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Crossover #2
CrossBack
A daemonic child-killer is on the loose, leaving dozens of shattered lives in its wake. After recovering from their mauling during the battle with The Pariah, Doyle and his companions are back in the hunt.
Following the trail of supernatural destruction, they soon cross paths with a secretive warrior, lying in wait for her most hated enemy.
Can they trust her? Or will her thirst for vengeance see them all dead?
Following the trail of supernatural destruction, they soon cross paths with a secretive warrior, lying in wait for her most hated enemy.
Can they trust her? Or will her thirst for vengeance see them all dead?
238 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 20, 2015
37 people want to read
About the author
Paul Proffet
3 books2 followersAuthor Bio:
Then.
I grew up in a small mining town in Yorkshire, England where entertainment was relatively thin on the ground. At least it was for a cerebral young fantasist like me. As a result I would dissolve myself in books and comics from a very early age. Some of my fondest memories involve 2000AD or even Marvel or DC stuff. I was given several Roald Dahl books by loving family members and I still cherish them even now. I remember some of my attempts at writing around this time and I’m suddenly glad a standard keyboard doesn’t have a cringe button! Yes they were that bad. I had the enthusiasm back then, but not the life experience that was to spice my later attempts. I found that my earliest stuff was interesting, but it sounded like everything else. It would take another thirty years for me to find my voice and style. I would like to be able to give some credit to my former school and educators, but I won’t.
Now.
Three decades later and I’m sitting here overjoyed. I must look over at my bookshelf around fifty times a day and look proudly at my first published book. CrossOver sits up there next to some real aristocracy within the fantasy writers world, that I can only hope to emulate. But I use the word emulate with some trepidation. I couldn’t hope to match many of them, but if I can just look at Crossover standing there next to them in a bookstore somewhere, then that’s genuinely enough for me. I’ve seen some hardship since my younger days too.
Sometimes through lack of money, sometimes not.
Sometimes through lack of hope, sometimes not.
I’m still standing though, shaky, but defiant.
I live in Cheltenham now with Tanya, the most wonderful person in the world. If it wasn’t for her I’m not sure what state I’d be in.
Later.
CrossOver is out there and I’ve spilt first blood. It’s only been a few months and I’m still struggling with the emotions of it all. As a debut novel it reminds me every day that I can do this, now and forever. I cracked straight on with the sequel, CrossBack, and the first draft is complete. I love spending time with the characters and the story just seems to be spilling out all over the place.
My idea book is filling up too. When the CrossOver trilogy is firmly tucked into bed, I have tons to think about. Am I going post-apocalyptic of steam-punk? Epic Sci-fi is elbowing its way in constantly. There are also some fascinating characters that take up much of my day-dreaming time too.
Who knows how that will play out?
Stay with me and keep the faith.
It only gets better from here.
Paul Proffet.
Then.
I grew up in a small mining town in Yorkshire, England where entertainment was relatively thin on the ground. At least it was for a cerebral young fantasist like me. As a result I would dissolve myself in books and comics from a very early age. Some of my fondest memories involve 2000AD or even Marvel or DC stuff. I was given several Roald Dahl books by loving family members and I still cherish them even now. I remember some of my attempts at writing around this time and I’m suddenly glad a standard keyboard doesn’t have a cringe button! Yes they were that bad. I had the enthusiasm back then, but not the life experience that was to spice my later attempts. I found that my earliest stuff was interesting, but it sounded like everything else. It would take another thirty years for me to find my voice and style. I would like to be able to give some credit to my former school and educators, but I won’t.
Now.
Three decades later and I’m sitting here overjoyed. I must look over at my bookshelf around fifty times a day and look proudly at my first published book. CrossOver sits up there next to some real aristocracy within the fantasy writers world, that I can only hope to emulate. But I use the word emulate with some trepidation. I couldn’t hope to match many of them, but if I can just look at Crossover standing there next to them in a bookstore somewhere, then that’s genuinely enough for me. I’ve seen some hardship since my younger days too.
Sometimes through lack of money, sometimes not.
Sometimes through lack of hope, sometimes not.
I’m still standing though, shaky, but defiant.
I live in Cheltenham now with Tanya, the most wonderful person in the world. If it wasn’t for her I’m not sure what state I’d be in.
Later.
CrossOver is out there and I’ve spilt first blood. It’s only been a few months and I’m still struggling with the emotions of it all. As a debut novel it reminds me every day that I can do this, now and forever. I cracked straight on with the sequel, CrossBack, and the first draft is complete. I love spending time with the characters and the story just seems to be spilling out all over the place.
My idea book is filling up too. When the CrossOver trilogy is firmly tucked into bed, I have tons to think about. Am I going post-apocalyptic of steam-punk? Epic Sci-fi is elbowing its way in constantly. There are also some fascinating characters that take up much of my day-dreaming time too.
Who knows how that will play out?
Stay with me and keep the faith.
It only gets better from here.
Paul Proffet.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 18, 2015
Not only are Paul Proffet’s writing talents back but so are his main characters from “CrossOver” Len Doyle and Briar. In the first book, Len helped Briar with a curse she had and now in “CrossBack” they’re a team who fight off the different kinds of evil; supernatural or normal (normal meaning murderers as opposed to demons). The main focus of this book is a child killer who maybe a regular human or possibly an evil god. As Len and Briar try to track down the killer, they meet up with Heika and Conrad who assist them in finding the killer. But does one of them have a dark side of their own? Will that dark side provide a small bump in the road of catching and killing off the killer or will it provide deadly chaos to everyone including more children?
In “CrossOver” Len and Briar didn’t become a real team until the book was almost half way over. Still, they were able to prove themselves as a great crime fighting or supernatural fighting team. In “CrossBack”, Paul Proffet provided a whole story dedicated to showing just how passionate they are at what they do. Of course, not everyone is perfect and they do show their weaknesses as they did in “CrossOver”. This sequel is what I always want to see in sequels; the original main characters with some new ones but in a different setting and with a plot that is sort of similar to the original. Len and Briar did change a bit from how they were in the original story but they still maintained their true personalities. I hope that Paul Proffet is working on a third installment of the “Cross” series.
In “CrossOver” Len and Briar didn’t become a real team until the book was almost half way over. Still, they were able to prove themselves as a great crime fighting or supernatural fighting team. In “CrossBack”, Paul Proffet provided a whole story dedicated to showing just how passionate they are at what they do. Of course, not everyone is perfect and they do show their weaknesses as they did in “CrossOver”. This sequel is what I always want to see in sequels; the original main characters with some new ones but in a different setting and with a plot that is sort of similar to the original. Len and Briar did change a bit from how they were in the original story but they still maintained their true personalities. I hope that Paul Proffet is working on a third installment of the “Cross” series.
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February 18, 2016Review available on IndieReader.
March 26, 2016
After 2 months I returned to the tale of Doyle and Briar.
The gang now acts kinda like an "exorcist unit" helping people with the same problems Briar had. In the other plane, things are getting epic proportions.
The graphical violence remains great. There are also swearing angels, here called Hangelika, which is a pretty cool name.
The main problem for me was that there are too many characters and this is a short book and they don't get fleshed out.
In the first book, Doyle and Briar are joined by three more people. Then there were the russian mob (that doesn't appear here), the main demon, the tutors, three whole factions, Crommerty and a rogue operative. All of them return, and even more characters join: another girl with mystical powers, her parents, three angels, an human husband to one of the angels, two more demons, the Allfather himself and even people who died in the previous book.
It's just too much for such short space as nobody really has a distinctive voice.
The first book had a lot of tension, as Doyle/Briar were discovering their powers and fighting demons and the russian mafia at the same time. The tension pretty much disappears in this book, as the action takes a lot of time to happen, and the first demon dies without any danger to anyone. Someone dies, but we barely knew who he was anyway.
Only by the second battle at the end of the book we get some tension, and a side character (Heika) steals the spotlight.
It's ok that actually the main characters aren't all powerful and need the help of others, but it wasn't satisfying.
I think the book should have focused more on Doyle/Briar, as they were the main selling points of the books. Mafioso cold killer meets girl who can see the future and is tormented by demons.
We don't know why Doyle was working for the mafia for most of his life, how was Briar's life prior to meeting him, why Doyle and gang are playing Ghostbusters, or even how they are sustaining themselves while doing it, as they don't appear to get paid and nobody seems to work.
Also, Doyle can now manifest his powers in the real world as well and we don't get to know how exactly that happened.
As for some distractions, some incorrect words, mainly the "plains of existence" or the "human plain". This also happens in the first book, and I'm pretty sure the author means "planes of existence". Another distraction is the excessive use of dialogue tags, even when there are only two people talking and we know who is who.
And as the scale of the conflict is increasing, even more characters will appear, but I would have preferred more focus on the main ones, as the cast is already pretty big and most barely have proper page time.
The gang now acts kinda like an "exorcist unit" helping people with the same problems Briar had. In the other plane, things are getting epic proportions.
The graphical violence remains great. There are also swearing angels, here called Hangelika, which is a pretty cool name.
The main problem for me was that there are too many characters and this is a short book and they don't get fleshed out.
In the first book, Doyle and Briar are joined by three more people. Then there were the russian mob (that doesn't appear here), the main demon, the tutors, three whole factions, Crommerty and a rogue operative. All of them return, and even more characters join: another girl with mystical powers, her parents, three angels, an human husband to one of the angels, two more demons, the Allfather himself and even people who died in the previous book.
It's just too much for such short space as nobody really has a distinctive voice.
The first book had a lot of tension, as Doyle/Briar were discovering their powers and fighting demons and the russian mafia at the same time. The tension pretty much disappears in this book, as the action takes a lot of time to happen, and the first demon dies without any danger to anyone. Someone dies, but we barely knew who he was anyway.
Only by the second battle at the end of the book we get some tension, and a side character (Heika) steals the spotlight.
It's ok that actually the main characters aren't all powerful and need the help of others, but it wasn't satisfying.
I think the book should have focused more on Doyle/Briar, as they were the main selling points of the books. Mafioso cold killer meets girl who can see the future and is tormented by demons.
We don't know why Doyle was working for the mafia for most of his life, how was Briar's life prior to meeting him, why Doyle and gang are playing Ghostbusters, or even how they are sustaining themselves while doing it, as they don't appear to get paid and nobody seems to work.
Also, Doyle can now manifest his powers in the real world as well and we don't get to know how exactly that happened.
As for some distractions, some incorrect words, mainly the "plains of existence" or the "human plain". This also happens in the first book, and I'm pretty sure the author means "planes of existence". Another distraction is the excessive use of dialogue tags, even when there are only two people talking and we know who is who.
And as the scale of the conflict is increasing, even more characters will appear, but I would have preferred more focus on the main ones, as the cast is already pretty big and most barely have proper page time.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews