Casee‘s review of Fade to Midnight (McCloud Brothers, Book 7) by Shannon McKenna.
Davy…Connor…Sean… Three brothers who have conquered their demons, but they’ve never forgotten their long lost brother, Kev, whom they believed to be dead. When the McCloud brothers discover Kev is alive, they won’t rest until they find him…
Beaten and tortured almost to death, Kev Larsen was found eighteen years earlier in a warehouse alley. He survived his brutal ordeal, but his memories before that night were completely erased. When he nearly dies from trying to save someone from drowning, the brain surgery he has to save his life triggers fragmented, terrifying memories. With only these memories and the name of his torturer to guide him, Kev is determined to unlock the secrets to his past.
Edie Parrish has always been good at not letting anyone get too close to her. If someone were to learn of her unusual gift, her life would be immediately jeopardized. But when Kev Larsen discovers who she really is, Edie has only one choice: to trust him. And soon, Edie can’t resist her consuming desire for him—even though she knows she’ll have to pay a price for it.
Now Kev and Edie must race against time and place their faith in each other to stop a deadly legacy…
Fade to Midnight is over the top, even for Shannon McKenna. That’s not to say that I didn’t like the book; I loved it. To a non-McKenna lover, it almost certainly wouldn’t be as well received. The whole situation is just so unlikely that it may be hard to suspend your disbelief long enough to keep reading.
Kevin McCloud has been dead since the first book in the McCloud series. That was never called into question until Edge of Midnight—Sean’s book. I’ve read different interviews where McKenna stated that she had no idea that Kev was alive until he jumped out and shouted at her. That is believable if not just because of the outrageousness of where Kev has been and what he was doing eighteen long years ago.
I’m going to go straight to what I didn’t like about this book. The Kev/Sean reunion. They are identical twins. They have one of those twin bonds even though neither recognized it; Kev b/c he had amnesia and Sean b/c he thought Kev was dead and he was just crazy. The absolute and total lack of an emotional reunion between the two of them really took away something that I was expecting. Which is just pretty damn sad from my perspective.
Edie Parrish has been drawing Kev for eighteen years. While she outwardly believes that he is nothing but a fictional creation, inside she knows that he’s much more than that. It’s her uncanny ability to draw the future that has made her family think she is bonkers. When she meets Kev, she thinks that she will finally be validated in the eyes of her father, having no idea of the events that have been set into motion.
The big bad that took Kev McCloud away from his family for almost twenty years is back in the form of a crazy little scientist named Ava. She is one crazy bitch, ya’ll. Sociopathic. Psychotic. Her elevator doesn’t even go up, it goes down. She wants Edie and she wants Kev, both for experiments. Ava wants to continue the work that her mentor, Dr. O (whom Sean McCloud killed), worked on for so many years. She believes that Kev and Edie are the key to that work.
I usually don’t really care whether or not there is an epilogue. I was somewhat disappointed that there wasn’t one in Fade to Midnight. After all the strife and angst that I, the reader, have gone through since this series came out I would have liked to see all the McCloud brothers united amid a non-gunfire/life threatening situation.
With all that, I still give this book:
4 out of 5.
This book is available from Kensington. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
The series: