Date Published: April 2006
978-0-553588187
Paranormal Suspense
Paperback
Reviewed by Gina
Five years after coming to terms with just how she really feels about Clayton Danvers, Elena Michaels is pregnant with his child. Being the only known female werewolf has its privileges….and restrictions. For instance, is the gestation period that of a human, wolf or a combination of both? No one knows and Jeremy Danvers, the pack leader, is making sure that all goes well with Elena’s pregnancy. Or tries to until a voice from the past calls.
When half-demon Xavier Reese helped Elena escape from a madman’s compound several years before, that would be after he engineered her capture, he let her know one day he’d call in the favor. With weeks to go with her pregnancy, Xavier has surfaced with his chip. There’s a letter he wants that no one with a heartbeat can retrieve. Against Jeremy and Clay’s desire to the contrary, Elena, who is going a tad stir crazy, wants to go after Xavier’s prize. The pack agrees and they take off for Toronto. While retrieving the letter itself is fairly simple, it’s the true contents that unleash horrors on Toronto and the Danvers pack. Embedded within the letter is a portal to the past, one that contains Jack the Ripper and Jack’s back on the streets. But they don’t know this at the outset. There are two zombies slogging their way around the streets of Toronto causing havoc themselves. They realize Jack’s back when they come across a dead prostitute, killed in a macabre imitation of the Ripper murders some 100 years before. In a race against time the werewolves with help from necromancer, Jamie Vegas, pursue Jack. One big hitch—Clay’s life is on the line and Elena may have to choose between her child and the man she loves.
Kelley Armstrong’s BROKEN is a fabulous return to Elena’s world. Five years after BITTEN where she came to terms with her werewolf nature shows her as stronger than ever. Knowing and accepting her place in the world empowers her to make her own choices. She still respects pack law; but knows how to work with it to achieve her own goals.
BITTEN also seemed to be a point of liberation for Ms. Armstrong in terms of her own humor as related in one of Elena’s remembrances—she looks back at a time when she, Clay and pack-brother Nick went to the movies and Elena and Nick ditched Clay. It’s funny yet at the same time showed just how sensitive Clay is. He’s not only gorgeous and smart, he loves Elena with an unconditional love we should all experience. Clay’s the kind of guy we’d all like to bring home and keep there for safe keeping.
Ripperology is fascinating. Who was he? Why did he do what he did? Did they ever find him? Was it a favor for the royal house? Or was he just a psychotic, sociopathic killer? Or…is he the creature seen through Ms. Armstrong’s eyes? This fabulous author adds a whole new twist on the Ripper story with an incredibly wonderfully layered story.
Kelley Armstrong just gets better and better with each of her Women of the Otherworld stories.
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