4 out of 4 stars
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What could be worse than waking up to discover that you had no memory of who you were and that you had no fingers? Nothing could be worse. Except, perhaps unravelling the bandages from your face to see a strange face staring back at you in the mirror. A face that is not your own. So starts the beginning of a series of books titled The Complete Callaghan Tetralogy. This Tetralogy, written by Kim Ekemar, is compiled of four books with the following titles: The Lost Identity Casualties, Where the Bones of a Buried Rat Lie, The Quarry at the Crossroads, and The Tollbooth in the Labyrinth.
Matthias Callaghan III’s life is torn apart due to a misidentification, after his former business partner, Allan Gould, makes a transaction in which he steals a large amount of money from the Russian Mafia. Allan uses Callaghan III’s fathers computer as a proxy, and since father and son have the same name, guess who gets the blame? The Russian Mafia inflict torture on Callaghan and leave him to die. Fortunately, he is found and taken to a hospital in Switzerland that specializes in reconstructive surgeries, such as the one he needs. Here he is given a donors face and prosthetic fingers.
After Callaghan learns the full story, he is intent on only one thing. Revenge. He sets out to extract revenge on all those whom he thinks had a part to play in his downfall. He leaves no stone unturned. With his new face he is able to take on the persona of the person to whom it previously belonged in order to carry out his plans. Although, later in the Tetralogy the tables get turned, and the ones that he took revenge on start to piece the puzzle together and begin their search for him.
The main character, Matthias, is brilliantly created. He is determined, calculating and clever; he concocts plans in which to see his enemies’ downfall. We see that the face transplant changes his character from the person that he was before, and there is anger and bitterness over what has happened.
One thing about the book is that there are quite a lot of characters that the reader needs to keep track of. However, the author does include a page at the front of the book in which it outlines all the main characters names and their roles in the story.
There is no doubt in my mind that this book receives the highest rating. This book gets four out of four stars from me. It had all the right ingredients for a great read: crime, horror, family problems, international intrigue and even romance. You would definitely need to read these books in sequence, as you would miss a lot of information if you did not. Several parts of the story may seem gruesome to some, as it describes the torture that the Russian Mafia put Callaghan through.
I would highly recommend this book to all readers who love a good crime, mystery and horror novel. I would even recommend this book to those who do not usually read this genre; perhaps this book will change their mind. I do not usually read this genre, but I am glad that I chose this book; it kept me intrigued and captivated my imagination.
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The Complete Callaghan Tetralogy
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