Trish Heinrich: Fire&Ice
The second book in the historical urban fantasy Vigilantes superhero series.
Publication year: 2020
Publisher: Beautiful Fire
Format: ebook
The story is set in the year 1963 in the fictional Metro City.
In the previous book Colleen Knight, whose mother Tina is a mob boss, reconnected with her old love Karen and saved powered children from exploitation. Karen works for the Bulwark, an FBI organization which hunts down powered people, and Karen left Colleen to work against the Bulwark from within. I was hoping Karen would return in this book, but she didn’t. It focuses on Colleen and her life in Hide Tide, the area of Metro City where she’s from.
Tina and a mysterious mob boss only known as Von are in a battle for the control of High Tide. Colleen and her mother have a strained relationship at best, but Colleen knows that she must help Tina. Things are going relatively well, until Andrew turns up on the side of Von. Andrew is Colleen’s brother. She thought he died so his return is quite a shock to both her and their mother. Colleen has fire powers and her brother has ice powers. She can’t understand while her formerly shy and gentle brother has become a stone-cold killer. She wants to save him, but she doesn’t know how or if he even wants to be saved.
The police aren’t too easy on High Tide’s poor black community and the mob war has made them even more brutal. Surprisingly to Colleen, she’s very attracted to one cop in particular. Shay Reynolds is a young black woman and the first black female police officer in her precinct. High Tide is her home, too, and becoming a cop was the best way she thought of protecting her people. But the white, male cops belittle her, and the black community is very suspicious and angry at her. She’s also attracted to Colleen, despite the fact that Colleen is a mob boss’s daughter.
This was a great, fast-paced read and an excellent continuation to the series. Colleen is the main POV character but we get POVs from Shay, Tina, and Andrew, as well. We get to know Andrew’s difficult situation and why Tina made the choices which alienated both her children. All characters have depth and are interesting.
The book has two romance subplots. In addition to Colleen and Shay, Tina and her right-hand man are dancing around each other. Tina doesn’t think it would be wise to start a relationship with Rick but she knows he’s loyal and trustworthy. These romances, particularly Colleen and Shay’s relationship, add to the story, but don’t overwhelm it.
The story continues from the previous book, Fahrenheit’s Ghost. It’s not necessary to read that book first, but it’s a very good read and gives further depth to the characters and the setting. While this book doesn’t quite end in a cliffhanger, the story definitely continues and I’m looking forward to that.
Publication year: 2020
Publisher: Beautiful Fire
Format: ebook
The story is set in the year 1963 in the fictional Metro City.
In the previous book Colleen Knight, whose mother Tina is a mob boss, reconnected with her old love Karen and saved powered children from exploitation. Karen works for the Bulwark, an FBI organization which hunts down powered people, and Karen left Colleen to work against the Bulwark from within. I was hoping Karen would return in this book, but she didn’t. It focuses on Colleen and her life in Hide Tide, the area of Metro City where she’s from.
Tina and a mysterious mob boss only known as Von are in a battle for the control of High Tide. Colleen and her mother have a strained relationship at best, but Colleen knows that she must help Tina. Things are going relatively well, until Andrew turns up on the side of Von. Andrew is Colleen’s brother. She thought he died so his return is quite a shock to both her and their mother. Colleen has fire powers and her brother has ice powers. She can’t understand while her formerly shy and gentle brother has become a stone-cold killer. She wants to save him, but she doesn’t know how or if he even wants to be saved.
The police aren’t too easy on High Tide’s poor black community and the mob war has made them even more brutal. Surprisingly to Colleen, she’s very attracted to one cop in particular. Shay Reynolds is a young black woman and the first black female police officer in her precinct. High Tide is her home, too, and becoming a cop was the best way she thought of protecting her people. But the white, male cops belittle her, and the black community is very suspicious and angry at her. She’s also attracted to Colleen, despite the fact that Colleen is a mob boss’s daughter.
This was a great, fast-paced read and an excellent continuation to the series. Colleen is the main POV character but we get POVs from Shay, Tina, and Andrew, as well. We get to know Andrew’s difficult situation and why Tina made the choices which alienated both her children. All characters have depth and are interesting.
The book has two romance subplots. In addition to Colleen and Shay, Tina and her right-hand man are dancing around each other. Tina doesn’t think it would be wise to start a relationship with Rick but she knows he’s loyal and trustworthy. These romances, particularly Colleen and Shay’s relationship, add to the story, but don’t overwhelm it.
The story continues from the previous book, Fahrenheit’s Ghost. It’s not necessary to read that book first, but it’s a very good read and gives further depth to the characters and the setting. While this book doesn’t quite end in a cliffhanger, the story definitely continues and I’m looking forward to that.