Blood Echo, by Christopher Rice


Short Take: There is a LOT of story here, and all of it is good.

Well, I don’t know about all of you, but I am OVER this cold weather. My shabongas are shivering over here, y’all. Which is why it’s a good thing that I found a tasty treat to get our collective blood pumping & temperature rising.

As I am sure any horror fan knows, Christopher Rice is the son of Anne Rice. I bring that up to shoo the elephant out of the room, because I’ve read & enjoyed a lot of Anne, but Christopher is an entirely different kind of writer. Don’t get me wrong, he’s immensely talented, but if you’re looking for new & improved Vampire Chronicles, this one ain’t it.

Before I dig into my review of Blood Echo, I want to point out that it is the second book in the “Burning Girl” series (and oh man, that name is the best). There are some series in which each book works as a standalone, but THIS IS NOT ONE OF THEM. If you haven’t read the first book (Bone Music), well first of all, you really should. It’s excellent. But be warned, if you go any further, there WILL be spoilers from the first book.

Got it? Onward!

Raised by serial killers, and turned into a superpowered weapon by a brilliant but unethical scientist, Charlotte Rowe is Having Some Issues. First off, she’s been recruited by a secretive group of billion-dollar corporations to relieve society of the worst of its predators. Although she likes the idea in theory, when a mission goes terribly wrong, she’s forced to reckon with her own potential for violence.

Then there’s Charlotte’s boyfriend Luke: Altamira sheriff’s deputy, total hunkola, and also Dealing With Some Things. Charlotte does her best to keep him from seeing her Hulk-side, and refuses to talk about the things she does, which puts a bit of strain on their relationship. And when some strange, seedy stuff starts going down in Altamira, well, his career is definitely not helped either. Toss in his master-hacker younger brother who’s on the run from the FBI, and we can say that he’s also having some family issues.

There are a few other great characters rounding out the cast: Cole Graydon, billionaire who inherited his Dad’s company and is probably in over his head, Dylan Thorpe, insane genius, Bailey Prescott, hacker extraordinaire, and Martin Cahill, a longtime family friend and recovering alcoholic who is exactly the kind of grizzled, laconic, blunt fount of wisdom you’d want in this (or any other) situation.

When Charlotte is out of town on a mission, Luke is pulled into a seemingly simple case: a badly battered woman wants Luke to arrest her on-again off-again boyfriend. Now, if you’re reading this review, you know what I like, and do I really need to point out that nothing that follows is even on the same continent as “simple”?

I’m just going to say that there’s a whoooooooole lot of other terrible stuff going on in idyllic-looking Altamira and let it go at that.

But what really makes Blood Echo work isn’t the awesome (but somewhat crowded) plot, or the characters’ interactions with each other. What really grooved for me was the introspection the main characters displayed. When Charlie is triggered, she can literally rip a man to pieces with her bare hands. Which, don’t get me wrong, is ALL KINDS OF AWESOME, and her unbreakable rule about only using her power on bad guys is great, and the fact that she really doesn’t want to KILL them, just make sure they are captured and punished is way admirable, but…. If she does what she does, and somehow uses just a teensy bit too much force totally on accident, is she really any better than the monsters she pursues?

Each character is forced to reconcile their ideals with reality, and to admit to their own blind spots, to own their own baggage. And Cole Graydon’s story at the end… well, I’m obviously not going to spoil it here, but believe me when I say, I’m going to be kicking that one around in my head for years to come.

And oh yeah, there’s a smidge of steamy stuff and a whole bunch of futuristic tech that has me paranoid and side-eyeing my laptop camera right now.

My one gripe is that there’s just SO MUCH, and so many overlapping groups. You have the billionaires pulling the strings, and their underlings, and Luke and his coworkers at the station, and Martin’s gang of AA guardian angels, and the OTHER billionaire who’s running the stuff in town, and his son Jordy & Jordy’s gang of buds, and so on and so forth. It’s all very well done, but my poor sugared-up brain was definitely getting a little cramped by the end.

The Nerd’s Rating: FOUR HAPPY NEURONS (and a big old shot of anything hot - it’s not getting any warmer here!)

The first book in this series was one of my favorite reads of last year. I read lots of suspense/thrillers and they can become very cookie cutter after awhile. This series has that little something that makes it stand out.

A little back story....Charley Rowe was abducted and raised by serial killers who murdered her mother when she was just an infant. After her rescue, her father exploited Charley's story with book deals, movie deals and any other way he could make a buck off of her terrible past. She eventually breaks ties with her father, changes her name and attempts to create a new, low-key life for herself. She starts seeing a psychiatrist that gives her a sample pack of a new drug said to help with anxiety. After a run in with a crazed follower of her abductors, Charley quickly realizes she was given something more than Xanex. This new drug is in fact, a form of para adrenaline that gives the user super human strength and healing abilities. Abilities that can help Charley prevent what happened to her mother from happening to other people. A new drug that, so far, has worked on no one but Charley.

I assumed this installment in the series would be about Charley nailing another serial killer. I wasn't wrong. The book opens up immediately with action. Charley is about to go in pretending to be a hooker to entice their latest suspect into picking her up. This is just the beginning though! How can we already be nailing the serial killer in the first few chapters? Because Christopher Rice is amazing! Because he isn't creating a cozy series where each book is the same just with different characters. There is so much more to it in this book. We learn so much more about the main characters and their pasts. Rice has created a world where love them, or hate them, you are invested in the players. I seriously can't wait until the next book comes out.

I have followed Christopher Rice's books since A Density of Souls. Each book has successfully been even better than the previous one. His Burning Girl series is no exception. The first book in the series, Bone Music, was absolutely thrilling. However he continues to out do himself with the second book, Blood Echo. I can't wait to read the next book in this exciting series.

This book was amazing, following right on the heals of Bone Music - the story takes place a little after the events in Bone Music.
Charley is hunting, but comes home to something even more sinister. Killers, terrorists, all kinds of evil lurk in the mind of Christopher Rice.

Thank you netgalley for providing this book! <3

For book #2 of the Burning Girl series, the plot continues from the book #1 (Bone Echo) where Charlotte Rowe agrees to work with Cole. In the second book, the focus is more on Cole , and I learned more about his character. The character development of Cole is explained through his words, actions, and thoughts. He seems to be a cold person, but there is a deeper reason behind it.

I could not put the book down and read it during every spare moment I had available. The book is worth the read!

I originally started reading books by Christopher Rice because I've read all the books by his mother, Anne Rice, and I wanted to see what kind of writer her son would be. The more he writes, the more his talent grows. The books become more complex and interesting.

When I picked up this book I wasn't aware that it was the second in a series - but it didn't matter because it was good all by itself. I like the characters Charlotte and Luke. The Cole character's pretty good too - but maybe dark side - I don't trust him. The plot is interesting and has several layers going on at the same time: the drug and experiments, the tunnel build, a romance, terrorists - it's a little busy. This is a violent book, so if you are adverse to reading that type of thing, this book is not for you. It is a fast-paced, nerve-wracking type of book though and if you like thrillers, you will enjoy it. Now I've got to go back and read Bone Music (the first in this series).

Thanks to Christopher Rice and Thomas & Mercer through Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I feel very mixed about this book and partly I think this is due to my not having read the first book which I think is necessary to really enjoy Blood Echo. I liked it, but, found parts of it confusing and hard going.

The storyline is excellent, a serial killer survivor works with a group of people in order to track other killers and she's well able to do this, thanks to her superhuman strength, due to a drug being tested by a pharmaceutical company. I enjoyed the premise and the characters, I just found parts of the book confusing as there is so much going on, all the time. Also, due to the large number of characters that I struggled to keep track of who was who.

Overall, a good read, just read book one first.


Thanks to Netgalley, Thomas & Mercer and the author for the ARC in exchange for this review.

I was weary of this as sequels usually disappoint but Christopher Rice really nailed this thriller. I love everything about this series. from the pace to the plot twists.

Blood Echo takes place shortly after the events of Bone Music wrap up. I really don't want to say too much, especially since this is a sequel, but I think it's safe to say that if you loved Bone Music you'll really enjoy Blood Echo as well. The pacing and format of storytelling was a huge change up from the previous novel, but I found this to be a really good thing, as it kept me on my toes. Also, the ending - OMG.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Thomas and Mercer and the author, Christopher Rice, for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of Blood Echo in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.
I thought the storyline was well thought out and written. I found myself immersed into the story, a feeling that I love. I found the characters engaging. Will definitely be reading more from this author.
Well worth a read for fans of the genre.

Following Bone Music, I expected more from this second installment in the Burning Girl series. It wasn't bad, by any means, but it was definitely a letdown compared to its predecessor. After how breakneck Bone Music felt, Blood Echo was nearly dull, with a lot more talking and reasoning and reflecting and hardly any action. It's very oddly structured, with a hugely interesting first part that resolves itself very early; a second part where almost nothing seems to happen but a local corruption/domestic terrorism plot; and a third part where the climax of all of part two's storylines comes early on, followed by another slow denouement in part four.

The end made me excited for the third book, but it was an uneven experience getting there. I wanted more of the drug, more of Charley, and a lot less of Luke's insecurities.

An amazing read. I was hooked since the first pages and couldn't put it down.
It's engaging,entertaining and thrilling.
I loved the well developed characters and the plot.
I will surely read the previous book in this series and look forward to reading another one by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Thomas & Mercer and Netgalley for this ARC

Blood Echo by Christopher Rice was a very fast paced moving story that keeps you on your toes!!

The plot involves a corrupt pharmaceutical company that has been involved in some shoddy shenanigans. So many drugs that are being experimented with that are insane!! Charlotte was the result of one of their experiments which gave her superhuman powers of strength and regenerating wounds.

There is a serial killer around the town that needs to be stopped along with tons of other action. Although, since I didn't read the first in the series... it was a tad bit hard for me to follow. So, I felt I was a bit of disadvantage with this. I was confused on some characters/references in the book that I assume were from book one.

I felt like there was a TON of stuff going on in this book which caused my attention to sway in and out. I think sometimes authors put too much meat in the plot... which causes the story to fall flat for me. I don't know if reading the first in the series would have changed my mind with this?

Overall, this was a mediocre read for me and I'm not sure if I will go back and read the first in the series.

3 stars

Huge thank you to Netgalley and Thomas and Mercer for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Publication date: 2/19/19
Published to GR: 11/15/18

Amazing continuation of Blood Music, book one in Rice's Burning Girl series. This isn't a standalone, however well developed the storyline and characters are. You'll want to read book one then dive right into this thrilling, scf-fi twisty story that sticks with for days.

Yet another phenomenal book by Mr Rice, absolutely LOVED IT. Cannot wait until the next one. Characters are perfectly developed as well as his story lines.

You definitely need to have read the first book in this series “Bone Music” in order to truly understand the characters and the back story in “Blood Echo”.
This book opens a few months after the end of book 1. Charley is attempting to have some type of a normal life with Luke and the rest of her rag-tag family, while also working with Cole and his pharmaceutical company to use her new powers for good. But it’s turns out harder than Charley thought to be a “superhero” and a normal girl, especially as she keeps wondering if her upbringing with serial killer parents makes her normal at all.
I don’t want to give too much away with my review, but if you liked book 1 you will absolutely love book 2. And then end up like me waiting eagerly for book 3 in Charley’s adventure. This is a great action packed thriller with a touch of the supernatural. A great read.
** I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ARC provided by NetGalley**

What a great book. Read the first one Bone Music and wanted to read the second one. It was well worth it Strong characters and riveti g action. Highly recommend it.

Such a great read ! Took me less than 24 hours to read it. I was hooked from chapter 1

Thank you for allowing me to read the book in exchange for my honest opinion

This book was amazing. Read very quickly but I did not want it to end. Can’t wait to see what others think. I believe this will be very popular.

Review of Blood Echo by Christopher Rice
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer, Seattle

God-fanatic terrorists and corruption and greed versus the team of Graydon Pharmaceuticals (Cole and Dylan), its super-power drug Zypraxon, its technological field-operational inventions used to stop the female abusers and terrorists, and its weapon, a super-powered Charlotte, leads to an extremely thrilling story. The use of side-comments to illustrate a point or idea is very creative and constructional. Stephen King was always master at this. This is a very well written piece of art, excluding the lack of foundation discussed later. The reader level is probably college-level and because of violence, adult-rated. I especially applaud Mr. Rice for not submitting to the use of sex to supposedly strengthen his reader’s attention. None is needed!

The relationship of the main characters Charlotte, Luke, and Cole is interesting and dynamic. Supplemental characters, such as Dylan/Noah, Bailey, and Marty fill in essential missing information with history and timely interjections solidifying the plot to the point where it flourishes. Is the tunnel just a tunnel? Who are your friends in Altamira? Who are your enemies? The story has its villains and heroes, love and revenge, constant thrills, lies and deception, blame, admittance and forgiveness.

Torturous first 9 chapters! Well, probably my fault though -- I should have read some of the other reviews before I started to read this book and then the first 9 chapters would have made sense and the flow would have been fluent. However, unlike a follow-on book in a series by most authors, this one in the Burning Girl series almost REQUIRES you to have read book 1! A Preface or first chapter of recap from book 1 introducing the basically 3-4 main characters and the Bluebird Projects would have made this a stand alone, great book. Not until Chapter 10, did the author’s story progress meaningfully, dynamically, and continuously into a 5-star performance. Because of the lack of character understanding and plot for 9 chapters, I found the flow very distracting. So, I subtracted 1 star because of the constant struggle to comprehend what was going on and the need to constantly backtrack to reread conversations between characters to relate them to “delayed” information and interactions. Thus, overall, I rated it a 4, which very easily could be a 5 had I read the first book of the series.

So, if I had been the author, I would have clearly introduced the Bluebird Projects and Charlotte’s abilities upon the drug Zypraxon, as well as, the developer of the drug and the role of Cole to punish female abusers. If you didn’t read book 1, then Ed’s role and dismissal will confuse you. Here’s a tip: Ed was Cole’s security manager before he gets fired and has no importance in the story other than someone to blame current facilities and lack of complete security on. The term “Bone Music” obviously came from book 1, as do several other terms you won’t pick up quickly unless you read book 1. Don’t despair if you start with this book 2. From chapter 10 on you will begin to love it. However, annoying in the first 9 chapters are unexplained technologies, like TruGlass, making you discover what it is and its function until later it does get explained. The uses of descriptions, rather than names, like Baby-faced Nerd or Tomboyish female, were odd and annoying, particularly when the characters had no further involvement in the story. They had no significance other than to possibly profile the thinking of Gays – actually tasteless. This continues for about several pages before names are given.

But, overall the book was outstanding. I really enjoyed reading it. I recommend reading Book 1 first. Plus, the ending presents unsuspected events that will commit you into getting the next book.


Kudos Mr. Rice.