Review ~ Raze ~ Tillie Cole

To take back life, one must first face death...

One man stripped of his freedom, his morals...his life.

Conditioned in captivity to maim, to kill and to slaughter, prisoner 818 becomes an unremorseful, unrivaled and unstoppable fighter in the ring. Violence is all he knows. Death and brutality are the masters of his fate.

After years of incarceration in an underground hell, only one thought occupies his mind: revenge...bloody, slow and violent revenge.

Revenge on the man who lied.

Revenge on the man who wronged him.

Revenge on the man who condemned him and turned him into this: a rage-fueled killing machine. A monster void of humanity; a monster filled with hate.

And no one will stand in the way of getting what he wants.

One woman stripped of her freedom, her morals...her life.

Kisa Volkova is the only daughter of Kirill ‘The Silencer’ Volkov, head of the infamous ‘Triad’ bosses of New York's Russian Bratva. Her life is protected. In reality, it’s a virtual prison. Her father’s savage treatment of his rivals and his lucrative and coveted underground gambling ring—The Dungeon—ensures too many enemies lurk at their door.

She dreams to be set free.

Kisa has known only cruelty and loss in her short life. As manager of her father’s death match enterprise, only grief and pain fill her days. Her mafia boss father, in her world, rules absolute. And her fiancé, Alik Durov, is no better; the Dungeon’s five-time champion, a stone-cold killer, the treasured son of her father’s best friend, and her very own—and much resented—personal guard. Unrivaled in both strength and social standing, Alik controls every facet of Kisa’s life, dominates her every move; keeps her subdued and dead inside...then one night changes everything.

While working for her church—the only reprieve in her constant surveillance—Kisa stumbles across a tattooed, scarred, but stunningly beautiful homeless man on the streets. Something about him stirs feelings deep within her; familiar yet impossibly forbidden desires. He doesn’t talk. Doesn’t communicate with anyone. He’s a man beyond saving, and a man she must quickly forget...for both their sakes.

But when weeks later, out of the blue and to her complete surprise, he’s announced as the replacement fighter in The Dungeon, Kisa knows she’s in a whole lot of trouble. He’s built, ripped and lethally unforgiving to his opponents, leaving fear in his wake and the look of death in his eyes.

Kisa becomes obsessed with him. Yearns for him. Craves his touch. Needs to possess this mysterious man...this man they call Raze.

Raze served as my introduction to Tillie Cole. I have a contemporary romance by her I’m going to have to read so I can compare it to this dark romance, but I’m fairly certain this was her first foray into the dark side. Although I liked the premise, I found the execution to be a little bumpy.

Kisa is Bratva, the daughter of one of the rulers of the Russian mafia in New York. Years ago she lost the man (boy at the time) who was her soulmate – so destined to be hers that a part of her eye color smudged his iris. Since then, she’s been given to another Bratva guy and she’s set to marry him.

Raze, as he’s known for his ability to raze anyone who opposes him in the cage, is a trained killer. He remembers nothing of his life before the Gulag, where he was trained, tortured, and made to fight for his life – literally – in cage fighting. All his life he’s fought and won in the Gulag in order to get the justice He’s escaped and come to New York to get his vengeance even though he really remembers nothing about why he desires that revenge.

Kisa and Raze meet on the streets where she’s serving food to the homeless. Kisa recognizes him immediately even if she wants to deny the possibility he could be her long-lost soulmate. But the eyes don’t lie. Getting Raze to remember her is the trick. And they’ll have to contend with Kisa’s fiance who doesn’t take too kindly to the possible competition.

Like I said, the premise was promising. However, I had several issues with the story. I felt Kisa’s character was overly dramatic at times. Also, some things were unrealistic considering she was Bratva, and other things were plain OTT. The sex and violence meted out against Kisa seemed more for shock value than aiding in the story. And I also though the dialog was stilted at times.

Despite my issues with Raze, I will give the next installment a try to see if TCole settles into the genre.

About Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Brandee is a mom of 3 and a soon-to-be empty nester. She is also an avid reader, a genre omnivore, and a compulsive one-clicker - but she's in recovery. Besides being a reader, she's also a writer and hopes to divide the vast quantities of spare time she'll soon have between reading and finally publishing her first book.

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