SACRIFICE THE WICKED by Karina Cooper

A Dark Mission Novel, #4
Avon Books, October 2012
Paperback
Obtained via:  publisher
ISBN: 978-0-06-212769-3

Paranormal Romance

** 1/2

The fourth book in Karina Cooper’s Dark Mission series, SACRIFICE THE WICKED, is a fast moving and very confusing paranormal romance filled with witches, church agents and lies.

Parker Adams is the new Mission Director.  She is in charge of ridding the new world of witches.  Recently, she has noticed several things that don’t add up and has started to dig for answers.  Simon Wells is everything Parker has been taught to fight:  a spy, a murderer, a witch.  When he attempts to steal a file from Parker, the beginning of their entanglement ensues.  Simon was created in a lab and his shelf life is running out.  When the new Mission Director is targeted for elimination, Simon decides it is time to help the enemy.

Karina Cooper has made the critical mistake of failing to supply any back story.  In SACRIFICE THE WICKED, she jumps right into the story assuming readers will have read the first three books in this series before picking up this book.  Trying to figure out who the good guys were from the bad guys and then placing who and what all the added characters were made enjoying this story somewhat impossible.  It appears that the church, or Mission, is in charge of everything.  The Missionaries are charged with policing the witches.  Witches (are they born, created, or both?) are apparently bad, mostly.  Though why they are bad appears to be a closely guarded secret.  Then there is another Mission Director who is apparently a bad guy (though his scientist daughter doesn’t believe it).  And who are these other people and where do they fit in?  It cannot be said enough that reading whichever book in the Dark Mission series describes the world and people inhabiting it is vital to understanding what is going on in SACRIFICE THE WICKED.

On the positive side, the story moves at a nice pace and has lots of action on its side.  The main characters are multifaceted and the story is threaded with characters from other books.  Unfortunately, the positives are not enough to overcome the incredible confusion of who is who and what they have to do with the big picture for this reader to appreciate the storyline.  And I am still at a lack for why witches are so awful to begin with….

Reviewed by T. Barringer

tammyLRM@gmail.com

"This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book."