INTO THE FLAME - Christina Dodd
Darkness Chosen, Book 4
A Perfect 10
Signet
ISBN: 978-451-22466-8
August 2008
Paranormal Romance

Washington State, the Present

Two Konstantine Varinskis. Two men of strength and cunning. The first Konstantine dared to deal with the devil. In exchange for the ability for himself and all his descendants to change at will into fierce predators, he damned all their souls to the fires of hell. For more than a thousand years, the Varinski men preyed on others as beasts and birds of prey. As men, they impregnated any handy woman, willing or not. The twentieth-century Konstantine was no better than his namesake, though perhaps more intelligent. He made the tribe into the most feared -- and prosperous -- army of mercenaries and assassins the world has ever seen. And then he did the unthinkable...he fell in love, repented of his many sins, and married. He now grows wine grapes in the State of Washington as Konstantine Wilder and still loves Zorana, his Romany wife. If the Varinskis ever found them, they would try to kill them in the most painful way possible.

After more than a thousand years, a daughter of the Varinski blood was born. Firebird Wilder is perfectly normal. Her human body cannot change its shape; she cannot transform into a wolf or hawk or panther as her father and brothers, Jasha, Rurik, and Adrik can do. As one might expect, Firebird grew up closely guarded by her family. She was an innocent when she won a scholarship to a university in the East. There she fell in love for the first time and was about to tell her lover he was going to be a father when she discovered his devastating secret; he's able to change into a cougar! Firebird fled home to Washington, taking care not to be followed. She never told her family who fathered her son, but she never forgot Douglas Black.

Douglas Black was abandoned as an infant and given a name. Through luck and a precocious intelligence, he made it through a difficult childhood. He became a cop and was able to uncover bits about his heritage. He was badly hurt when Firebird left him without a word; she couldn't have known who he really is; he should have told her, but he was afraid.

The pact between the Varinskis and the devil is weakening. The three Wilder sons and the women they love have fulfilled three quarters of the conditions needed to break it altogether as seen in their mother's vision. The fourth challenge must be met by the fourth son before the devil can claim the soul of the dying Konstantine. But their fourth child is a daughter!

There are strangers in the Wilder woods; Firebird feels eyes watching her. Who is the stalker...or stalkers? Could Douglas have found her? Have the Russian Varinskis traced the family? In spite of just learning a heartbreaking fact, Firebird is ready to do anything to protect her son and the rest of her family. In truth, every Wilder, by birth or by marriage is ready to do the same. Whatever battle is to come, it's bound to be cataclysmic. After all, every male Wilder's immortal soul is at stake, as well as the lives of the women and children they love. For the evil Varinskis, their power, their whole way of life is challenged, a life they are willing to face hell to maintain. Think of a whole tribe of men and beasts of all kinds coming after you.

Darkness Chosen is definitely NOT one of those series that lose momentum. Every single one of the titles is a stunning tale of love, of sin and redemption, of exciting adventure. I can't even choose a favorite. They are all well-written, original in plot, complete with larger than life characters, balanced between narration and dialogue that bring a reader into the middle of the action, and with entrancing love stories. Somehow, with all the evil and danger involved, Christina Dodd manages to keep the tone of her series upbeat. Anyone looking for a terrific read, a perfect getaway from the mundane, I highly recommend INTO THE FLAME and its predecessors, SCENT OF DARKNESS, TOUCH OF DARKNESS (July and August of 2007), and INTO THE SHADOW (July 2008).

Before I read INTO THE FLAME, I gave last month's INTO THE SHADOW a Perfect 10. Now I'm awarding another to INTO THE FLAME. (If I don't watch out, I'll lose my reputation for being stingy with RRT's P10s.) However, when voting for Best Book of the Year comes around and all P10s are automatically nominated, I'm going to ask our staff to vote for INTO THE FLAME, not because Shadow is a lesser book -- it's not -- but mostly because I feel it's unfair for these two to compete against each other and that INTO THE FLAME, as the stunning conclusion to Darkness Chosen, should have the best chance to win. RRT's P10s are not lightly given, so be sure to dig into this wonderful series. Any one of the four stands alone, and the first three can be read out of order if necessary, but be sure to save INTO THE FLAME for last.

Jane Bowers