – daughters of FBI Director Andrew Dunn. When she is handed a necklace and a bracelet which belong to the girls, what she feels is unspeakable to the FBI agent but agrees to use her Gift to aid in finding them.
“Jordan held the objects in her hand. The images were powerful, intense, and frightening. She hid her reaction from the agent.”
…
“…the vision the necklace and bracelet revealed. The damp, dark place where Shannon and Zoe were being held. And the shackles that bound them.”
Next thing she knows a barrage of incidents occur in short succession. After a strained conversation with a man at her book signing which led to him being removed she joined the plane with her husband and parents for a trip to Hawaii…however, her day was just about to get a whole lot worse. Whilst on the way to the airport, she rolled the pen the man gave her round in her hands.
“Although Marsden wore gloves she could read the latent energy signature off the writing instrument when he had last handled it.
The images came in rapid succession…”
After getting on the plane, Jordan recalled the smells and the sights and realised…something was terribly terribly wrong.
This is where we meet James Rigel…professional hitman, with one goal…take out the Quest/ Farrow family.
“The entire family was to be taken out. There were to be no survivors.”
We also meet Harrison Tasker, another hitman, whose mission is to kill Rigel who has now been deemed to be operating as a renegade, outside the rules of engagement set forth by their employer, killing randomly and at will, thereby threatening to expose them all.
“…eliminate the contractor as well as the target.”
“He had orders. New York wanted Rigel dead, and the Farrow contract was his now. That was all that mattered.”
In the meantime we meet Shannon and Zoe, acclimatising to their new surroundings as well as meeting another child locked up in shackles, Lily. We also meet the kidnappers.
“Was the man behind the mask truly as insane as he portrayed himself to be? Would he prove his dominance over her by ending her life…”
As the story progresses, we learn there is more to Lily than meets the eye.
Back to Jordan and after remembering her vision, she tries to tell everyone to abort the plane…I can’t tell you what happens next without giving away key elements of the story or revealing life-altering events that turn out to be critical turning points in Jordan’s life. Suffice it to say that what happens next is truly heart-breaking and a must-read part of the book. Just be prepared to go through a box of tissues in this chapter!
“She had always been a strong woman, capable of taking on whatever punches life threw at her and striking back twice as hard. Yet now she felt utterly destroyed, lost, without hope, mentality and emotionally crushed.”
But now hunting Jordan, is Rigel and hunting Rigel is Tasker. Jordan continues to have visions of Tasker and Rigel (although she won’t know their names yet)…
“The man had two faces, which meant to Jordan that another soul was connected to him in death. The faces morphed, first the black man’s face, then the face of the second man. He had been responsible for taking this man’s life. This feeling was strong, and she learned long ago that when she felt this way she was never wrong. The dead man’s spirit was trying to come through, to connect to her, speak to her… possibly even warn her.”
…And more importantly, Shannon and Zoe – much to the relief of Director Dunn who by now, could hear the desperation in his own voice and a realisation that he was too close and debated taking a step back.
“Personal involvement led to poor judgement, poor judgement led to unnecessary mistakes, and mistakes to lost lives.”
Zoe continues to do her step-father proud by protecting herself and Shannon and Lily and by following her simple mantra that’s helping getting her through, a mantra repeated through the book.
“Fight or flight. Life or death. Live.”
And Zoe isn’t the only one with a short and life-saving mantra, for Jordan has one too…
“stay low… move fast… hit hard… never retreat.”
And so begins the biggest and most dangerous game of chase with the FBI and Jordan and Tasker and Rigel. Whilst this is all going on, another game of chase is going on with Shannon, Zoe and Lily and their captors.
The end of the book, a bit like the end of the prequel sets the series up nicely for the next novel with a brief yet in depth account of the aftermath of the events that have taken place and the potential for how that will affect the characters moving forward.
“Together they are responsible for investigating the Bureau’s most challenging and difficult cases.”
The entire book is split into chapters alternating around Jordan; the police; FBI; Shannon and Zoe and Lily; Rigel and Tasker. We see and feel the heartbreak Jordan suffers, her strength shining throughout the book and not just hers but several characters including Shannon, Zoe and Lily. All characters show strength and resilience in times of desperation yet they do it because they have too… if they want to survive. Now I’m not encouraging you all to be hitmen and women (please don’t!) but even they show strength and resilience, a defiance to die. I love that this is a key feature of this book, especially with it being a detective series because in some detective novels, the morals get lost along the way but in this one, they stand out and it’s amazing.
Absolutely loved this read and definitely couldn’t put it down. 5 , 10/10 and highly recommended read.
If you loved the prequel or indeed, loved this review and decided that you want to read this book and see then follow the link below.
My next review will be the sequel to this novel, The Sin Keeper.
Until next time,
Happy reading.
Dx
