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southerngirlinexile's review against another edition
1.0
I don't know why I keep reading these books. It's like some kind of unhealthy compulsion. I made it about 35% into the story and ... just, no.
laurenjodi's review against another edition
3.0
Fatal Strike
3 Stars
This installment in McKenna's series continues the story arc from the previous book with Miles Davenport recovering from the psychic attack that left him in a coma. He experiences recurring dreams of Lara Kirk, and realizes that she is still alive and being held captive. Soon Miles and Lara find themselves on the run from psi-operatives with a diabolical agenda.
On the surface, Fatal Strike has a winning formula - a gorgeous tortured hero, an independent and courageous heroine, an ego-maniacal villain bent on world domination, oodles of action and lots of sexy times. Unfortunately, something is missing.
Miles and Lara are appealing enough as individuals, but their chemistry is severely lacking. Perhaps it is Miles previous infatuation with the vacuous Cindy, or maybe it is the obsessive nature of Miles and Lara's attraction. Either way, it doesn't work and their romance feels forced rather than natural.
The psi-plot, which has been the focus of the last couple of books has become tedious and annoying, and the cameo appearances by the McClouds and their friends are underdeveloped and feel more like filler than anything else.
The writing is also overly descriptive and repetitious, especially Miles and Lara's internal musings. The book could have been 50 pages shorter and been more satisfying.
Overall, a disappointing read, but I am interested enough in Sam and Sveti to read the final book in the series.
3 Stars
This installment in McKenna's series continues the story arc from the previous book with Miles Davenport recovering from the psychic attack that left him in a coma. He experiences recurring dreams of Lara Kirk, and realizes that she is still alive and being held captive. Soon Miles and Lara find themselves on the run from psi-operatives with a diabolical agenda.
On the surface, Fatal Strike has a winning formula - a gorgeous tortured hero, an independent and courageous heroine, an ego-maniacal villain bent on world domination, oodles of action and lots of sexy times. Unfortunately, something is missing.
Miles and Lara are appealing enough as individuals, but their chemistry is severely lacking. Perhaps it is Miles previous infatuation with the vacuous Cindy, or maybe it is the obsessive nature of Miles and Lara's attraction. Either way, it doesn't work and their romance feels forced rather than natural.
The psi-plot, which has been the focus of the last couple of books has become tedious and annoying, and the cameo appearances by the McClouds and their friends are underdeveloped and feel more like filler than anything else.
The writing is also overly descriptive and repetitious, especially Miles and Lara's internal musings. The book could have been 50 pages shorter and been more satisfying.
Overall, a disappointing read, but I am interested enough in Sam and Sveti to read the final book in the series.
nikkisreadingx's review against another edition
2.0
Oh boy.
First, this was the first book I picked up. I knew it was in a series when I walked out with it in hand, but I didn't realize it was the tenth book in the series. Whoops. Well, figured I would read it anyway because...why not? I usually jump into series too late and then backtrack.
Well. Okay. I'm not backtracking with this one. Not at all. But I don't want to start there. I'd rather not rant about everything I didn't like for paragraphs on end, so I want to start with what I did like. First up: The paranormal elements. The psi usage and drug and plot was interesting. Different. I liked this take on it, introducing paranormal brain activity to regular humans. It absolutely captured my attention. Add in Lara's kidnapping and Miles's Citadel, I was on board with that even if it did take me quite a few chapters to catch up.
I also liked the overarching plot. Moving with Miles while he's working to rescue her, following them on their run, even the glimpse into Greaves, Hu, and Anabele were interesting. It helped build the story to something I wanted to finish because -- if I'm going to be honest -- I probably wouldn't have finished this book had it not been for that.
I also liked Lara. She was a pretty realistic character considering everything done to her. There were a few bumps along the way, but overall, I don't have too many gripes.
Miles, on the other hand, I can't say the same. The guy's a dick. An absolute dick. He runs hot and cold the entire book. Moments where he's sweet and caring are completely steamrolled by the moments he flips out and is just...a dick. And this doesn't really pick up until the second half of the book. You see bits and pieces of it through the beginning, but it's explained through his shield and survival. However, some of the things he says to Lara and how he manipulates her into doing what he wants her to do, man that pissed me off. I kept waiting for her to blow up at him and when she did, I was so angry at him for turning it back around. Especially when he uses sex to get his way. There were too many punish-fucks going on through the books -- as in there actually was one. I'd be okay with them being angry and using the emotions to get it out, but it didn't read this way. Not at all.
My other issues aren't as big as the alpha-asshole behavior, but still bug me. I hate text speak. I don't know a single techie that uses it -- and I don't know a single person in their 20s that use it either. Bugged me every time I had to read it. I also didn't like some of the author's verbage during the smutty scenes. Highlight of that was 'yummy girl juice'. I'll be using that one for a while when I want to poke at a friend. I also didn't like any other character in the book. The McCloud Crowd was filled with dicks. They were absolutely nasty and ridiculous and I have no interest in reading more. Nothing about how they acted appealed to me in any variety and I'm not chancing another them turning out to be just like Miles.
Overall, this was...not at all what I wanted to read. There were some good moments and it started really well, but the more I got to know Miles and the McClouds, the less I liked the book. I can safely say my foray into this series is one and done.
First, this was the first book I picked up. I knew it was in a series when I walked out with it in hand, but I didn't realize it was the tenth book in the series. Whoops. Well, figured I would read it anyway because...why not? I usually jump into series too late and then backtrack.
Well. Okay. I'm not backtracking with this one. Not at all. But I don't want to start there. I'd rather not rant about everything I didn't like for paragraphs on end, so I want to start with what I did like. First up: The paranormal elements. The psi usage and drug and plot was interesting. Different. I liked this take on it, introducing paranormal brain activity to regular humans. It absolutely captured my attention. Add in Lara's kidnapping and Miles's Citadel, I was on board with that even if it did take me quite a few chapters to catch up.
I also liked the overarching plot. Moving with Miles while he's working to rescue her, following them on their run, even the glimpse into Greaves, Hu, and Anabele were interesting. It helped build the story to something I wanted to finish because -- if I'm going to be honest -- I probably wouldn't have finished this book had it not been for that.
I also liked Lara. She was a pretty realistic character considering everything done to her. There were a few bumps along the way, but overall, I don't have too many gripes.
Miles, on the other hand, I can't say the same. The guy's a dick. An absolute dick. He runs hot and cold the entire book. Moments where he's sweet and caring are completely steamrolled by the moments he flips out and is just...a dick. And this doesn't really pick up until the second half of the book. You see bits and pieces of it through the beginning, but it's explained through his shield and survival. However, some of the things he says to Lara and how he manipulates her into doing what he wants her to do, man that pissed me off. I kept waiting for her to blow up at him and when she did, I was so angry at him for turning it back around. Especially when he uses sex to get his way. There were too many punish-fucks going on through the books -- as in there actually was one. I'd be okay with them being angry and using the emotions to get it out, but it didn't read this way. Not at all.
My other issues aren't as big as the alpha-asshole behavior, but still bug me. I hate text speak. I don't know a single techie that uses it -- and I don't know a single person in their 20s that use it either. Bugged me every time I had to read it. I also didn't like some of the author's verbage during the smutty scenes. Highlight of that was 'yummy girl juice'. I'll be using that one for a while when I want to poke at a friend. I also didn't like any other character in the book. The McCloud Crowd was filled with dicks. They were absolutely nasty and ridiculous and I have no interest in reading more. Nothing about how they acted appealed to me in any variety and I'm not chancing another them turning out to be just like Miles.
Overall, this was...not at all what I wanted to read. There were some good moments and it started really well, but the more I got to know Miles and the McClouds, the less I liked the book. I can safely say my foray into this series is one and done.
bookwormlala's review against another edition
DNF at about 50%. I've read all the other McClouds and friends, and I loved them, but this series has dragged on too long. I was completely bored, confused, and uninterested in finding out what happened the H and h.
yabamena's review against another edition
2.0
**This is getting two stars only because the few parts I liked, I really liked. Some minor spoilers below but nothing I think is really worthy of putting behind a cut.
Full disclosure, I haven't read any of the other books in this series. That said, the book had a strong start and I had no problem picking up on what was going on or who was who. I was genuinely enjoying it...and then it started to fizzle around chapter 12 when it turned into one long scene that alternated between sex (at least five times in the span of 75 pages. Really? Got to the point where I just started skipping them) and dialogue that boiled down to a bunch of exposition without any real tension. And it went on for five chapters.
Finally a scene break in chapter 17, and briefly things got interesting again...until our main characters were alone again and had a pointless back-and-forth between being mad at each other, thinking they were no good for each other, and - you guessed it - more sex. It was dizzying the number of emotional 180s these two did.
Honestly, it was just all downhill from there. Convoluted, drawn-out, predictable, with no real tension - because it was predictable. I really, really hate to compare authors but Nalini Singh did the whole psi thing better. Also, it'd be nice if the female characters weren't so frequently calling each other "b*tch", "c*nt", or "cow". I don't shy away from bad language, but it's irritating and insulting when female characters are pitted against each other like that and use such unoriginal, cliched insults. It's just weak.
And a little nitpick that's a giant pet peeve: If you're going to have a male Japanese character (or a character of any non-white ethnicity), at least do the bare minimum of research so you don't give him a girl's name (and then go on to describe him as "girlish" because he's gay? Come the hell on). It's lazy and disrespectful. If it was intentional, it's not the kind of thing you can do without addressing because it makes you look like you just didn't care to do any research. It also hints at some serious stereotyping going on in this book that wow. WOW. I'm not even going to touch on because it pissed me off so much.
Another nitpick: The brain texting. Look, I realize I'm in the minority when it comes to being someone who actually writes complete sentences when texting. But I found the text speak in those parts incredibly difficult to read. There was absolutely no need for that and it made a potentially interesting concept seem gimmicky and try-hard. And it got to the point where it was liking reading two sappy teenagers texting each other between classes.
Full disclosure, I haven't read any of the other books in this series. That said, the book had a strong start and I had no problem picking up on what was going on or who was who. I was genuinely enjoying it...and then it started to fizzle around chapter 12 when it turned into one long scene that alternated between sex (at least five times in the span of 75 pages. Really? Got to the point where I just started skipping them) and dialogue that boiled down to a bunch of exposition without any real tension. And it went on for five chapters.
Finally a scene break in chapter 17, and briefly things got interesting again...until our main characters were alone again and had a pointless back-and-forth between being mad at each other, thinking they were no good for each other, and - you guessed it - more sex. It was dizzying the number of emotional 180s these two did.
Honestly, it was just all downhill from there. Convoluted, drawn-out, predictable, with no real tension - because it was predictable. I really, really hate to compare authors but Nalini Singh did the whole psi thing better. Also, it'd be nice if the female characters weren't so frequently calling each other "b*tch", "c*nt", or "cow". I don't shy away from bad language, but it's irritating and insulting when female characters are pitted against each other like that and use such unoriginal, cliched insults. It's just weak.
And a little nitpick that's a giant pet peeve: If you're going to have a male Japanese character (or a character of any non-white ethnicity), at least do the bare minimum of research so you don't give him a girl's name (and then go on to describe him as "girlish" because he's gay? Come the hell on). It's lazy and disrespectful. If it was intentional, it's not the kind of thing you can do without addressing because it makes you look like you just didn't care to do any research. It also hints at some serious stereotyping going on in this book that wow. WOW. I'm not even going to touch on because it pissed me off so much.
Another nitpick: The brain texting. Look, I realize I'm in the minority when it comes to being someone who actually writes complete sentences when texting. But I found the text speak in those parts incredibly difficult to read. There was absolutely no need for that and it made a potentially interesting concept seem gimmicky and try-hard. And it got to the point where it was liking reading two sappy teenagers texting each other between classes.
jbenando's review
I tried, but I couldn't get into this. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it wasn't my cup of tea. With a cover like that, I REALLY wanted to like it!!
thepassionatereader's review
4.0
I have read every one of Ms. McKenna's McClouds and Friends series. Some I have loved: Extreme Danger, Behind Closed Doors, and Ultimate Weapon. A couple I liked: Blood and Fire and Fade to Midnight. The other four didn't do it for me. (I'm the least fond of the books featuring actual McClouds.)
Ms. McKenna's latest Fatal Strike is one I liked. It's similar in many ways to Blood and Fire and continues to tell the tale of an evil group determined to take over the world (and as many boinkable bodies) as they can through drug-induced mind control. Fatal Strike is, somewhat amazingly, even more preposterous than Blood and Fire because it includes a new realm of crazy sex: the no where near each other in the real world hero and heroine share a mental/telepathic boudoir where they meet and have amazing bouts of gooey passion. (This sort of thing would be great in real life. Imagine the strain in would take off of long-distance relationships. Plus it would put a big dent in the net's porn stream.)
As the book begins, both our hero, Miles, and the woman of his dreams, Lily, aren't doing so well. Miles, who we last saw coming out of a coma after being brain-raped by yet another one of Ms. McKenna's baddies dabbling in drug-assisted mind-control, is barely keeping himself together. The attack on his mind--which would have killed most folks but Miles was able to survive because he has natural mind-control abilities and he's a McKenna superhero--has left him with two serious side effects.
The first one sucks.
The second one is plight with benefits.
The woman Miles dream does every night is Lara Kirk. Lara's life super sucks.
She's being held in a cell by Thaddeus Graves, a megalomaniac brain bender, who is determined to find the perfect dose of psi, a drug that gives its trained users the ability to do all sorts of paranormal things. Thaddeus is a sick puppy. He first kidnapped Laura as a weapon to use against her mother, the original inventor of psi. The mom rebelled, he had her killed, and now holds Laura for fun and giggles. Plus, she's the perfect guinea pig to try out the current drug he's working on: psi max.
Lara is one tough chick and is managing to stay sane despite all the nasty things Graves and his hinky henchs do to her. The one thing that makes her life viable is her nightly visits to what she thinks of as the Citadel, the safe place where she's alone with the incredibly hot and orgasm-inducing Lord of the Citadel.
One night, after a particularly horrific mind-raping session with Graves's two top mind-manipulators, Hu and slut-bitch (this is how she is portrayed) Anabel, Lara's mind heads to the Citadel and, for the first time, finds a computer there she uses to type messages to Miles. These messages scroll across Miles's brain as though he were reading them from the inside of his skull.
At first, he's irritated because, really, it's bad enough he bones this hot chick every night against his will, and he types back a back-off babe message (in his head). But the next time she types into his brain, they start a telepathic texting exchange. One thing leads to another and just as soon as you can say everyone's life is in terrible danger, Miles embarks on a crazed mission to save Lara, defeat the mind messing bad guys, and have banging sex in person as much as possible.
You can take it from there. If you've read any of Ms. McKenna's other works, you know to expect cameos from all the other couples (and their kids) from the manly and over-sexed world of the McClouds. There is, of course, murder and mayhem, fucking and fighting, and a marriage proposal proffered while the hero fingers the girl. The writing flies off the page and is routinely amusing. Plausible or not, Fatal Strike, is a damn good time. I give it a B.
Ms. McKenna's latest Fatal Strike is one I liked. It's similar in many ways to Blood and Fire and continues to tell the tale of an evil group determined to take over the world (and as many boinkable bodies) as they can through drug-induced mind control. Fatal Strike is, somewhat amazingly, even more preposterous than Blood and Fire because it includes a new realm of crazy sex: the no where near each other in the real world hero and heroine share a mental/telepathic boudoir where they meet and have amazing bouts of gooey passion. (This sort of thing would be great in real life. Imagine the strain in would take off of long-distance relationships. Plus it would put a big dent in the net's porn stream.)
As the book begins, both our hero, Miles, and the woman of his dreams, Lily, aren't doing so well. Miles, who we last saw coming out of a coma after being brain-raped by yet another one of Ms. McKenna's baddies dabbling in drug-assisted mind-control, is barely keeping himself together. The attack on his mind--which would have killed most folks but Miles was able to survive because he has natural mind-control abilities and he's a McKenna superhero--has left him with two serious side effects.
The first one sucks.
Harold Rudd had mind-fucked Miles into a coma with his coercive psychic powers a few months ago. He’d survived the encounter—barely. But when he woke up, his brain was wired all wrong. He existed in a state of constant sensory overload. The world blared at him from all sides—no filters, no rest, no down time.
The second one is plight with benefits.
Thinking about Lara Kirk was not useful, but he’d never been good at suppressing unwanted thoughts, even before being reduced to his current suck-ass state.
And the dreams, holy God, what was up with that? White hot, thundering erotic dreams about her, every single night. What kind of scumbag dreamed nightly of nailing the girl that he’d failed to rescue? If he’d saved her, he’d be halfway entitled to his horndog fantasies. But as it was, no way.
Every night, as he prepared for sleep, he gave himself the stern pep talk. Tonight, he chose how he behaved in his dream. People could. He’d read about it. But it didn’t matter. When she came to him, his dream self did not give a fuck what his waking self wanted. His dream self wanted her, and wanted her bad. Deep, hard, every which way. When she showed up, he seized her, went at her like a maniac.
It was as disturbing as it was exciting.
The woman Miles dream does every night is Lara Kirk. Lara's life super sucks.
She's being held in a cell by Thaddeus Graves, a megalomaniac brain bender, who is determined to find the perfect dose of psi, a drug that gives its trained users the ability to do all sorts of paranormal things. Thaddeus is a sick puppy. He first kidnapped Laura as a weapon to use against her mother, the original inventor of psi. The mom rebelled, he had her killed, and now holds Laura for fun and giggles. Plus, she's the perfect guinea pig to try out the current drug he's working on: psi max.
Lara is one tough chick and is managing to stay sane despite all the nasty things Graves and his hinky henchs do to her. The one thing that makes her life viable is her nightly visits to what she thinks of as the Citadel, the safe place where she's alone with the incredibly hot and orgasm-inducing Lord of the Citadel.
One night, after a particularly horrific mind-raping session with Graves's two top mind-manipulators, Hu and slut-bitch (this is how she is portrayed) Anabel, Lara's mind heads to the Citadel and, for the first time, finds a computer there she uses to type messages to Miles. These messages scroll across Miles's brain as though he were reading them from the inside of his skull.
At first, he's irritated because, really, it's bad enough he bones this hot chick every night against his will, and he types back a back-off babe message (in his head). But the next time she types into his brain, they start a telepathic texting exchange. One thing leads to another and just as soon as you can say everyone's life is in terrible danger, Miles embarks on a crazed mission to save Lara, defeat the mind messing bad guys, and have banging sex in person as much as possible.
You can take it from there. If you've read any of Ms. McKenna's other works, you know to expect cameos from all the other couples (and their kids) from the manly and over-sexed world of the McClouds. There is, of course, murder and mayhem, fucking and fighting, and a marriage proposal proffered while the hero fingers the girl. The writing flies off the page and is routinely amusing. Plausible or not, Fatal Strike, is a damn good time. I give it a B.
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