Stryker

Trigger warning: This book depicts women held captive by sex traffickers. While there are no graphic sex scenes, there is some physical mistreatment of the women.

Holy heck, what a book! Avanti Centrae has a fascinating premise – that Cleopatra, knowing her death was imminent, took control of the time she had left and engineered her demise rather than waiting on Octavian to do her in. She didn't really die by the bite of an asp, and she left behind hidden information in a secret location, hidden information that would be vital in taking down an ancient group with a long-held grudge against women.

Jump forward to modern day. Timothy and Angie Stryker lost their infant son, and it's taken a toll on their marriage. Angie has been trying to keep her pain at bay with alcohol. Stryker hopes they can restore their strained relationship with a family vacation to Italy. But before that happens, Angie and their four-year-old daughter, Harper, are kidnapped by a group eventually identified as the Sons of Adam.

Stryker, a Special Ops commander, is able to get help from his team to start the search. They soon realize that the kidnapping may have some connection to the assassin (or assassins) taking out world leaders that they've been trying to get a line on. It may also be connected to Cleopatra and her missing journal.

This book took off right out of the gate and didn't let up. Avanti Centrae lays the foundation with a look at Cleopatra's last hours, and then really ramps up with Stryker and the team chasing assassins and Angie and Harper being taken. There were no slow moments. I know you hear books described as “unputdownable,” but this one really was. I was up way later than I should have been on a work night reading.

What I know of Cleopatra is limited to the generally accepted view of her as a seductress and as having died by suicide by snake. But she was also a powerful ruler in her own right, and Centrae creates a believable possibility of how things really went down for the dethroned queen. I enjoyed the historical tidbits woven in and the centuries-long battle of good versus evil.

The characters were all well written, to my reading. Even the relatively minor characters had back story. Zola, the cook on the island where Angie, Harper, and the other captives were held, was one of my favorites. Though it seemed that she had no power, no way to impact her situation, in the end she played a vital role and was an absolute badass.

Sam, Angie's sister and one of Stryker's teammates, was another fantastic character. Her interest in and knowledge of Cleopatra was vital to the team as they tried to track down the lost journal, and she was as tough as any of the men on the team.

Fast-paced, gripping, and worth staying up late to read. Five big stars for Cleopatra's Vendetta, and I can't wait to read more from Avanti Centrae!