LEVERAGE by Nancy S. Thompson

LEVERAGE

(The Mistaken #2)

by Nancy S. Thompson

ARC Review

Released: May 20th, 2014

My rating: 5 of 5 ⭐️





"Hello darkness, my old friend,

I've come to talk with you again,

Because a vision softly creeping,

Left its seeds while I was sleeping,

And the vision that was planted in my brain

Still remains

Within the sound of silence."

~The Sound Of Silence, Simon & Garfunkel

This is the song that started playing through my mind as I was reading LEVERAGE...... Appropriate? You be the judge.

THE MISTAKEN as well as LEVERAGE are absolute MUST READS! 

I often recap the story line in my own words, trying, without venturing beyond the scope of what the author has outline in their synopsis, to give a brief impression of my experience of the book before I go into some detail. I am not going to do that with LEVERAGE for two reasons: First, the synopsis as laid out by Nancy Thompson is more detailed and complete than I would even venture to go and nothing I could write would add to it. Second, there is so much to consider in this story, I frankly don't know where to start. I am still a little shell-shocked from all the developments, the twists and tangles, and the tight feelings they caused in my chest. 

This book was so intense and so overwhelming at times, I needed to pull myself out of it from time to time, in order to allow my body to get rid of the tension it had built up. For most of it I felt like being forced to witness good people being put through a most horrendous set of circumstances, being able to see it coming and having no power to stop it or change its course. 

The story really begins way before the setting of the book THE MISTAKEN, as will become clear in LEVERAGE, a history that has its roots deeper and more entangled than anyone (including me) could have ever envisioned. A family tree so deep-seeded and far-reaching that even years later and many miles distant, its shadow still casts. 

Tyler had made his new start after his troubling involvement with the Bratva's, the Russian Mafia, collapse, and never intended to tap into that darker side of his psyche again. He and his new wife had a baby to look forward to. With the unexpected return of a Bratva heir, and his stepson, his wife and new baby are used to manipulate him, he sells his soul to the devil in order to save them. Even if it means losing all hope for himself.

The internal struggles are gut-wrenching. Not only Tyler's, but there are other highly emotionally charged moments and events that are described so vividly in terms of emotional experience, that I felt every twinge and tear. Nancy Thompson is quite amazing at drawing bone-deep responses from her readers. I will be affected by this book for a while......

GAH!!! So heavy on my heart...... But so brilliantly written and intricately woven. This is NOT a light, rainy afternoon read. Nope. Buckle up for this one, and stock up on the valium, you're gonna need it! Worth every damn twinge, though!

✨A clever, disturbing, tangled, tragic and deeply moving novel.✨

**Copy provided in return for an honest review.**