ARC REVIEW Final Protocol by J.C. Daniels

One of my favorite dark romance/urban fantasy writers has written one of my top favorite genres, science fiction, to say I was happy is an understatement. When I finally stopped bouncing up and down in my chair and settled down to read it I was absorbed into a futuristic world of demented villains and tortured anti-heroes and strange alien races. I enjoyed it, I didn't love it but it was still a good read. One thing that kept throwing me off was all the alien words it was hard to keep track of what meant what. There was a lot of internal monologue, it is in first person POV so she tends to get overly depictive in describing the setting and how it made her feel. Some of it felt rushed, parts I wish there was more of and other parts I wish there was less. What I did love was the characters and the emotional strength of Silence. Silence is the quintessential Shiloh Walker/J.C. Daniels Heroine.  

*It is not for the faint of heart, if you feel rape doesn't belong anywhere in romance then don't read this.*

Silence was born ten years ago to lies, abuse, and rape; if she existed before then the memories only live in her dreams. Her owner, Gold, a disturbed man uses her as he sees fit and that usually means as an assassin. She was trained to kill and yet the one person she wants to kill more than anyone else in the world as rigged it so she can't. A biochip in her brain that he can tap into at anytime to track her down or strike her dead, Silence has no choice but to comply. Gold has spewed his lies to her over and over that it has her convinced that what he said actually happened and that the love of life used her to pay a debt. Her dreams have gotten more vivid; like her sub conscience trying to tell her something but she still only sees part of the story.

Silence has refused to carry out her last mission of killing an old man, instead of killing her Gold gives her an out, one last job and she is free and clear of him. The man who gave her up is her next target. Silence is no fool she has planned for the last few years a contingency plan whether she is free of him after this by his hand or hers she will be free she goes to complete her last mission. But Gold messed up he never should have underestimated Silence and Orion. An emotional revelation of truth and an all around love conquers all ending, even if it was kind of abrupt.