Thy Kingdom Come (Deliver Us From Evil Trilogy Book 1)
by Monica James
Blurb
Monsters are real.
When I was five years old, I watched my mother take her last breath—a breath three monsters stole from her.
I never chose this life. My father says it’s my birthright, but all I see is a curse. It’s because of the Kelly name my mum was slain by the Doyles—our enemies in Dublin, the fellas livin’ on borrowed time.
All of Belfast fears my family, especially me. I’m Puck Kelly, otherwise known as Punky; the lad ye don’t want to double cross.
I don’t do feelings or emotions. I never have…until she walks into my world.
Babydoll is a liar and a thief, but I can’t stay away. We both thrive in the darkness because that’s where our demons can play.
No word af a lie, sixteen years later, those monsters still haunt my dreams. But every monster is scared of somethin’…and that somethin’ is me.
No more hiding in the shadows because I’m huntin’ youse.
Run, wee monsters, run.
My Review
The book starts off with 5 year old Punky, male lead, witnessing three men brutally attack, rape and murder his Mom. It’s dark and gruesome. This moment marked the death of his childhood and these three men have changed Punky’s life forever. He vows no matter how long it takes, he’ll find these men and kill them.
The death of Punky’s Mom was suppose to incite a war between the Kelly’s and the Doyle’s, but his Dad, Conner Kelly, never tried to seek revenge on anyone. When Punky asks his Dad why she died and who exactly murdered her, he never answers. Punky grows to hate his Dad for moving on, re-marrying, and having kids with his new wife. Another man who withholds answers is his Uncle, Sean. He actually has a good relationship with him and at one point wishing he was his actual father (be careful what you wish for Punky). However, it’s just another person with answers that are keeping secrets from Punky. Punky finally realizes that if he wants answers he’ll have to find them himself. Now, 16 years later, Punky’s on a mission to finally get answers about his Mom’s death and seek vengeance against the men that ended her life.
Up until this point, which wasn’t that far into the book, I was intrigued. I wanted Punky to find out who murdered his Mom. The setup was good. It was dark, but still held my interest. I liked Punky. I loved that the author wrote in Irish dialect.
Then enters Babydoll and it quickly goes downhill.
This has to be the first book I’ve read where the female lead was a creeper. I did not get a romantic love interest vibe from her, but a woman becoming obsessed with Punky. Acting like they are perfect together even though she has no idea who he is really. You learn that Babydoll is on her own secret mission. To get information from him and give to the Doyle family. She’s just another person lying and keeping secrets from Punky. If she doesn’t do as she’s told, her family will suffer. She claims she wants to save her family and there’s a scene where she endures physical and sexual abuse from a bad guy so I thought for sure she’d stand strong in her conviction that she’s here to save her family, but no! She throws it all away because she wants to help Punky. Umm, but what about saving your family? The only reason you are here! Now, she’s a weak female lead. She had no plan to save her family after she chose Punky. She was going to see if Punky would help save her family in the end. Weak, weak, weak. Babydoll was not well thought out in my opinion as her story turned out to be lame and insignificant. She had no purpose. She was blinded by becoming obsessed with him and forgetting the reason she was really there. I felt she was thrown into the book to provide some steamy scenes with Punky. Which sadly, the first steamy scene was hard to enjoy because of the narrative.
The narrative. Oh, man. I’ve never pinched the bridge of my nose so many times while reading. The narrative just went on and on. Let the dialogue speak for itself. That’s what it’s for! The dialogue can progress the story too. As Punky’s on the hunt for the three men, discovering the truth about his Mom’s death, and fighting an attraction towards a lying Babydoll, the narrative takes over the story. Instead of Punky slowly discovering the answers along the way, himself. It’s a bunch of half answers. Literally! The author would have a character start to reveal a truth only to be interrupted halfway through. Someone cutting them off, a phone ringing, or someone knocking at the door. It happens over and over. I believe the author was going for mystery and intrigue but, for me, it just caused a headache. Everybody was a bad guy at one point in this book. It was a stalling tactic to add more pages to the book. Nothing can be more frustrating than reading a padded book for length.
At 80%, we start to see some concrete answers starting to form. This is where it gets ridiculous and I couldn't help but laugh and add the "Dun, dun, dun". It turns into a bad soap opera that never ends. There is a paternity test because it's revealed Punky's Dad might not actually be his Dad. And because of this, we find Babydoll might be his HALF-SISTER! Barf. I'm not into a book where the love interests have to get over each other because they might be related. I pushed myself to finish this book though because I paid for it. I believe this type of story needs to stay in the soap opera genre though. It sucked out anything modern in this book, making the plot a very dated one. For the grand finale, the real bad guy fakes his death. There are more ridiculous twists to try to keep you guessing but these were the main 3 I couldn't get over. Bad dated soap opera here.
Overall, the dated ridiculous plot and female lead is what ruined it for me.