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Stryker #1
Cleopatra's Vendetta
Royal secrets. Epic lies. This "dangerous" and controversial standalone thriller from international bestselling VanOps author Avanti Centrae is a fast-paced bombshell of a story about truth and courage.
Born a goddess, Cleopatra died a prisoner. But the cobra's deadly kiss was just the beginning...
Bari, Italy, present day. Think tank Special Ops leader Timothy Stryker and his wife Angie, a self-made CEO, haven’t exactly been seeing eye-to-eye. They take a much-needed Italian holiday, but it comes to a shocking end when Angie and their daughter are kidnapped.
Still raw from the death of their infant son, Stryker is desperate to rescue Angie and reconcile their differences. As he works to locate the captors’ lair, he discovers the kidnappers are behind a string of recent assassinations and attempting another high-profile hit in only seven days. But when he learns their plans for his only remaining child, the scab on his heart tears open and blood begins to spill.
Working from inside her brutal captors’ high-security compound, Angie realizes the cabal is hiding an ancient secret using modern propaganda techniques. And as Stryker races hitmen across India, Egypt, and Greece to thwart the next assassination and save his family, he has to connect a series of deadly dots tracing all the way back to the time of Cleopatra. Ultimately, the estranged pair must shake the deeply-buried pillars of western civilization to save their four-year-old daughter from an unspeakable fate.
Fascinating, provocative, original, and timely, Cleopatra's Vendetta is a sizzling novel that paints a disturbing picture of some of the most intricate issues that have plagued humanity’s past…challenges that color our days and provide the blueprint for our future.
Born a goddess, Cleopatra died a prisoner. But the cobra's deadly kiss was just the beginning...
Bari, Italy, present day. Think tank Special Ops leader Timothy Stryker and his wife Angie, a self-made CEO, haven’t exactly been seeing eye-to-eye. They take a much-needed Italian holiday, but it comes to a shocking end when Angie and their daughter are kidnapped.
Still raw from the death of their infant son, Stryker is desperate to rescue Angie and reconcile their differences. As he works to locate the captors’ lair, he discovers the kidnappers are behind a string of recent assassinations and attempting another high-profile hit in only seven days. But when he learns their plans for his only remaining child, the scab on his heart tears open and blood begins to spill.
Working from inside her brutal captors’ high-security compound, Angie realizes the cabal is hiding an ancient secret using modern propaganda techniques. And as Stryker races hitmen across India, Egypt, and Greece to thwart the next assassination and save his family, he has to connect a series of deadly dots tracing all the way back to the time of Cleopatra. Ultimately, the estranged pair must shake the deeply-buried pillars of western civilization to save their four-year-old daughter from an unspeakable fate.
Fascinating, provocative, original, and timely, Cleopatra's Vendetta is a sizzling novel that paints a disturbing picture of some of the most intricate issues that have plagued humanity’s past…challenges that color our days and provide the blueprint for our future.
380 pages, Paperback
Published November 15, 2022
69 people are currently reading
3183 people want to read
About the author
Avanti Centrae
8 books396 followersAvanti Centrae is the author of the international award-winning VANOPS thriller series. She's honored to have won fourteen literary awards, including a Chanticleer Genre grand prize for both The Lost Power and Solstice Shadows. The Doomsday Medallion won Best Political Thriller at the annual BestThrillers.com contest and Cleopatra’s Vendetta took home a gold medal in the Conspiracy Thrillers category at the Readers’ Favorite Awards ceremony.
Her books have hit the Top 100 bestseller lists in the United States, Canadian, and Australian Amazon Kindle stores as well as the Barnes & Noble Nook store.
She’s appeared on ten radio shows, including NPR, and has been featured in dozens of podcasts and interviews. Mystery & Suspense Magazine, Authority Magazine and Thrive Global have published her articles and she was mentioned in Newsweek.
She finds inspiration from her father, who served as a US marine corporal in Okinawa gathering military intelligence and her mom, who loves history. Avanti graduated from Purdue University and has spent time in a spectrum of professions, from lifeguard and raft guide to Silicon Valley IT executive. When not traveling the world or hiking in the Sierra mountains, she’s writing her next thriller in Northern California, helped by her family and distracted by her German shepherds.
Her books have hit the Top 100 bestseller lists in the United States, Canadian, and Australian Amazon Kindle stores as well as the Barnes & Noble Nook store.
She’s appeared on ten radio shows, including NPR, and has been featured in dozens of podcasts and interviews. Mystery & Suspense Magazine, Authority Magazine and Thrive Global have published her articles and she was mentioned in Newsweek.
She finds inspiration from her father, who served as a US marine corporal in Okinawa gathering military intelligence and her mom, who loves history. Avanti graduated from Purdue University and has spent time in a spectrum of professions, from lifeguard and raft guide to Silicon Valley IT executive. When not traveling the world or hiking in the Sierra mountains, she’s writing her next thriller in Northern California, helped by her family and distracted by her German shepherds.
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December 5, 2022
Cleopatra’s Vendetta
by Avanti Centrae is the first book in the Stryker thriller series. What more could I ask for than intrigue, history, science, and mystery in an action thriller? Timothy Stryker, his wife Angie, their daughter Harper, and Angie’s sister Sam are in Italy for a wedding. Tim is hoping to use the holiday time to reconcile with his wife. They have been arguing lately after the death of their infant son.
While Stryker is sent on a mission to Saudi Arabia, Angie and Harper are kidnapped along with a couple of Angie’s friends. Tim is a think tank special operations leader and Angie is the chief executive officer of firm. Stryker is desperate to rescue Angie and Harper. As he works to location the kidnappers, he discovers the same people are behind the recent assassinations in multiple countries and that another one will be occurring in seven days. Meanwhile Angie realizes her kidnappers are hiding an ancient secret and use modern propaganda techniques. Why were she, Harper, and the other women kidnapped? Can she somehow escape?
As Stryker and the other think tank operations team members race from country to country, they have to foil to upcoming assassination attempts, avoid hitmen, and solve a mystery going back to the time of Cleopatra.
Stryker and Angie are strong protagonists with a lot of depth. Their resilience and courage shine throughout the novel, as well as their love for one another. They have weaknesses that challenge them, but also strengths emerge when least expected. Each one experiences growth over the course of the story. Sam’s love of her sister’s family and her love of history provided additional insights into the investigation and the family dynamics.
Centrae does a great job of world-building and makes the locations in the book come alive. She also adds cultural and historical aspects to the places and people making the reading experience an immersive one. This takes talent when the book covers multiple countries. The plot is full of history, intrigue, lies, treachery, mystery, and twists and turns. Themes include views on women, power, propaganda, political power, and personal power. The author’s note includes research done on Cleopatra and the history of propaganda.
Overall, this novel was entertaining, informative, thought-provoking, and fast-paced. This is a new-to-me author and I am looking forward to reading more of her books.
I received a digital copy of this book in a Goodreads Giveaway. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
-----------------------------------------------
My 4.52 rounded to 5 stars review will be coming soon.
While Stryker is sent on a mission to Saudi Arabia, Angie and Harper are kidnapped along with a couple of Angie’s friends. Tim is a think tank special operations leader and Angie is the chief executive officer of firm. Stryker is desperate to rescue Angie and Harper. As he works to location the kidnappers, he discovers the same people are behind the recent assassinations in multiple countries and that another one will be occurring in seven days. Meanwhile Angie realizes her kidnappers are hiding an ancient secret and use modern propaganda techniques. Why were she, Harper, and the other women kidnapped? Can she somehow escape?
As Stryker and the other think tank operations team members race from country to country, they have to foil to upcoming assassination attempts, avoid hitmen, and solve a mystery going back to the time of Cleopatra.
Stryker and Angie are strong protagonists with a lot of depth. Their resilience and courage shine throughout the novel, as well as their love for one another. They have weaknesses that challenge them, but also strengths emerge when least expected. Each one experiences growth over the course of the story. Sam’s love of her sister’s family and her love of history provided additional insights into the investigation and the family dynamics.
Centrae does a great job of world-building and makes the locations in the book come alive. She also adds cultural and historical aspects to the places and people making the reading experience an immersive one. This takes talent when the book covers multiple countries. The plot is full of history, intrigue, lies, treachery, mystery, and twists and turns. Themes include views on women, power, propaganda, political power, and personal power. The author’s note includes research done on Cleopatra and the history of propaganda.
Overall, this novel was entertaining, informative, thought-provoking, and fast-paced. This is a new-to-me author and I am looking forward to reading more of her books.
I received a digital copy of this book in a Goodreads Giveaway. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
-----------------------------------------------
My 4.52 rounded to 5 stars review will be coming soon.
September 14, 2022
Knowing she was about to die and knowing that she wanted to go in her own way, Cleopatra hid a secret message in a room that was never discovered. What exactly was in that message?
Cut to today where Tim Stryker and his wife and daughter are on vacation. There is trouble in the marriage as they had recently lost a child and Angie is drinking quite heavily bringing the couple into many arguments, one of which sets the wheels in motion for what happens when out drinking Angie and her cohorts are kidnapped along with her daughter.
Stryker is devastated and finds himself on the trail of the kidnappers, discovering they are the ones responsible for the recent assassinations of key figures around the world.
What is the connection between all of these occurrences and will Stryker rescue his family and reconcile with Angie?
Lots of action as the author deftly ties the strings that seemed to dangle in this story. I listened to it and was engaged in the telling.
Thank you to Avanti Centrae, and NetGalley for a copy of this thriller.
January 9, 2023
Thank you Avanti Centrae for this arc copy in exchange for my honest review.
This book was definitely outside of my comfort zone and probably one of the biggest reasons it took me so long to finish it. It was action packed and the Cleopatra element was interesting. I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narrator.
The book opens with Cleopatra on the brink of death desperate to hide a secret message in a very hidden room. We jump into the present as Tim and his family on our vacation. They are far from a happy family dealing with the loss of one of their children and tensions are high. Angie and their daughter get kidnapped and Tim is determined to find them.
He soon realizes that there is something bigger at play here as the kidnappers are responsible for the assassination of many world leaders. Will Tim be able to rescue his family?
This book was definitely outside of my comfort zone and probably one of the biggest reasons it took me so long to finish it. It was action packed and the Cleopatra element was interesting. I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narrator.
The book opens with Cleopatra on the brink of death desperate to hide a secret message in a very hidden room. We jump into the present as Tim and his family on our vacation. They are far from a happy family dealing with the loss of one of their children and tensions are high. Angie and their daughter get kidnapped and Tim is determined to find them.
He soon realizes that there is something bigger at play here as the kidnappers are responsible for the assassination of many world leaders. Will Tim be able to rescue his family?
January 17, 2023
I always love a good thriller, especially after finishing a Dan Brown book and looking for another that will be just as entertaining. When I saw Cleopatra’s Vendetta by Avanti Centrae, never having read the author before, I was intrigued. How can a reader pass up a thriller with a well known Egyptian Queen worked into the plot? And, the book turned out to have some exciting notions about Cleopatra, starting with her defeat by the Roman heir “to the throne” (so to speak, as anyone would have been as Julius Caesar’s heir) Octavian. Being a great fan of Rome on HBO, I stayed with the two seasons engrossed, until the end, and this book brought me back to the memories of what was portrayed there. As ROME ends with Octavian’s defeat of Cleopatra and Marc Anthony, the beginning picks up as Cleoparta is angered over Octavian and his defeat.
And, while I love a good television series, a good book is always better as it exudes much more than a tv show. We can know the emotions of characters and their very thoughts rather than interpreting body language and tone of voice (among other things) to get other information, on screen. I loved reading the sentence “This sultry city put the bastard’s rat-infested town to shame” as Cleopatra describes the last year, waiting for Octavian to invade her beautiful city. Her ultimate end. And, Cleopatra, a woman portrayed (and, I believe, quite right, by many authors, as one who knew the decisions she was making were the correct ones, never one to question what she needed to do) knew this, that there would be no concessions made for her by Octavian. She was too dangerous to the boy, as her son was.
Cleopatra knows that if she is captured, or if she turns herself over to Octavian, she will only find herself taken to Rome, in chains, to be paraded through the streets wearing only golden shackles. So she sets in motion a last, desperate, plan. The cobra, a sign of “royalty and divine authority” will end Cleopatra, she will not let this boy plan her end, this “son of Caesar” (by Roman decree). And, here, in Cleopatra’s Vendetta we read her last moments. Her final journey begins. And Octavian puts an end to a two thousand year old war, the struggle between Egypt and Rome.
Before Cleopatra’s end she is told that her spies have finally found the stronghold to Octavian’s cult known as the sons of Adam. It is on an island that they hadn’t known about until these last moments, before Cleopatra’s death. This victory, finally defeating the careful, sneaky, supporters of Rome, of Octavian, is ever so sweet to Cleopatra, before her death. She tells her own man to record where the supporters are located and to seal and hide the information. He is then given orders to go, buy a coffin for himself and join his great Queen in death. And this, a great honor for him.
Cleopatra would leave a vault of treasures despite her life being over, despite the end of Egypt. Among many riches, it would contain much information about the sons of Adam. Everything she had been able to obtain about their “hundreds of years or propaganda and abuse,” for future eyes to discover. Hopefully this would help to destroy the sons of Adam, in the future. And, when a kidnapping happens many years into the future it may be just the discovery needed to help solve the crime, so that Timothy Stryker can get his wife back.
Angie is vacationing with her daughter Zoe and her friend and their child. When they go to a pub in Bari, Italy, to relax and have drinks, they find themself having been drugged and eventually are transported to an unknown location. When Tim Stryker finds out about the disappearance he begins to put the pieces together and the hidden mystery that Cleopatra has left, will it be of any help, any aide, in the end? And, if he can piece together what Cleopatra has left, about the sons of Adam, how will this ancient hidden cult be of any help, all those hundreds of years later?
Cleopatra’s Vendetta is a fast-paced thriller that, once you begin, you won’t be able to put down. If you are a fan of the Queen, a History buff, just have a love of excitement, intrigue, and mystery you are going to want to obtain a copy! I not only enjoyed this part of the storyline but also the fact that, at the time of his wife's abduction, the pair are going through an emotional crisis, the death of their child. It really shows how, when important things happen, couples bond together, take care of what is really important, rather than things that can be overcome.
The death of a child is something that many couples cannot overcome, after the loss. A little over 90% don't survive, end the relationship. In this story the couple were struggling with that same pain. And, in losing one another, in having to think about never seeing their loved one again, readers gain insight into what should be important. Losing a child is hard, I have experienced it myself. And, the relationship didn't survive. But, had something happened where we realized how important the other was to us, a dire situation such as the couple here experience, maybe things would have been different. Not that I'd ever wish to be kidnapped or that the father of the child that passed would have been. But, twenty years later, we still matter to one another, just as friends, we still have a connection. There was something good there. And, I wish he, I, had worked harder at the time to see that.
Though this is a non-fiction thriller that deals with concepts far outside what people normally deal with in their lives, I would express the importance of reading it for couples who are thinking about ending relationships. If not only to ask the question, “what if”? Do I love someone that much? What would happen if now, at this moment, my significant other had to save me in some crisis? Would they? And, even if the odds are against them, would they do everything humanly possible to save me? Because twenty years after our son passed, not many people are in our lives that have been there that long, my ex and I. And, we are both in situations that cannot be reversed, he with a wife and children and I, the same. However, I believe we both know now that there was something good there, something we should have tried harder to preserve. And, when I read this book I almost wished that something happened that we could have overcome together, that made us see the other's importance, so that we could have seen how we really had something worthwhile and just needed to get over a hump, rather than part.
Some things are meant to be lasting in life and sometimes we don't see that until it is too late. However fictional this book helped me look at a lot of things in my life because losing a child is hard and, when you have lost one, even when you read about another woman in that situation, it always brings up issues. I am really glad the book had a successful outcome and wish I could have read it, learned these things a long time ago. Maybe I would have done something different.
But there is a happy ending for Cleopatra’s Vendetta, you get to read a lot about the cult of the sons of Adam, discover what they have done, how they evolved and the terrible things they are doing, now. So ironic, the name of the group, you think, after you are done. As I mentioned, the book was rewarding on so many levels, an adventure into myself, the past, a subject I love to read about (Cleopatra and Rome). Anyone who loves a fun adventure wants to look here!
Happy Reading!
And, while I love a good television series, a good book is always better as it exudes much more than a tv show. We can know the emotions of characters and their very thoughts rather than interpreting body language and tone of voice (among other things) to get other information, on screen. I loved reading the sentence “This sultry city put the bastard’s rat-infested town to shame” as Cleopatra describes the last year, waiting for Octavian to invade her beautiful city. Her ultimate end. And, Cleopatra, a woman portrayed (and, I believe, quite right, by many authors, as one who knew the decisions she was making were the correct ones, never one to question what she needed to do) knew this, that there would be no concessions made for her by Octavian. She was too dangerous to the boy, as her son was.
Cleopatra knows that if she is captured, or if she turns herself over to Octavian, she will only find herself taken to Rome, in chains, to be paraded through the streets wearing only golden shackles. So she sets in motion a last, desperate, plan. The cobra, a sign of “royalty and divine authority” will end Cleopatra, she will not let this boy plan her end, this “son of Caesar” (by Roman decree). And, here, in Cleopatra’s Vendetta we read her last moments. Her final journey begins. And Octavian puts an end to a two thousand year old war, the struggle between Egypt and Rome.
Before Cleopatra’s end she is told that her spies have finally found the stronghold to Octavian’s cult known as the sons of Adam. It is on an island that they hadn’t known about until these last moments, before Cleopatra’s death. This victory, finally defeating the careful, sneaky, supporters of Rome, of Octavian, is ever so sweet to Cleopatra, before her death. She tells her own man to record where the supporters are located and to seal and hide the information. He is then given orders to go, buy a coffin for himself and join his great Queen in death. And this, a great honor for him.
Cleopatra would leave a vault of treasures despite her life being over, despite the end of Egypt. Among many riches, it would contain much information about the sons of Adam. Everything she had been able to obtain about their “hundreds of years or propaganda and abuse,” for future eyes to discover. Hopefully this would help to destroy the sons of Adam, in the future. And, when a kidnapping happens many years into the future it may be just the discovery needed to help solve the crime, so that Timothy Stryker can get his wife back.
Angie is vacationing with her daughter Zoe and her friend and their child. When they go to a pub in Bari, Italy, to relax and have drinks, they find themself having been drugged and eventually are transported to an unknown location. When Tim Stryker finds out about the disappearance he begins to put the pieces together and the hidden mystery that Cleopatra has left, will it be of any help, any aide, in the end? And, if he can piece together what Cleopatra has left, about the sons of Adam, how will this ancient hidden cult be of any help, all those hundreds of years later?
Cleopatra’s Vendetta is a fast-paced thriller that, once you begin, you won’t be able to put down. If you are a fan of the Queen, a History buff, just have a love of excitement, intrigue, and mystery you are going to want to obtain a copy! I not only enjoyed this part of the storyline but also the fact that, at the time of his wife's abduction, the pair are going through an emotional crisis, the death of their child. It really shows how, when important things happen, couples bond together, take care of what is really important, rather than things that can be overcome.
The death of a child is something that many couples cannot overcome, after the loss. A little over 90% don't survive, end the relationship. In this story the couple were struggling with that same pain. And, in losing one another, in having to think about never seeing their loved one again, readers gain insight into what should be important. Losing a child is hard, I have experienced it myself. And, the relationship didn't survive. But, had something happened where we realized how important the other was to us, a dire situation such as the couple here experience, maybe things would have been different. Not that I'd ever wish to be kidnapped or that the father of the child that passed would have been. But, twenty years later, we still matter to one another, just as friends, we still have a connection. There was something good there. And, I wish he, I, had worked harder at the time to see that.
Though this is a non-fiction thriller that deals with concepts far outside what people normally deal with in their lives, I would express the importance of reading it for couples who are thinking about ending relationships. If not only to ask the question, “what if”? Do I love someone that much? What would happen if now, at this moment, my significant other had to save me in some crisis? Would they? And, even if the odds are against them, would they do everything humanly possible to save me? Because twenty years after our son passed, not many people are in our lives that have been there that long, my ex and I. And, we are both in situations that cannot be reversed, he with a wife and children and I, the same. However, I believe we both know now that there was something good there, something we should have tried harder to preserve. And, when I read this book I almost wished that something happened that we could have overcome together, that made us see the other's importance, so that we could have seen how we really had something worthwhile and just needed to get over a hump, rather than part.
Some things are meant to be lasting in life and sometimes we don't see that until it is too late. However fictional this book helped me look at a lot of things in my life because losing a child is hard and, when you have lost one, even when you read about another woman in that situation, it always brings up issues. I am really glad the book had a successful outcome and wish I could have read it, learned these things a long time ago. Maybe I would have done something different.
But there is a happy ending for Cleopatra’s Vendetta, you get to read a lot about the cult of the sons of Adam, discover what they have done, how they evolved and the terrible things they are doing, now. So ironic, the name of the group, you think, after you are done. As I mentioned, the book was rewarding on so many levels, an adventure into myself, the past, a subject I love to read about (Cleopatra and Rome). Anyone who loves a fun adventure wants to look here!
Happy Reading!
August 25, 2022
What does Cleopatra and a Special Ops commander have in common? More than you would imagine. Tim Stryker is the leader of an elite Special Ops team. He is in Italy, with his wife, a smart, driven, powerful CEO. They are on holidays with their daughter, Harper, trying to save their fast crumbling marriage following the death of their infant son. The holiday comes to an abrupt halt when Angie and Harper are kidnapped.
Stryker will stop at nothing to get his family back. But this is more than a simple kidnapping. As his team gets to work on the case, working to find where the kidnappers base is, they discover a connection to a recent string of assassinations. While Stryker and team are working from the outside, Angie is using her smarts to work on escaping from the kidnappers' compound. She unearths a dark secret, linking the group to a plot that connects all the way back to Cleopatra herself.
This book managed to weave two completely seemingly unrelated, and unrelatable, topics together in a fascinating manner. As a thriller, it would have been action paced and engaging, but not the most memorable of reads. But weaving in the historical fiction, and the mystery wound throughout was a tantalising hook, keeping you completely vested in the outcome throughout.
Think Indiana Jones, meets Dan Brown, meets National Treasure, meets Liam Neeson in Taken. Then stir it all up, add in some kick ass female characters, and you have a page turner on your hands!
*I received this book from NetGalley for review, but all opinions are my own.
Stryker will stop at nothing to get his family back. But this is more than a simple kidnapping. As his team gets to work on the case, working to find where the kidnappers base is, they discover a connection to a recent string of assassinations. While Stryker and team are working from the outside, Angie is using her smarts to work on escaping from the kidnappers' compound. She unearths a dark secret, linking the group to a plot that connects all the way back to Cleopatra herself.
This book managed to weave two completely seemingly unrelated, and unrelatable, topics together in a fascinating manner. As a thriller, it would have been action paced and engaging, but not the most memorable of reads. But weaving in the historical fiction, and the mystery wound throughout was a tantalising hook, keeping you completely vested in the outcome throughout.
Think Indiana Jones, meets Dan Brown, meets National Treasure, meets Liam Neeson in Taken. Then stir it all up, add in some kick ass female characters, and you have a page turner on your hands!
*I received this book from NetGalley for review, but all opinions are my own.
August 4, 2022
Another winning effort by Avanti Centrae! A great start to another action filled series. Once again, the depth and amount of historical information shows that the author has done her research. It is great to see the main characters develop and mature as this story unfolds. This is yet another page turner with lots of adventure, action and twists.
Thank you to NetGalley and Thundercreek Press who provided me with a copy of this book. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley and Thundercreek Press who provided me with a copy of this book. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
September 9, 2022
Cleopatra’s Vendetta
Avanti Centrae
This tale begins many years ago when Cleopatra refused to be humiliated. She plotted and planned her own demise determined to die on her own terms. She was a very intelligent woman; she carefully planned her revenge and put the plan in action before calling for the asp.
Tim Stryker and his wife Angie are in Italy along with their daughter Harper. The couple recently lost their infant son, and their marriage is suffering; Angie has turned to the bottle to drown her pain. Angie is a CEO, intelligent, focused, and strong. Stryker is the commander of a Special Ops team.
When Angie and Harper are abducted Stryker and his team begin the search, determined to find his family. They soon realize there is a connection between the kidnapping and a string of assassinations. Angie is frantic to protect her daughter. There are several women on the island where they are held captive. Food is withheld the captives must survive on water. Angie knows Tim will search for her and Harper, but she will do all she can to defeat the cruel men holding them. Angie discovers a connection between the Sons of Adam, Cleopatra and a plot to bring down the United States.
WOW! What a tale. Author Avanti Centrae transports readers to the past where they witness the last few hours of Cleopatra’s life. It is obvious that author Centrae spent much time researching Cleopatra’s life. Cleopatra was an amazing woman, intelligent, powerful and quite a trickster. Her story is interwoven into the abduction of Angie and Harper.
This is a fast-paced tale. I enjoyed watching Angie as she came to realize she had a drinking problem. I also enjoyed how she turned the tables on the Sons of Adam. Tim is a multidimensional character. The love he has for his wife and child is strong. He came to realize that neither he nor Angie had truly allowed themselves to mourn their son. The secondary characters were well fleshed out and added much to the plot. I believe this is the first installment of a new series.
Avanti Centrae
This tale begins many years ago when Cleopatra refused to be humiliated. She plotted and planned her own demise determined to die on her own terms. She was a very intelligent woman; she carefully planned her revenge and put the plan in action before calling for the asp.
Tim Stryker and his wife Angie are in Italy along with their daughter Harper. The couple recently lost their infant son, and their marriage is suffering; Angie has turned to the bottle to drown her pain. Angie is a CEO, intelligent, focused, and strong. Stryker is the commander of a Special Ops team.
When Angie and Harper are abducted Stryker and his team begin the search, determined to find his family. They soon realize there is a connection between the kidnapping and a string of assassinations. Angie is frantic to protect her daughter. There are several women on the island where they are held captive. Food is withheld the captives must survive on water. Angie knows Tim will search for her and Harper, but she will do all she can to defeat the cruel men holding them. Angie discovers a connection between the Sons of Adam, Cleopatra and a plot to bring down the United States.
WOW! What a tale. Author Avanti Centrae transports readers to the past where they witness the last few hours of Cleopatra’s life. It is obvious that author Centrae spent much time researching Cleopatra’s life. Cleopatra was an amazing woman, intelligent, powerful and quite a trickster. Her story is interwoven into the abduction of Angie and Harper.
This is a fast-paced tale. I enjoyed watching Angie as she came to realize she had a drinking problem. I also enjoyed how she turned the tables on the Sons of Adam. Tim is a multidimensional character. The love he has for his wife and child is strong. He came to realize that neither he nor Angie had truly allowed themselves to mourn their son. The secondary characters were well fleshed out and added much to the plot. I believe this is the first installment of a new series.
October 7, 2022
First of all, I would like to thank Thunder Creek Press, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Audiobooks, Avanti Centrae, and NetGalley for allowing me to read/listen to this ARC free for an honest review.
My initial interest in this book was its historical aspect. It was refreshing to see a different approach to Cleopatra, as a beautiful woman with a lot of smarts--perhaps even a bit of a trickster--instead of the time and tried one of her being a "romantic femme fatale" who committed suicide by an asp's bite. It was obvious that Avanti did a lot of research, not only about Cleopatra but also about artificial intelligence deepfakes and modern propaganda techniques, military think tanks, and sadly the massive worldwide issues regarding sex-trafficking. Being able to weave a story around these topics made for a good read. I give that part of this book 5 stars.
However, I pulled back to an overall 4 star rating only because I had some trouble with one of the main characters. For me, perhaps not for other readers, maybe I was being overly critical, but in the case of one of Angie, I felt perhaps too much emphasis was placed on her difficulties dealing with the tragic death of a newborn and finding "comfort" from a bottle. instead of being able to properly grieve. I'm not being unsympathetic here either. It took away from the importance of her having been kidnapped and facing possibly being sold off as part of an international sex-trafficking ring. For me, it just felt like it was being way overused for the story the way it kept being brought up so much. Perhaps though, she was meant to be a weaker female character, versus her very strong sister, Sam, and through her experiences with the sex traffickers, made stronger.
Nevertheless, the way the other military characters, such as Rey, was portrayed was a bit better and I was able to empathize better with them and their PTSD. To me, it wasn't as overdone. For that reason, I think I could have been more sympathetic to Angie had it not seemed like she came off with "woe is me" and she could have been a much stronger lead female character, such as the secondary characters of Luna and Zola (seemed to me) were. That's not to say that Angie didn't have her moments.
Despite how I felt about a few of the characters, the over all story had a good pace for the action scenes, which made Cleopatra's Vendetta a strong book.
I wasn't sure how much of the book I would actually read as an e-book versus listening to the audiobook version. I wound up listen to about 60-70 percent of more, so I should also say that the narrator, Tim Campbell did a wonderful reading, so it was a pleasure for me to listen to the story. He did an excellent job with voicing the characters and using accents.
So if you either read an e-book, hardcopy, or listen to the audiobook, overall, I think if you enjoy historical fiction with some intrigue, mystery, suspense, adventure, international locations, and a race-against-time elements, you will enjoy Cleopatra's Vendetta.
My initial interest in this book was its historical aspect. It was refreshing to see a different approach to Cleopatra, as a beautiful woman with a lot of smarts--perhaps even a bit of a trickster--instead of the time and tried one of her being a "romantic femme fatale" who committed suicide by an asp's bite. It was obvious that Avanti did a lot of research, not only about Cleopatra but also about artificial intelligence deepfakes and modern propaganda techniques, military think tanks, and sadly the massive worldwide issues regarding sex-trafficking. Being able to weave a story around these topics made for a good read. I give that part of this book 5 stars.
However, I pulled back to an overall 4 star rating only because I had some trouble with one of the main characters. For me, perhaps not for other readers, maybe I was being overly critical, but in the case of one of Angie, I felt perhaps too much emphasis was placed on her difficulties dealing with the tragic death of a newborn and finding "comfort" from a bottle. instead of being able to properly grieve. I'm not being unsympathetic here either. It took away from the importance of her having been kidnapped and facing possibly being sold off as part of an international sex-trafficking ring. For me, it just felt like it was being way overused for the story the way it kept being brought up so much. Perhaps though, she was meant to be a weaker female character, versus her very strong sister, Sam, and through her experiences with the sex traffickers, made stronger.
Nevertheless, the way the other military characters, such as Rey, was portrayed was a bit better and I was able to empathize better with them and their PTSD. To me, it wasn't as overdone. For that reason, I think I could have been more sympathetic to Angie had it not seemed like she came off with "woe is me" and she could have been a much stronger lead female character, such as the secondary characters of Luna and Zola (seemed to me) were. That's not to say that Angie didn't have her moments.
Despite how I felt about a few of the characters, the over all story had a good pace for the action scenes, which made Cleopatra's Vendetta a strong book.
I wasn't sure how much of the book I would actually read as an e-book versus listening to the audiobook version. I wound up listen to about 60-70 percent of more, so I should also say that the narrator, Tim Campbell did a wonderful reading, so it was a pleasure for me to listen to the story. He did an excellent job with voicing the characters and using accents.
So if you either read an e-book, hardcopy, or listen to the audiobook, overall, I think if you enjoy historical fiction with some intrigue, mystery, suspense, adventure, international locations, and a race-against-time elements, you will enjoy Cleopatra's Vendetta.
August 31, 2022
#CleopatrasVendetta #AvantiCentrae #TimCampbell #ThunderCreekPress #IBPA #NetGalley
**SPOILERS**
This is a rollicking tale of action and adventure spanning continents and centuries.
When Tim Stryker with Special Ops learns that his wife Angie and daughter Harper have been kidnapped by an unscrupulous group called the Sons of Adam, he initiates a frantic search across the globe.
Tim learns that this shadowy group has existed for centuries, waging a covert war on women, trying to demean and belittle them by molding public opinion and influencing narratives, using propaganda, misinformation and in the modern era, deep fakes.
This brand of virulent misogyny takes various forms, one of which is to kidnap and brutalize women and children.
Even Cleopatra was not spared this defamation and how she chose to deal with this on her own terms, gives an interesting dimension to this story.
Tim with his team races against time to unravel the clues from past and present and save his wife and child.
This nefarious group also plans to sow chaos and disruption on a global scale by assassinating key figures and seeding conspiracies and violent discontent.
Will he be able to stop this evil?
This was an entertaining ALC with familiar overtones.
The narration is expressive.
**SPOILERS**
This is a rollicking tale of action and adventure spanning continents and centuries.
When Tim Stryker with Special Ops learns that his wife Angie and daughter Harper have been kidnapped by an unscrupulous group called the Sons of Adam, he initiates a frantic search across the globe.
Tim learns that this shadowy group has existed for centuries, waging a covert war on women, trying to demean and belittle them by molding public opinion and influencing narratives, using propaganda, misinformation and in the modern era, deep fakes.
This brand of virulent misogyny takes various forms, one of which is to kidnap and brutalize women and children.
Even Cleopatra was not spared this defamation and how she chose to deal with this on her own terms, gives an interesting dimension to this story.
Tim with his team races against time to unravel the clues from past and present and save his wife and child.
This nefarious group also plans to sow chaos and disruption on a global scale by assassinating key figures and seeding conspiracies and violent discontent.
Will he be able to stop this evil?
This was an entertaining ALC with familiar overtones.
The narration is expressive.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 8, 2022
Really enjoyed listening to this audio book. Tim Campbell did a good job and lent his voice to at least a dozen characters, no easy feat! There were a few moments when I didn't think the accent worked but it couldn't be an easy job getting everything right.
The story itself was very good, what's not to like when you're chasing Cleopatra's treasure? The blend of historical fact and the fiction Avanti brought was spot on. I always think when reading a book that is based on historical fact that if it makes me want to learn more on google and whether something really happened means that I have/had a vested interested in a book. I felt like this at times with Cleopatra's Vendetta.
Great action scenes and a fantastic introduction to a new Stryker series.
The story itself was very good, what's not to like when you're chasing Cleopatra's treasure? The blend of historical fact and the fiction Avanti brought was spot on. I always think when reading a book that is based on historical fact that if it makes me want to learn more on google and whether something really happened means that I have/had a vested interested in a book. I felt like this at times with Cleopatra's Vendetta.
Great action scenes and a fantastic introduction to a new Stryker series.
October 4, 2022
I listened to the audiobook provided by the publisher…
Full review: http://looneybooks79.blog/2022/10/04/...
Full review: http://looneybooks79.blog/2022/10/04/...
July 30, 2023
Published: 11/15/22
Narrated by Tim Campbell
Thank you NetGalley and Thunder Creek Press, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Audiobooks for accepting my request to read and review Cleopatra's Vendetta.
I found this to be 3.5 stars, and am rounding up to four. Tim Campbell was a solid five stars. Should there be another audio Stryker Thriller I'm in with Tim. If I didn't know his name, I would recognize a change in narrators; he was perfect.
The story itself was good and centered around current sociopolitical problems. (Human/sexual trafficking.) There were several hold my breath moments, a few I can't do this, why do I insist on reading thrillers like this, tears, and floods of relief. The book checked all my emotions.
The Stryker and wife relationship was a little contrived. This has been done so many times, I find it annoying. Either have a solid relationship or develop a plan to repair or dissolve the marriage. There are other ways to feign marital problems besides affairs/death of a child. My other problem was the character relationships of those working together to stop the traffickers. This is an adult mystery/thriller, historical fiction book, not a romance book.
This was a three star read for me. Stryker and his daughter chatting at the end earned the 0.5 bump and rounding to 4. I found it beautifully done and a lovely way to clear the horrible sociopolitical true paths aside, not forgotten.
After their chat I felt I could have misunderstood or misinterpreted some relationships.
The Cleopatra historical content was okay. I laughed and gasped. I don't know enough about Cleopatra to distinguish fact from author's creative licensing. The Author Notes provide resources should I or another reader wish to delve deeper.
The ending was appropriate as well as satisfying. I am going to patiently wait for book #2.
Narrated by Tim Campbell
Thank you NetGalley and Thunder Creek Press, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Audiobooks for accepting my request to read and review Cleopatra's Vendetta.
I found this to be 3.5 stars, and am rounding up to four. Tim Campbell was a solid five stars. Should there be another audio Stryker Thriller I'm in with Tim. If I didn't know his name, I would recognize a change in narrators; he was perfect.
The story itself was good and centered around current sociopolitical problems. (Human/sexual trafficking.) There were several hold my breath moments, a few I can't do this, why do I insist on reading thrillers like this, tears, and floods of relief. The book checked all my emotions.
The Stryker and wife relationship was a little contrived. This has been done so many times, I find it annoying. Either have a solid relationship or develop a plan to repair or dissolve the marriage. There are other ways to feign marital problems besides affairs/death of a child. My other problem was the character relationships of those working together to stop the traffickers. This is an adult mystery/thriller, historical fiction book, not a romance book.
This was a three star read for me. Stryker and his daughter chatting at the end earned the 0.5 bump and rounding to 4. I found it beautifully done and a lovely way to clear the horrible sociopolitical true paths aside, not forgotten.
After their chat I felt I could have misunderstood or misinterpreted some relationships.
The Cleopatra historical content was okay. I laughed and gasped. I don't know enough about Cleopatra to distinguish fact from author's creative licensing. The Author Notes provide resources should I or another reader wish to delve deeper.
The ending was appropriate as well as satisfying. I am going to patiently wait for book #2.
October 3, 2022
I’m a big fan of global thrillers that delve in ancient mysteries that have the potential of impacting present-day society. Cleopatra's Vendetta fits the bill with a connection that goes as far back as the legendary Cleopatra.
Special Ops M2 leader Timothy Stryker and his team are tasked with preventing some world leaders from being assassinated. Some have already been hit and more are being targeted but no one has claimed responsibility thus far.
Stryker is grappling with marital issues with his wife Angie, a self-made CEO, following the death of their infant son. To cool off, they take a much-needed holiday with their daughter Harper. But this does not go well. Stryker gets called back to duty, and Angie and their daughter are kidnapped. Desperate to patch up his differences with Angie, Stryker swings in action to try to rescue them.
Working with intel from his team members, he discovers that The Sons of Adam, a mysterious group with links to the ancient past, is behind a string of abductions, including Angie’s and his daughter, for sinister purposes. He also discovers that the kidnappers are behind the high-profile killings and planning another hit in the next few days. In their quest for answers, he and his team keep hearing the name of Cleopatra. They learn that before she died of snake poisoning, she had some secrets locked up in a secret location in Egypt. What have these secrets got to do with The Sons of Adam? They must race against time to connect the deadly dots to the ancient secrets to be able to not only to rescue his family but also thwart the next assassination, failing which a worldwide catastrophe will happen.
This is my first Centrae read and I must say I loved it. I enjoyed the fast-paced action narrative and the suspense that builds up to a show-down with the kidnappers and assassins. The historical research that went into this novel lends it authenticity, making it a challenge for one to separate fact from fiction. But, as always, Centrae, being true to her craft, helps to clear up the mystery. The novel is indeed a real treat for a thriller fan like me.
A word of thanks to NetGalley and Thunder Creek Press for the opportunity to enjoy this read. My review is given voluntarily.
Special Ops M2 leader Timothy Stryker and his team are tasked with preventing some world leaders from being assassinated. Some have already been hit and more are being targeted but no one has claimed responsibility thus far.
Stryker is grappling with marital issues with his wife Angie, a self-made CEO, following the death of their infant son. To cool off, they take a much-needed holiday with their daughter Harper. But this does not go well. Stryker gets called back to duty, and Angie and their daughter are kidnapped. Desperate to patch up his differences with Angie, Stryker swings in action to try to rescue them.
Working with intel from his team members, he discovers that The Sons of Adam, a mysterious group with links to the ancient past, is behind a string of abductions, including Angie’s and his daughter, for sinister purposes. He also discovers that the kidnappers are behind the high-profile killings and planning another hit in the next few days. In their quest for answers, he and his team keep hearing the name of Cleopatra. They learn that before she died of snake poisoning, she had some secrets locked up in a secret location in Egypt. What have these secrets got to do with The Sons of Adam? They must race against time to connect the deadly dots to the ancient secrets to be able to not only to rescue his family but also thwart the next assassination, failing which a worldwide catastrophe will happen.
This is my first Centrae read and I must say I loved it. I enjoyed the fast-paced action narrative and the suspense that builds up to a show-down with the kidnappers and assassins. The historical research that went into this novel lends it authenticity, making it a challenge for one to separate fact from fiction. But, as always, Centrae, being true to her craft, helps to clear up the mystery. The novel is indeed a real treat for a thriller fan like me.
A word of thanks to NetGalley and Thunder Creek Press for the opportunity to enjoy this read. My review is given voluntarily.
October 4, 2022
I’m a big fan of global thrillers that delve in ancient mysteries that have the potential of impacting present-day society. Cleopatra's Vendetta fits the bill with a connection that goes as far back as the legendary Cleopatra.
Special Ops M2 leader Timothy Stryker and his team are tasked with preventing some world leaders from being assassinated. Some have already been hit and more are being targeted but no one has claimed responsibility thus far.
Stryker is grappling with marital issues with his wife Angie, a self-made CEO, following the death of their infant son. To cool off, they take a much-needed holiday with their daughter Harper. But this does not go well. Stryker gets called back to duty, and Angie and their daughter are kidnapped. Desperate to patch up his differences with Angie, Striyker swings in action to try to rescue them.
Working with intel from his team members, he discovers that The Sons of Adam, a mysterious group with links to the ancient past, is behind a string of abductions, including Angie’s and his daughter, for sinister purposes. He also discovers that the kidnappers are behind the high-profile killings and planning another hit in the next few days. In their quest for answers, he and his team keep hearing the name of Cleopatra. They learn that before she died of snake poisoning, she had some secrets locked up in a secret location in Egypt. What have these secrets got to do with The Sons of Adam? They must race against time to connect the deadly dots to the ancient secrets to be able to not only to rescue his family but also thwart the next assassination, failing which a worldwide catastrophe will happen.
This is my first Centrae read and I must say I loved it. I enjoyed the fast-paced action narrative and the suspense that builds up to a show-down with the kidnappers and assassins. The historical research that went into this novel lends it authenticity, making it a challenge for one to separate fact from fiction. But, as always, Centrae, being true to her craft, helps to clear up the mystery. The novel is indeed a real treat for a thriller fan like me.
A word of thanks to Netgalley and Thunder Creek Press for the opportunity to enjoy this read. My review is given voluntarily.
Special Ops M2 leader Timothy Stryker and his team are tasked with preventing some world leaders from being assassinated. Some have already been hit and more are being targeted but no one has claimed responsibility thus far.
Stryker is grappling with marital issues with his wife Angie, a self-made CEO, following the death of their infant son. To cool off, they take a much-needed holiday with their daughter Harper. But this does not go well. Stryker gets called back to duty, and Angie and their daughter are kidnapped. Desperate to patch up his differences with Angie, Striyker swings in action to try to rescue them.
Working with intel from his team members, he discovers that The Sons of Adam, a mysterious group with links to the ancient past, is behind a string of abductions, including Angie’s and his daughter, for sinister purposes. He also discovers that the kidnappers are behind the high-profile killings and planning another hit in the next few days. In their quest for answers, he and his team keep hearing the name of Cleopatra. They learn that before she died of snake poisoning, she had some secrets locked up in a secret location in Egypt. What have these secrets got to do with The Sons of Adam? They must race against time to connect the deadly dots to the ancient secrets to be able to not only to rescue his family but also thwart the next assassination, failing which a worldwide catastrophe will happen.
This is my first Centrae read and I must say I loved it. I enjoyed the fast-paced action narrative and the suspense that builds up to a show-down with the kidnappers and assassins. The historical research that went into this novel lends it authenticity, making it a challenge for one to separate fact from fiction. But, as always, Centrae, being true to her craft, helps to clear up the mystery. The novel is indeed a real treat for a thriller fan like me.
A word of thanks to Netgalley and Thunder Creek Press for the opportunity to enjoy this read. My review is given voluntarily.
October 8, 2022
You will like this book if you like: multi POV, action packed, special ops thrillers with a dash of history.
Plot: Special Ops agent Timothy Stryker’s wife Angie and daughter Harper are kidnapped in Italy. Stryker is desperate to rescue Angie and mend their marital difficulties. His team of top notch agents including Angie’s sister, Sam, work to uncover any clues that might hint to Angie and Harper’s location. Meanwhile, agents in other parts of the globe aim to protect global leaders from assassination. Are they connected? And why do all signs point back to Cleopatra? This action packed thriller has nice historical ties and takes readers on a thrilling ride.
Characters: I love how each character has a deeply motivating and moving backstory. Each character is unique, incredibly textured and well developed. They’re also all deeply emotionally flawed. As with many military thrillers, the men are typical hyper-masculine military men, but I like that there are also strong, capable women leads. I also loved having the bad guy's POV.
Setting: Perfectly described Italian and global settings. Readers get exactly the detail they need to be on an action packed ride alongside characters whether it’s on a boat along the Italian coast or in the dry deserts.
Conflict/Resolution: The story wraps ups explaining the Cleopatra connection quite nicely and why the agents were able to find certain clues that the bad guys did not. There was great pacing in the resolution to the story and I love the POVs we got the conclusions from. I like that the author really spells out the connections to everything at the end because the Cleopatra connection would have been lost on me otherwise.
Writing: Each chapter ends with a cliffhanger leaving you with a deep need to continue onto the next. I do love the detail in this book, but I wish the characters showed us their emotions more often instead of readers being told. I enjoy the author's writing style, very fitting for an action packed thriller.
Narrator: I enjoyed this narrator. The accents may not have been perfect, but they were distinguishable. His deep voice was engaging and easy on the ears. I will say, I tried to speed it up to 1.25x speed and it was unlistenable so I reduced it back down to 1x speed.
Overall/Other notes: This book contains sex trafficking and perpetuates the stereotype that traffickers pluck random women off the street (when they normally groom people in unfortunate circumstances). I was annoyed that while Angie is imprisoned and concerned for her daughter’s safety she thinks about how it might be nice to lose weight from being starved *rolls eyes*. Thank you to NetGalley, Thunder Creek Press and Avanti Centrae for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.
Plot: Special Ops agent Timothy Stryker’s wife Angie and daughter Harper are kidnapped in Italy. Stryker is desperate to rescue Angie and mend their marital difficulties. His team of top notch agents including Angie’s sister, Sam, work to uncover any clues that might hint to Angie and Harper’s location. Meanwhile, agents in other parts of the globe aim to protect global leaders from assassination. Are they connected? And why do all signs point back to Cleopatra? This action packed thriller has nice historical ties and takes readers on a thrilling ride.
Characters: I love how each character has a deeply motivating and moving backstory. Each character is unique, incredibly textured and well developed. They’re also all deeply emotionally flawed. As with many military thrillers, the men are typical hyper-masculine military men, but I like that there are also strong, capable women leads. I also loved having the bad guy's POV.
Setting: Perfectly described Italian and global settings. Readers get exactly the detail they need to be on an action packed ride alongside characters whether it’s on a boat along the Italian coast or in the dry deserts.
Conflict/Resolution: The story wraps ups explaining the Cleopatra connection quite nicely and why the agents were able to find certain clues that the bad guys did not. There was great pacing in the resolution to the story and I love the POVs we got the conclusions from. I like that the author really spells out the connections to everything at the end because the Cleopatra connection would have been lost on me otherwise.
Writing: Each chapter ends with a cliffhanger leaving you with a deep need to continue onto the next. I do love the detail in this book, but I wish the characters showed us their emotions more often instead of readers being told. I enjoy the author's writing style, very fitting for an action packed thriller.
Narrator: I enjoyed this narrator. The accents may not have been perfect, but they were distinguishable. His deep voice was engaging and easy on the ears. I will say, I tried to speed it up to 1.25x speed and it was unlistenable so I reduced it back down to 1x speed.
Overall/Other notes: This book contains sex trafficking and perpetuates the stereotype that traffickers pluck random women off the street (when they normally groom people in unfortunate circumstances). I was annoyed that while Angie is imprisoned and concerned for her daughter’s safety she thinks about how it might be nice to lose weight from being starved *rolls eyes*. Thank you to NetGalley, Thunder Creek Press and Avanti Centrae for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.
August 15, 2022
Bari, Italy, present day. Think tank Special Ops leader Timothy Stryker and his wife Angie, a self made CEO, haven’t exactly been seeing eye to eye. They take a much needed Italian holiday, but it comes to a shocking end when Angie and their daughter are kidnapped.
Still raw from the death of their infant son, Stryker is desperate to rescue Angie and reconcile their differences. As he works to locate the captors’ lair, he discovers the kidnappers are behind a string of recent assassinations and attempting another high profile hit in only seven days. But when he learns their plans for his only remaining child, the scab on his heart tears open and blood begins to spill.
Working from inside her brutal captors’ high security compound, Angie realizes the cabal is hiding an ancient secret using modern propaganda techniques. And as Stryker races hitmen across India, Egypt, and Greece to thwart the next assassination and save his family, he has to connect a series of deadly dots tracing all the way back to the time of Cleopatra. Ultimately, the estranged pair must shake the deeply buried pillars of western civilization to save their four year old daughter from an unspeakable fate.
Fascinating, provocative, original, and timely, Cleopatra's Vendetta is a sizzling novel that paints a disturbing picture of some of the most intricate issues that have plagued humanity’s past…challenges that color our days and provide the blueprint for our future.
Wow I totally couldn’t put it down really enjoyed this book totally gripping and totally recommend
Thank You NetGalley and Thunder Creek Press
I just reviewed Cleopatra's Vendetta by Avanti Centrae. #CleopatrasVendetta #NetGalley
Wow I totally couldn’t put it down really enjoyed this book totally gripping and totally recommend
Thank You NetGalley and Thunder Creek Press
I just reviewed Cleopatra's Vendetta by Avanti Centrae. #CleopatrasVendetta #NetGalley
August 15, 2022
Bari, Italy, present day. Think tank Special Ops leader Timothy Stryker and his wife Angie, a self made CEO, haven’t exactly been seeing eye to eye. They take a much needed Italian holiday, but it comes to a shocking end when Angie and their daughter are kidnapped.
Still raw from the death of their infant son, Stryker is desperate to rescue Angie and reconcile their differences. As he works to locate the captors’ lair, he discovers the kidnappers are behind a string of recent assassinations and attempting another high profile hit in only seven days. But when he learns their plans for his only remaining child, the scab on his heart tears open and blood begins to spill.
Working from inside her brutal captors’ high security compound, Angie realizes the cabal is hiding an ancient secret using modern propaganda techniques. And as Stryker races hitmen across India, Egypt, and Greece to thwart the next assassination and save his family, he has to connect a series of deadly dots tracing all the way back to the time of Cleopatra. Ultimately, the estranged pair must shake the deeply buried pillars of western civilization to save their four year old daughter from an unspeakable fate.
Fascinating, provocative, original, and timely, Cleopatra's Vendetta is a sizzling novel that paints a disturbing picture of some of the most intricate issues that have plagued humanity’s past…challenges that color our days and provide the blueprint for our future.
Wow I totally couldn’t put it down really enjoyed this book totally gripping and totally recommend
Thank You NetGalley and Thunder Creek Press
I just reviewed Cleopatra's Vendetta by Avanti Centrae. #CleopatrasVendetta #NetGalley
Wow I totally couldn’t put it down really enjoyed this book totally gripping and totally recommend
Thank You NetGalley and Thunder Creek Press
I just reviewed Cleopatra's Vendetta by Avanti Centrae. #CleopatrasVendetta #NetGalley
September 12, 2022
Cleopatra’s Vendetta is a fast-paced thriller with an unusual background story. Cleopatra, after being defeated by Octavius, has a servant/spy hide a map to her secret stash of gold. She has hides images of female deities, before she kills herself. Centuries later, three American women and their two children are kidnapped from a bar in Bari, Italy. These women are the wives and friends of an American Special Ops group. Stryker, whose wife Angie and daughter Harper are among the kidnapped victims, must find the women. They soon uncover a group called the Sons of Adam and learn that somehow everything is related to Cleopatra. The team travels all over Italy, Greece, the Ionian Islands, Egypt, and India to solve the mystery.
Author Centrae’s prose is sharp; her characters show a moderate amount of depth and emotion and some forward growth in their character arcs. However, I look to Daniel Silva for the ultimate in thrillers. His Gabriel Allon is a deep, rich man with ethics. Also, Silva’s details make me feel like I’m back in the Jewish ghetto in Venice, for example, or standing right before the artwork he describes. I was not fully transported by Cleopatra’s Vendetta, but those who love a snappy read with a conspiracy with world-wide involvement, this may be the read for you.
Author Centrae’s prose is sharp; her characters show a moderate amount of depth and emotion and some forward growth in their character arcs. However, I look to Daniel Silva for the ultimate in thrillers. His Gabriel Allon is a deep, rich man with ethics. Also, Silva’s details make me feel like I’m back in the Jewish ghetto in Venice, for example, or standing right before the artwork he describes. I was not fully transported by Cleopatra’s Vendetta, but those who love a snappy read with a conspiracy with world-wide involvement, this may be the read for you.
July 29, 2023
I enjoyed this novel. It was written many short chapters. Each chapter concentrated on a certain character and their portion of the plot. I enjoyed this format. It is not what I am used to for reading. I also listened to this in audio format, but I preferred the written version.
Thank you to NetGalley, Thunder Creek Press and Avanti Centrae for allowing me to read this before publication.
Thank you to NetGalley, Thunder Creek Press and Avanti Centrae for allowing me to read this before publication.
July 29, 2022
I really liked read this book that is a wonderful tour into history and women’ s life. The pacing is right and the story easy to read…
November 22, 2022
"Yet, if you somehow succeed in destroying their nest and balancing the scales, know that at long last, as Homer wrote, I am smiling through my tears."
Thus ends Cleopatra's Vendetta and a wildly exciting voyage through history, or rather I should say herstory. Avanti Centrae's latest book is addictive, fascinating and utterly believable.
When Cleopatra chooses to die by suicide, she entrusts the secrets of two thousand years to her spymaster. Nearly two thousand years later, a sinister shadow group is killing statesman to protect it's interests.
Timothy Stryker of US Futures Command and his partner, Jeronimo Guerrero Reyes are called to investigate rumors of assassinations. Stryker and Rey, are sent to Saudi Arabia to protect the Crown Prince.
Striker's wife, Angie, CEO of an extremely successful Biofuel company and undercover CIA agent, is in Bari, Italy with friends Zoe, Reno and her daughter, Harper, and Reno's daughter, Layla for a wedding.
Angie and the girls go out for a drink, find a dark, romantic Italian bar and order the drink of the house. After three rounds having been bought by a group of handsome men, they decide to go to the restroom and leave. Both Zoe and Reno get very sick and Angie passed out.
Angie awakens, paralyzed, aware that they've been drugged and terrified for the children. She tries to fight but ultimately wakes up on a boat near an island where she is separated from her friends and locked in a cell.
A race begins for Stryker and Rey to continue to protect the public and to figure out how to save Angie and the girls. Striker's sister in-law, Samantha Coin, a historian joins them as does Jane Parish from British Intelligence.
As the teams of Stryker and Sam and Rey and Jane race to prevent further assassinations, the name of Cleopatra keeps popping up along with The Sons of Adam.
Full of rich, historical detail and a lot of imagination, Cleopatra's Vendetta will transport you back in time, thrust you into a potentially ghastly future, take you to Egypt, Arabia, India and the Greece, and open your mind about how humanity deals with power. I haven't liked a book this much in years.
Thus ends Cleopatra's Vendetta and a wildly exciting voyage through history, or rather I should say herstory. Avanti Centrae's latest book is addictive, fascinating and utterly believable.
When Cleopatra chooses to die by suicide, she entrusts the secrets of two thousand years to her spymaster. Nearly two thousand years later, a sinister shadow group is killing statesman to protect it's interests.
Timothy Stryker of US Futures Command and his partner, Jeronimo Guerrero Reyes are called to investigate rumors of assassinations. Stryker and Rey, are sent to Saudi Arabia to protect the Crown Prince.
Striker's wife, Angie, CEO of an extremely successful Biofuel company and undercover CIA agent, is in Bari, Italy with friends Zoe, Reno and her daughter, Harper, and Reno's daughter, Layla for a wedding.
Angie and the girls go out for a drink, find a dark, romantic Italian bar and order the drink of the house. After three rounds having been bought by a group of handsome men, they decide to go to the restroom and leave. Both Zoe and Reno get very sick and Angie passed out.
Angie awakens, paralyzed, aware that they've been drugged and terrified for the children. She tries to fight but ultimately wakes up on a boat near an island where she is separated from her friends and locked in a cell.
A race begins for Stryker and Rey to continue to protect the public and to figure out how to save Angie and the girls. Striker's sister in-law, Samantha Coin, a historian joins them as does Jane Parish from British Intelligence.
As the teams of Stryker and Sam and Rey and Jane race to prevent further assassinations, the name of Cleopatra keeps popping up along with The Sons of Adam.
Full of rich, historical detail and a lot of imagination, Cleopatra's Vendetta will transport you back in time, thrust you into a potentially ghastly future, take you to Egypt, Arabia, India and the Greece, and open your mind about how humanity deals with power. I haven't liked a book this much in years.
November 9, 2022
4.25⭐
Cleopatra's Vendetta is an intriguing and action packed tale. That nicely combines an historical event with a more modern-day issue sex trafficking. And it creates a gripping story that takes you on a trip around the globe.
As Timothy Stryker a Special Ops M2 leader is pulled away from a much needed family holiday in Italy. When a number of high-profile dignataries are assassinated. Including a Saudi Crown Prince. Who is gunned down in Jeddah in front of Stryker and his teammate Rey. Meanwhile Strykers wife Angie and daughter Harper are kidnapped in Italy.
Which leads Stryker and his team to hunt down those responsible and do whatever's necessary to get his wife and daughter back. And thanks to team intel Stryker soon learns the group responsible are calling themselves the Sons of Adam and that they are also behind the assassinations with more planned.
And as the team go in search of answers about this group. One name keeps appearing Cleopatra. But what does an ancient queen who died in 30BC have to do with them?
And with plenty of historical detail, action and suspense. Cleopatra's Vendetta was an engaging, enjoyable and fast-paced read. That I honestly enjoyed a lot more than I was expecting too.
I was kindly provided with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Cleopatra's Vendetta is an intriguing and action packed tale. That nicely combines an historical event with a more modern-day issue sex trafficking. And it creates a gripping story that takes you on a trip around the globe.
As Timothy Stryker a Special Ops M2 leader is pulled away from a much needed family holiday in Italy. When a number of high-profile dignataries are assassinated. Including a Saudi Crown Prince. Who is gunned down in Jeddah in front of Stryker and his teammate Rey. Meanwhile Strykers wife Angie and daughter Harper are kidnapped in Italy.
Which leads Stryker and his team to hunt down those responsible and do whatever's necessary to get his wife and daughter back. And thanks to team intel Stryker soon learns the group responsible are calling themselves the Sons of Adam and that they are also behind the assassinations with more planned.
And as the team go in search of answers about this group. One name keeps appearing Cleopatra. But what does an ancient queen who died in 30BC have to do with them?
And with plenty of historical detail, action and suspense. Cleopatra's Vendetta was an engaging, enjoyable and fast-paced read. That I honestly enjoyed a lot more than I was expecting too.
I was kindly provided with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
November 14, 2022
I just finished Cleopatra's Vendetta, A Stryker Thriller
by Avanti Centrae and here is my review.
Timothy Stryker and his wife Angie often don’t see eye to eye so they decide to head to italy for a vacation. A vacation that ends when Angie and their daughter are kidnapped!
Desperate to get them back, Stryker discovers the captors have been up to all kinds of criminal activity in the last 7 days and when he finds out why they took his daughter, it's go time.
Angie soon discovers the cabal is hiding a secret tracing back to the time of Cleopatra. Can Stryker reach his family in time before the worst can happen?
Already a solid fan of the author so this book didn’t disappoint! I already love Stryker so seeing some new depth added to his character was amazing to see.
I really loved the plot. It was a refreshing take on a Cleopatra twist. Book was well written and while it did drag in places a little, it wasn’t enough to distract from how entertaining this book really was!!
4 stars!! If you love a good thriller with a little mix of history, this is the one for you! Pick up the whole series!
by Avanti Centrae and here is my review.
Timothy Stryker and his wife Angie often don’t see eye to eye so they decide to head to italy for a vacation. A vacation that ends when Angie and their daughter are kidnapped!
Desperate to get them back, Stryker discovers the captors have been up to all kinds of criminal activity in the last 7 days and when he finds out why they took his daughter, it's go time.
Angie soon discovers the cabal is hiding a secret tracing back to the time of Cleopatra. Can Stryker reach his family in time before the worst can happen?
Already a solid fan of the author so this book didn’t disappoint! I already love Stryker so seeing some new depth added to his character was amazing to see.
I really loved the plot. It was a refreshing take on a Cleopatra twist. Book was well written and while it did drag in places a little, it wasn’t enough to distract from how entertaining this book really was!!
4 stars!! If you love a good thriller with a little mix of history, this is the one for you! Pick up the whole series!
October 31, 2022
Cleopatra's vendetta is a thriller by author Avanti Centrae. The story start in the past when Cleopatra having been defeated by Octavius, ask one of her servants to hide something before she killed herself. Years later, her storeroom have yet to be found. And when Stryker's wife and daughter have been kidnapped along with friends, clues is pilling up and it might be all connected to Cleopatra.
I have really like this book and if you enjoy suspense, mysterie and action I believe this book is for you. I have received an arc of this book.
I have really like this book and if you enjoy suspense, mysterie and action I believe this book is for you. I have received an arc of this book.
November 21, 2022
The Cleopatra legends lay groundwork for a beginning. Angie, the mother, and her kick-a$$ momma protective survival skills build a thrilling center; Stryker and his international hit men kick in and add on to a high intensity thriller that keeps you turning the pages! Recommend!
October 17, 2022
As I read Cleopatra’s Vendetta by Avanti Centrae I realized how fragile gender equity is.
It’s no secret that human trafficking is big business but in Cleopatra’s Vendetta we are taken on a deep sordid journey through the darkest minds and their motivations. We witness throughout the story how sadistic sex trafficking is.
I think the book is all about women empowerment and how the worth of women is challenged globally. Some will go to extraordinary lengths to suppress a woman’s rights. As if their very existence is a threat to large egos.
I really enjoyed the historical backstory that supported this novel throughout. Cleopatra was a strong leader who exuded her femininity with confidence and smarts. In this book her legacy has been tarnished by lesser minds who refuse to acknowledge her and her accomplishments.
I found the story to be both riveting and thrilling. I could not stop reading. I craved justice for these women and marveled at their resilience.
The atrocities depicted are both physical and mental. It’s a story of abuse of power, but also triumph over evil.
It’s no secret that human trafficking is big business but in Cleopatra’s Vendetta we are taken on a deep sordid journey through the darkest minds and their motivations. We witness throughout the story how sadistic sex trafficking is.
I think the book is all about women empowerment and how the worth of women is challenged globally. Some will go to extraordinary lengths to suppress a woman’s rights. As if their very existence is a threat to large egos.
I really enjoyed the historical backstory that supported this novel throughout. Cleopatra was a strong leader who exuded her femininity with confidence and smarts. In this book her legacy has been tarnished by lesser minds who refuse to acknowledge her and her accomplishments.
I found the story to be both riveting and thrilling. I could not stop reading. I craved justice for these women and marveled at their resilience.
The atrocities depicted are both physical and mental. It’s a story of abuse of power, but also triumph over evil.
September 1, 2022
In this book, we follow Special Ops leader Stryker and his team as they investigate a series of assassinations. But then Stryker's wife, Angie, got kidnapped along with their daughter and their friends. Then clues started emerging that might have something to do with Cleopatra. As is common in these kind of books, these seemingly different plotlines merge into one point. The storyline is quite predictable though, especially for this genre. So overall, it's an enjoyable book if you like thrillers with a side of history lessons.
October 13, 2022
I really enjoyed this book.
Honestly not the genre I would usually choose. Undercover, spies, hmmmm but if I’d missed it I would’ve been so annoyed!
From the start it didn’t slow down. Action packed and I really liked the characters. Rey is a bit of a favourite so keep an eye on him!
Looking forward to reading more.
Honestly not the genre I would usually choose. Undercover, spies, hmmmm but if I’d missed it I would’ve been so annoyed!
From the start it didn’t slow down. Action packed and I really liked the characters. Rey is a bit of a favourite so keep an eye on him!
Looking forward to reading more.
September 2, 2022
Book Title: Cleopatra’s Vendetta
Series: Stryker #1
Author: Avanti Centrae
Audiobook Narrator: Tim Campbell
Publisher: Thunder Creek Press
Genre: Mystery Thriller – Historical Fiction
Pub Date: November 15, 2022
My Rating: 4 Stars
Past History; ~ When Cleopatra is trying to escape from the Roman group who is after her, she hide in a secret area with her treasures, but the storeroom has never been discovered.
Bari Italy Present Day: Special Ops commander Tim Stryker and his wife Angie need a vacation and decide to go on a holiday to Italy.
The first night there Stryker and Angie have a nasty argument ~ Stryker is upset that Angie is drinking too much. Needless to say, that didn’t go well with Angie.
The next day Angie and college friends along with their little daughters go out for lunch then afterwards decide to stop in a little tavern which actually is okay with children. The little girls colo while the adults enjoy a mid-afternoon drink; which was paid for by a handsome man across the room. After their second drink the women find they aren’t feeling well. The next thing Angie, her friends and Harper, Angie’s four-year old daughter are kidnapped.
Stryker is desperate to rescue Harper and Angie and also to reconcile with Angie.
He discovers that the kidnappers are responsible for other kidnappings as well as assassinations and fears their daughter is in a lot of danger.
Stryker tracks the assailants across India, Egypt, and Greece he has find the connections back to the time of Cleopatra.
There is a lot going on this story
Was Angie and her friends targeted because of Angie or Stryker’s positions?
Were the women kidnapped because they are females?
What does Cleopatra have to do with any of this?
This action packet story kept me interested!
Narrator Tim Campbell did an excellent job in performing the characters.
I am now looking forward to Avanti Centrae’s next Stryker story!
I always enjoy reading the ‘Author’s Note’ however they are not always available in audiobook but it was included in this audiobook!.
Loved Avanti Centrae’s research. She tells us what is fact and what parts were products of her imagination . I enjoyed knowing things about Cleopatra. Ms. Centrae has suggested other books for those of us wanted to learn more.
Want to thank NetGalley and Thunder Creek Press for this early audio eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for November 15, 2022
Series: Stryker #1
Author: Avanti Centrae
Audiobook Narrator: Tim Campbell
Publisher: Thunder Creek Press
Genre: Mystery Thriller – Historical Fiction
Pub Date: November 15, 2022
My Rating: 4 Stars
Past History; ~ When Cleopatra is trying to escape from the Roman group who is after her, she hide in a secret area with her treasures, but the storeroom has never been discovered.
Bari Italy Present Day: Special Ops commander Tim Stryker and his wife Angie need a vacation and decide to go on a holiday to Italy.
The first night there Stryker and Angie have a nasty argument ~ Stryker is upset that Angie is drinking too much. Needless to say, that didn’t go well with Angie.
The next day Angie and college friends along with their little daughters go out for lunch then afterwards decide to stop in a little tavern which actually is okay with children. The little girls colo while the adults enjoy a mid-afternoon drink; which was paid for by a handsome man across the room. After their second drink the women find they aren’t feeling well. The next thing Angie, her friends and Harper, Angie’s four-year old daughter are kidnapped.
Stryker is desperate to rescue Harper and Angie and also to reconcile with Angie.
He discovers that the kidnappers are responsible for other kidnappings as well as assassinations and fears their daughter is in a lot of danger.
Stryker tracks the assailants across India, Egypt, and Greece he has find the connections back to the time of Cleopatra.
There is a lot going on this story
Was Angie and her friends targeted because of Angie or Stryker’s positions?
Were the women kidnapped because they are females?
What does Cleopatra have to do with any of this?
This action packet story kept me interested!
Narrator Tim Campbell did an excellent job in performing the characters.
I am now looking forward to Avanti Centrae’s next Stryker story!
I always enjoy reading the ‘Author’s Note’ however they are not always available in audiobook but it was included in this audiobook!.
Loved Avanti Centrae’s research. She tells us what is fact and what parts were products of her imagination . I enjoyed knowing things about Cleopatra. Ms. Centrae has suggested other books for those of us wanted to learn more.
Want to thank NetGalley and Thunder Creek Press for this early audio eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for November 15, 2022
November 19, 2022
I always love a good thriller, especially after finishing a Dan Brown book and looking for another that will be just as entertaining. When I saw Cleopatra’s Vendetta by Avanti Centrae, never having read the author before, I was intrigued. How can a reader pass up a thriller with a well known Egyptian Queen worked into the plot? And, the book turned out to have some exciting notions about Cleopatra, starting with her defeat by the Roman heir “to the throne” (so to speak, as anyone would have been as Julius Caesar’s heir) Octavian. Being a great fan of Rome on HBO, I stayed with the two seasons engrossed, until the end, and this book brought me back to the memories of what was portrayed there. As ROME ends with Octavian’s defeat of Cleopatra and Marc Anthony, the beginning picks up as Cleoparta is angered over Octavian and his defeat.
And, while I love a good television series, a good book is always better as it exudes much more than a tv show. We can know the emotions of characters and their very thoughts rather than interpreting body language and tone of voice (among other things) to get other information, on screen. I loved reading the sentence “This sultry city put the bastard’s rat-infested town to shame” as Cleopatra describes the last year, waiting for Octavian to invade her beautiful city. Her ultimate end. And, Cleopatra, a woman portrayed (and, I believe, quite right, by many authors, as one who knew the decisions she was making were the correct ones, never one to question what she needed to do) knew this, that there would be no concessions made for her by Octavian. She was too dangerous to the boy, as her son was.
Cleopatra knows that if she is captured, or if she turns herself over to Octavian, she will only find herself taken to Rome, in chains, to be paraded through the streets wearing only golden shackles. So she sets in motion a last, desperate, plan. The cobra, a sign of “royalty and divine authority” will end Cleopatra, she will not let this boy plan her end, this “son of Caesar” (by Roman decree). And, here, in Cleopatra’s Vendetta we read her last moments. Her final journey begins. And Octavian puts an end to a two thousand year old war, the struggle between Egypt and Rome.
Before Cleopatra’s end she is told that her spies have finally found the stronghold to Octavian’s cult known as the sons of Adam. It is on an island that they hadn’t known about until these last moments, before Cleopatra’s death. This victory, finally defeating the careful, sneaky, supporters of Rome, of Octavian, is ever so sweet to Cleopatra, before her death. She tells her own man to record where the supporters are located and to seal and hide the information. He is then given orders to go, buy a coffin for himself and join his great Queen in death. And this, a great honor for him.
Cleopatra would leave a vault of treasures despite her life being over, despite the end of Egypt. Among many riches, it would contain much information about the sons of Adam. Everything she had been able to obtain about their “hundreds of years or propaganda and abuse,” for future eyes to discover. Hopefully this would help to destroy the sons of Adam, in the future. And, when a kidnapping happens many years into the future it may be just the discovery needed to help solve the crime, so that Timothy Stryker can get his wife back.
Angie is vacationing with her daughter Zoe and her friend and their child. When they go to a pub in Bari, Italy, to relax and have drinks, they find themself having been drugged and eventually are transported to an unknown location. When Tim Stryker finds out about the disappearance he begins to put the pieces together and the hidden mystery that Cleopatra has left, will it be of any help, any aide, in the end? And, if he can piece together what Cleopatra has left, about the sons of Adam, how will this ancient hidden cult be of any help, all those hundreds of years later?
Cleopatra’s Vendetta is a fast-paced thriller that, once you begin, you won’t be able to put down. If you are a fan of the Queen, a History buff, just have a love of excitement, intrigue, and mystery you are going to want to obtain a copy! I not only enjoyed this part of the storyline but also the fact that, at the time of his wife's abduction, the pair are going through an emotional crisis, the death of their child. It really shows how, when important things happen, couples bond together, take care of what is really important, rather than things that can be overcome.
The death of a child is something that many couples cannot overcome, after the loss. A little over 90% don't survive, end the relationship. In this story the couple were struggling with that same pain. And, in losing one another, in having to think about never seeing their loved one again, readers gain insight into what should be important. Losing a child is hard, I have experienced it myself. And, the relationship didn't survive. But, had something happened where we realized how important the other was to us, a dire situation such as the couple here experience, maybe things would have been different. Not that I'd ever wish to be kidnapped or that the father of the child that passed would have been. But, twenty years later, we still matter to one another, just as friends, we still have a connection. There was something good there. And, I wish he, I, had worked harder at the time to see that.
Though this is a non-fiction thriller that deals with concepts far outside what people normally deal with in their lives, I would express the importance of reading it for couples who are thinking about ending relationships. If not only to ask the question, “what if”? Do I love someone that much? What would happen if now, at this moment, my significant other had to save me in some crisis? Would they? And, even if the odds are against them, would they do everything humanly possible to save me? Because twenty years after our son passed, not many people are in our lives that have been there that long, my ex and I. And, we are both in situations that cannot be reversed, he with a wife and children and I, the same. However, I believe we both know now that there was something good there, something we should have tried harder to preserve. And, when I read this book I almost wished that something happened that we could have overcome together, that made us see the other's importance, so that we could have seen how we really had something worthwhile and just needed to get over a hump, rather than part.
Some things are meant to be lasting in life and sometimes we don't see that until it is too late. However fictional this book helped me look at a lot of things in my life because losing a child is hard and, when you have lost one, even when you read about another woman in that situation, it always brings up issues. I am really glad the book had a successful outcome and wish I could have read it, learned these things a long time ago. Maybe I would have done something different.
But there is a happy ending for Cleopatra’s Vendetta, you get to read a lot about the cult of the sons of Adam, discover what they have done, how they evolved and the terrible things they are doing, now. So ironic, the name of the group, you think, after you are done. As I mentioned, the book was rewarding on so many levels, an adventure into myself, the past, a subject I love to read about (Cleopatra and Rome). Anyone who loves a fun adventure wants to look here!
Happy Reading!
And, while I love a good television series, a good book is always better as it exudes much more than a tv show. We can know the emotions of characters and their very thoughts rather than interpreting body language and tone of voice (among other things) to get other information, on screen. I loved reading the sentence “This sultry city put the bastard’s rat-infested town to shame” as Cleopatra describes the last year, waiting for Octavian to invade her beautiful city. Her ultimate end. And, Cleopatra, a woman portrayed (and, I believe, quite right, by many authors, as one who knew the decisions she was making were the correct ones, never one to question what she needed to do) knew this, that there would be no concessions made for her by Octavian. She was too dangerous to the boy, as her son was.
Cleopatra knows that if she is captured, or if she turns herself over to Octavian, she will only find herself taken to Rome, in chains, to be paraded through the streets wearing only golden shackles. So she sets in motion a last, desperate, plan. The cobra, a sign of “royalty and divine authority” will end Cleopatra, she will not let this boy plan her end, this “son of Caesar” (by Roman decree). And, here, in Cleopatra’s Vendetta we read her last moments. Her final journey begins. And Octavian puts an end to a two thousand year old war, the struggle between Egypt and Rome.
Before Cleopatra’s end she is told that her spies have finally found the stronghold to Octavian’s cult known as the sons of Adam. It is on an island that they hadn’t known about until these last moments, before Cleopatra’s death. This victory, finally defeating the careful, sneaky, supporters of Rome, of Octavian, is ever so sweet to Cleopatra, before her death. She tells her own man to record where the supporters are located and to seal and hide the information. He is then given orders to go, buy a coffin for himself and join his great Queen in death. And this, a great honor for him.
Cleopatra would leave a vault of treasures despite her life being over, despite the end of Egypt. Among many riches, it would contain much information about the sons of Adam. Everything she had been able to obtain about their “hundreds of years or propaganda and abuse,” for future eyes to discover. Hopefully this would help to destroy the sons of Adam, in the future. And, when a kidnapping happens many years into the future it may be just the discovery needed to help solve the crime, so that Timothy Stryker can get his wife back.
Angie is vacationing with her daughter Zoe and her friend and their child. When they go to a pub in Bari, Italy, to relax and have drinks, they find themself having been drugged and eventually are transported to an unknown location. When Tim Stryker finds out about the disappearance he begins to put the pieces together and the hidden mystery that Cleopatra has left, will it be of any help, any aide, in the end? And, if he can piece together what Cleopatra has left, about the sons of Adam, how will this ancient hidden cult be of any help, all those hundreds of years later?
Cleopatra’s Vendetta is a fast-paced thriller that, once you begin, you won’t be able to put down. If you are a fan of the Queen, a History buff, just have a love of excitement, intrigue, and mystery you are going to want to obtain a copy! I not only enjoyed this part of the storyline but also the fact that, at the time of his wife's abduction, the pair are going through an emotional crisis, the death of their child. It really shows how, when important things happen, couples bond together, take care of what is really important, rather than things that can be overcome.
The death of a child is something that many couples cannot overcome, after the loss. A little over 90% don't survive, end the relationship. In this story the couple were struggling with that same pain. And, in losing one another, in having to think about never seeing their loved one again, readers gain insight into what should be important. Losing a child is hard, I have experienced it myself. And, the relationship didn't survive. But, had something happened where we realized how important the other was to us, a dire situation such as the couple here experience, maybe things would have been different. Not that I'd ever wish to be kidnapped or that the father of the child that passed would have been. But, twenty years later, we still matter to one another, just as friends, we still have a connection. There was something good there. And, I wish he, I, had worked harder at the time to see that.
Though this is a non-fiction thriller that deals with concepts far outside what people normally deal with in their lives, I would express the importance of reading it for couples who are thinking about ending relationships. If not only to ask the question, “what if”? Do I love someone that much? What would happen if now, at this moment, my significant other had to save me in some crisis? Would they? And, even if the odds are against them, would they do everything humanly possible to save me? Because twenty years after our son passed, not many people are in our lives that have been there that long, my ex and I. And, we are both in situations that cannot be reversed, he with a wife and children and I, the same. However, I believe we both know now that there was something good there, something we should have tried harder to preserve. And, when I read this book I almost wished that something happened that we could have overcome together, that made us see the other's importance, so that we could have seen how we really had something worthwhile and just needed to get over a hump, rather than part.
Some things are meant to be lasting in life and sometimes we don't see that until it is too late. However fictional this book helped me look at a lot of things in my life because losing a child is hard and, when you have lost one, even when you read about another woman in that situation, it always brings up issues. I am really glad the book had a successful outcome and wish I could have read it, learned these things a long time ago. Maybe I would have done something different.
But there is a happy ending for Cleopatra’s Vendetta, you get to read a lot about the cult of the sons of Adam, discover what they have done, how they evolved and the terrible things they are doing, now. So ironic, the name of the group, you think, after you are done. As I mentioned, the book was rewarding on so many levels, an adventure into myself, the past, a subject I love to read about (Cleopatra and Rome). Anyone who loves a fun adventure wants to look here!
Happy Reading!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 121 reviews