Conspiracy Game (GhostWalkers, Book 4)
by Christine Feehan
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Book Reviews of Conspiracy Game (GhostWalkers, Book 4)
Book Review: arguably one of Feehan's strongest heroines
Summary: 5 Stars
Conspiracy Game is the fourth book in the Ghost Walker series about physically and psychically enhanced warriors, and the women who were the guinea pigs for the military enhancement project. It's by far my favorite of Feehan's series.
Briony Jenkins is a performer in her family's circus act. Unknown to her, she's also one of the young women from the original experiment, who'd been adopted out to a family. Her superior physical skills are a benefit in the act, but her extreme empathy, which causes her to feel the emotions of everyone around her, makes being near people physically painful.
Jack Norton rescues his twin Ken from a torturer, only to be captured and tortured himself. He escapes, seriously injured, and senses another Ghostwalker nearby, who turns out to be Briony. In a nice twist, she saves his life, gets him back to her brothers, the eldest of whom knew Jack in the military.
Her brothers keep telling her to stay away from Jack, but whenever she's near him, she has the novel sensation of being without pain because he's an anchor. And the more she's near him, the more they're drawn to each other. They have a brief romantic interlude, then Jack leaves, intending never to return because of demons in his own past.
Hmmm. How much to reveal? I think I'll stop there. Suffice it to say that Jack and Briony were literally made for each other, and that the evil Dr. Whitney is determined to capture Briony, while both he and the African warlord are after Jack.
The suspense kept me on the edge of my seat, with one dangerous situation after another, but just as exciting was the emotional journey of the characters.
Briony is quite possibly one of the strongest heroines Feehan's ever written. Not only does she have the Ghostwalker enhancements, but she's lived her whole life without any support, with nearly constant pain, and she's learned to work around it. What was most heartbreaking was that her family didn't believe her about the pain--they assumed it was all psychological.
Jack has the opposite problem--he's learned not to feel, and he's afraid to be close to anyone but his twin for fear of what he'll do--partially because of years spent as a sniper, and partially because of a horrible, dark secret in his past. He's also endearing, as is Ken (whose story I hope will be written soon), because he's not movie-star handsome. Both brothers are covered with scars.
This series has developed Feehan's famous quirk: soulmates. But I really cannot object, because I like the way it was explained--Dr. Whitney produced mated pairs deliberately so that he could breed his own army. Plus, the pairs haven't just fallen in line with their programming. They end up together, but there's more to it than just pheromones.
Book Review: Slightly different from the usual Carpathian alpha male
Summary: 4 Stars
Of this series, Mind Game remains my favorite. But this book is a good continuation of the series, and much better than Night Game which was just so-so.
Like a previous reviewer wrote, I too was a little disappointed about the 1 genetic mate thing. Other than the villains being vampires, and the heroes sucking blook and the no sunlight rule. The Game books are almost similar to the Carpathian series. Except in the Game series, the villains are just other genetic guinea pigs done by Dr. Whitney.
I was also disappointed that Jack Norton, the hero of this book, is not part of the original Ghostwalker team from the other books. I would have liked to have some interaction w/ Briony, the heroine, and the other flowered named women that were part of the original 12 girls experimented on.
As for the story, the plot has evolved into more of the battles of the good psychic soldier team versus bad psychic soldier team. Dr. Whitney, the original creator of all the Ghostwalkers is now suspected of being alive and manipulating everyone to mate properly.
Briony's circus act has been hired to perform in Africa, where Jack has been held and tortured. After Briony helps Jack when he escapes, the sparks fly but he leaves her anyways because he doesn't think she'll fit his life and because of his emotional history w/ his father. Unfortunately, there is a consequence from the passion of Jack and Briony, and Dr. Whitney's team will do anything to capture Briony. Hunted and on the run, there is only one option for Briony to go for protection.
The plot of the story was good, but I will say I got kind of tired of hearing how big and bad the Norton twins are from everyone. It was like reading a Carpathian book where someone is constantly harping on how big and bad Gregori or some such is. I couldn't help rolling my eyes everytime that dialogue came up, and it came up often.
I will say that Jack is a little different from all other Feehan alpha males in that he was really harsh and crude when he dumped Briony. And when Briony and her brother confronted Jack, he actually told her brother that he bad worded her. I was a little shocked because I don't remember the author ever having a hero be so mean to his mate before. Jack also is alot more agressive sexually than her previous heros as well. There is actually one scene that made me kind of uncomfortable.
Overall, it was good continuation w/ the books and I will continue to read her work.
Book Review: This wasn't my favorite in the series, but still good.
Summary: 4 Stars
After rescuing his twin brother, Ken, in the jungle, Jack Norton is taken captive and tortured by the same people who captured his brother. Jack and Ken are GhostWalkers, humans that have been physically and psychically enhanced by a sadistic scientist Dr. Whitney. While attempting to escape his captors he encounters Briony Jenkins, who unknowingly is a GhostWalker. Briony has come to Africa with her four brothers who perform as acrobats in their family owned circus. Briony has always been very aware of all of the emotions and feelings of those around her and is bombarded daily with those emotions. She escapes to the outskirts of town to escape this constant bombardment as it inflicts a lot of pain. Briony saves Jack's life and brings him back to her room to tend to his many wounds. She soon finds out that when she is with Jack, she does not suffer this mind torture, as he is an anchor. He is capable of pulling the emotions away form her mind and into himself. For the first time in her life she is able to enjoy some else's company without pain. They are, of course, immediately attracted to one another and Jack begins to have feelings for someone for the first time in his life. However, in spite of his feelings for her, he knows the life he leads and the kind of man he is, he will never be good enough for Briony. Eventually Jack must return home but not before he tells Briony, for her own good, that she would be a liability. It is not until a few months later, after Briony finds out she is pregnant, that she must turn to Jack, as he is the only one who can save her from Dr. Whitney. Dr. Whitney is the man that created the GhostWalker race. Dr. Whitney has engineered the male GhostWalkers to be attracted to a correlating female GhostWalkers.
I enjoy this series so much and always look forward to the next book. They have plenty of action and romance. The action sequences are thoroughly thought out and you feel as if you are a part of it. With all that said, this was not my favorite book. One of the reasons was that she is pregnant and frankly, I like my romance without having to think about her being pregnant. She was constantly touching her rounded stomach. It just spoiled the atmosphere for an escape reality read. Some of the dialogue was sophomoric and I just had to roll my eyes, but it was still an enjoyable read.
Book Review: Christine Never lets you down!
Summary: 5 Stars
I own everyone of her books starting with Dark Prince. I even started collecting each book for each different series because with
everyone its a book within it self but its part of a story line. Conspiracy Game is number 4 in a series of books she has been writing
about The Ghost Walkers.
They are an Elite group of Soldiers from the military that come in to save the day and each other, they never leave a man behind.
In this book they are finding out that the Doctor that gave them their powers also gave them women that will only connect to them
on a level never felt before.
Its like finding out there is a man or woman out there, that a Doctor created in a lab that will only relate, react and be yours!
Its very disturbing but it gives a whole another meaning the words soul mate!
Ghost Walkers are solders thats became part of a elite group, that broke away from the Doctor that gave them their gifts because
they found out he was a very evil man.
He did experiments on girls at a very young age, all unwanted girls, called one his daughter and put the other girls out into the
world not knowing they have these gifts. He daughter is now married to the leader of the Ghost Walkers and fighting along with
them against the man she thought was her father but turns out she too was experimented on. How wicked is that?
These girls are all grown up now and are old enough to have children. The Ghost Walkers are to be the fathers of their children to
create a race of Super Solders.
The stories are filled with love, fighting, sex and finding out there is a soul mate for you. Yet how would you feel if you knew that
your bodies DNA is made to react to one man only? That you won't be able to stand another man touching you, yet you meet a
stranger that drives you so wild that you can't not let him touch you? That you must be with him and you will fight hell to be with
him? That your love you feel is really your body reacting to his on a DNA level? How would you feel?
To find out how one woman reacts to this knowledge, you need to read Conspiracy Game! Then go and pick up the rest
starting with Shadow Game the first book about Ghost Walkers and how they came to be.
Book Review: Puts the first three books to shame
Summary: 5 Stars
"Conspiracy Game" is the book that, for me, changed the Ghostwalker series from an occasional library rental, to a must-own set of books. In this fourth installment, we shift gears away from our original Ghostwalker unit, to focus on one of the SEAL Ghostwalkers, Jack Norton. We met him very briefly in "Night Game (GhostWalkers, Book 3)" but here his story is fleshed out.
The book opens with Jack held prisoner in the Congo. He was taken captive during a rescue mission for his twin brother Ken. Jack has been tortured but manages to escape. Enter our heroine, Briony. She is in the area doing a circus/highwire show with her brothers. She is one of the orphan girls that Dr Whitney did psychic experiments on --and she was adopted out around age 5. Anyway, she stumbles across Jack and realizes they are both "enhanced." She longs to learn more about what/who she is and because Jack is a psychic "anchor," he mutes the loud blasting energy that always surrounds her. She gets him back to her room and nurses him back to health.
Despite his serious injuries, Jack and Briony's attraction for each other cannot be denied and they sleep together. Before his extraction, Jack breaks things off with her. He is harsh, believing she deserves better than him and he should sever all ties. The thing is, he got her pregnant. And once her doctor (who is also Whitney's spy) finds out, she has to go on the run. She goes to Jack for protection.
In the course of the book, we confirm that Whitney has manipulated the Ghostwalker soldiers to match up with his former-orphan girls. Even worse, he has started breeding programs, where he didn't bother to manipulate the women to feel the same attraction the men feel.
This book puts the first three in the series to shame. This one and the next one, "Deadly Game (GhostWalkers, Book 5)" are my very favorites. The Norton brothers are just the right blend of strength and tortured vulnerability. The story is interesting. And the relationship building is masterful. The sex scenes are way hot too.
I loved it. 5 stars.