Darby G. Holladay

ABR's full Lupane Legacy audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

Lupane Legacy is an interesting thriller that maintains two story lines coming together seamlessly into one climatic experience. Beginning with Patrick, a Zimbabwean, who survived his village’s massacre when he was five. Patrick has grown up keeping his head down and his eyes open. Waiting for years, he finally has the key information to expose those that massacred his village and family. He does not hesitate to implement his plan to share that information.

The second story line centers on Denham and Kerr who meet and fall in love. He is a former Marine born into a wealthy and established family; her, a member of a business focused intelligence agency hiding behind a banking career. Denham is sucked into the intrigue because of family and his money; Kerr because of her new found love and career. Throughout, intrigue and politics, as well as one man’s obsession blend the two story lines together to create an exciting thriller.

As with any first book of a series there is a lot of “building” characters and history. This can get bogged down at times but overall, it was not too much. I found Kerr and Denham’s passion for one another a little lacking but as I said it takes time to build those relationships.

It was interesting to see how far Patrick was willing to go to get revenge. It makes one wonder how far one would go to get revenge if in the same situation.There were threads within the story that called into question power vs corruption, revenge vs redemption along with relationship issues – work, love, truth and deception.

Several twists made the story interesting and jaw dropping. Nothing in this story was simple – there were so many hidden things that took a little bit to reveal. It was well worth the wait. It was a complicated but a well-constructed story. The characters were well developed although I thought the conversation between Denham and Kerr towards the end was a bit tame.

The narrator did an excellent job. He spoke clearly and kept his characters straight. His voice provided the correct amount of inflection for the emotion needed. Plus he has a pleasant voice.

I had no issues with the production, it was well done! I recommend this audio book. A must read if you enjoy thrillers.

Audiobook provided for review by the publisher.… (meer)

ABR's full Lupane Legacy audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

Lupane Legacy is an interesting thriller that maintains two story lines coming together seamlessly into one climatic experience. Beginning with Patrick, a Zimbabwean, who survived his village’s massacre when he was five. Patrick has grown up keeping his head down and his eyes open. Waiting for years, he finally has the key information to expose those that massacred his village and family. He does not hesitate to implement his plan to share that information.

The second story line centers on Denham and Kerr who meet and fall in love. He is a former Marine born into a wealthy and established family; her, a member of a business focused intelligence agency hiding behind a banking career. Denham is sucked into the intrigue because of family and his money; Kerr because of her new found love and career. Throughout, intrigue and politics, as well as one man’s obsession blend the two story lines together to create an exciting thriller.

As with any first book of a series there is a lot of “building” characters and history. This can get bogged down at times but overall, it was not too much. I found Kerr and Denham’s passion for one another a little lacking but as I said it takes time to build those relationships.

It was interesting to see how far Patrick was willing to go to get revenge. It makes one wonder how far one would go to get revenge if in the same situation.There were threads within the story that called into question power vs corruption, revenge vs redemption along with relationship issues – work, love, truth and deception.

Several twists made the story interesting and jaw dropping. Nothing in this story was simple – there were so many hidden things that took a little bit to reveal. It was well worth the wait. It was a complicated but a well-constructed story. The characters were well developed although I thought the conversation between Denham and Kerr towards the end was a bit tame.

The narrator did an excellent job. He spoke clearly and kept his characters straight. His voice provided the correct amount of inflection for the emotion needed. Plus he has a pleasant voice.

I had no issues with the production, it was well done! I recommend this audio book. A must read if you enjoy thrillers.

Audiobook provided for review by the publisher.… (meer)

This thriller has some interesting elements. It begins with Patrick, a Zimbabwean who was orphaned in a massacre. Decades later he has a job in Intelligence, apparently keeping his head down, but he is in fact working obsessively towards a private goal. Meanwhile in Washington, Joshua, a former Marine, is preparing to go to a concert where he will meet Devon, a woman from his former life. At first the two stories seem unconnected which builds the suspense (unless you’ve already read the synopsis!).

Patrick’s story is interesting. I enjoyed the insights into his working life. I felt really intrigued as we saw where his obsession might take him. The African characters are well drawn and the action really moves in this element of the story with some genuinely shocking plot twists. I was also impressed by the fact that there were no simplistic good guys and bad guys – just shifting alliances and motivations.

I was less gripped by Joshua and Devon. Their relationship lacks chemistry and Joshua’s lengthy account of his renovation of the ancestral pile reads like the gushing prose of a glossy magazine.

The climax of the story is dramatic but I felt that the complex issues that had been raised – revenge and redemption, power and corruption – had not been addressed. There was a lengthy resolution which I thought would follow up on the Zimbabwe story but apparently the author had just realised he forgot to tell us about the bookshelves in Joshua’s home office.

I’m not sure that Joshua and Devon can sustain a series as they are the least interesting people in the book. They are the children of privilege in the world’s most powerful nation. In this story they are not the characters who turn the plot and the roles they do play are largely based on the resources at their disposal rather than any show of skill.

If they are going to have a future in fiction I think they need to develop some deep and interesting flaws pretty quickly. But there is hope. Based on the evidence of this book, the author knows his stuff and has a talent for characterisation which is so often lacking in thrillers.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley.… (meer)