Fallen Comrade

Jillian David is a new-to-me author, and I was so intrigued by the synopsis of this novel, listed as a romance, that I requested an advance reader copy, but this novel is hard to classify--it's a highly original, paranormal, second chance, romantic suspense novel on steroids, and it kept me turning pages until dawn, and it gets 5 bleary-eyed stars from this reader.

Keira, the heroine, is on the run and pregnant. Her brother, Brady, who was in Special Forces was killed. She's being looked after by one of this comrades, Mateo, and the two are working to bring down a phony wounded veterans charity she and Mateo have been working for under assumed identities, run by the son of a powerful U.S. senator. But somehow, their boss is on to them and Keira manages to escape with a thumb drive, Mateo is killed when their house is bombed, and thanks to his directions and her eidetic memory, she manages to turn up at the secret and secure hideaway of Jake Zimmerman, her late brother's best friend, who was also once his teammate in Special Forces, and she's about to get them into more trouble and danger than you can possibly imagine, all because of something called Project Morpheus.

Jake's and his teammates all volunteered for the highly classified project, which involved being injected with the Morpheus Virus, designed to alter their DNA and turn the already highly trained and fit soldiers into ultra-fit, bulked-up, super killing machines--the ultimate warriors, except there's a catch--while the experimental virus did do what it was intended to do, the genetic upgrade didn't have an off-switch, and the virus continues to work, causing the men to go into hair-trigger, manic killer-mode at the slightest trigger if they aren't given regular shots of an antidote to slow down the process. They've all gone into hiding because the government wants to reacquire and study them, turning these skilled warriors into human lab-rats.

The men who were given this viral upgrade were advised to get vasectomies, since no one had a clue what would happen should they father a child post-inoculation, but Jake attended the funeral of Keira's brother before having the procedure, and although he's in denial, and assumes that the fetus Keira is carrying is Mateo's, he's in for a rude awakening.

Jake and Keira were high school sweethearts, when she became pregnant with his child in high school--she miscarried, and he joined the military. Later, his marriage to another woman he impregnated and dutifully married, ended when his wife also miscarried--he's a runner, and Keira is a strong enough heroine to finally call him on it--and that's just for starters, in this high-tech, thrill ride of a novel, which is also the first novel in a new series, and it's a series I'll be following, because Ms. David has serious wiring skills, and quite an imagination, and each and every one of the men in the Morpheus Project are going to have to deal with the aftermath of this experiment. Frankly, I can't wait to read those upcoming novels.

As stated, I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.

Really a great book! My only problem is that I wish there was more to read. I liked all of the characters. Anyway, thanks for writing this. I really did enjoy it. I see you.