Format: Paperback, 336 pages
Release Date: July 28, 2020
Publisher: Tor Books
Source: Publisher
Genre: Science Fiction / Romance
Orphan Black meets the post-apocalyptic Avengers by USA Today and New York Times bestselling author duo Kit Rocha
Nina is an information broker with a mission—she and her team of mercenary librarians use their knowledge to save the hopeless in a crumbling America.
Knox is the bitter, battle-weary captain of the Silver Devils. His squad of super-soldiers went AWOL to avoid slaughtering innocents, and now he's fighting to survive.
They’re on a deadly collision course, and the passion that flares between them only makes it more dangerous. They could burn down the world, destroying each other in the process…
Or they could do the impossible: team up.
Deal with the Devil is the first installment in author Kit Rocha's Mercenary Librarians. Kit Rocha is the dystopian-erotic-romance writing alter-ego of writing duo Moira Rogers. There are two key players in this story; Nina, and Knox. Nina is an information broker who tries to collect remnants of a forgotten country; Knox is a trained soldier of the Protectorate who took his team, the Silver Devils (Conall, Rafe & Gray), and went rogue after a mission they were sent on went badly. The time period of this story is somewhere around the year 2081 or thereabouts based on the information between chapters.
The story actually begins in 2042 with the US plunged into darkness and chaos. A solar flare has basically crushed the US and now people must live
under the oversight of various corporations that managed to survive and thrive. Into
the void left by a fully-functioning government step the TechCorps. Recently merged technology and medical companies with all the latest and
greatest. Generously they supplied solar power, water, food, medicine.
Generously, they insinuate themselves into every aspect of lives until
they had control. Now they sit, with an iron grip, on their domain. Not
everyone conforms to their rules, however, and thus the
Protectorate was created. Enhanced soldiers to protect the TechCorps interests.
Nina lives with two other
women (Maya and Dani) doing things to make their neighborhood nicer
and safer and a little less under the thumb of TechCorp and their hired
guns. Tracking down lost books and information to be able to copy and reproduce them for everyone helps get her through the days after she suffered the devastating loss of her sisters. Nina, Maya and Dani are all modified in many ways. Nina is a trained soldier who can easily take out men twice her size without breaking a sweat; Maya has perfect auditory recall and has a huge bounty on her head; Dani has superhuman reflexes and reaction time but can't feel any pain. Nina and her crew pulled off one of the most important discoveries of a lifetime but they never once thought about quiting and retiring on their laurels. When approached by Knox about an even more important find, the legendary Library of Congress, she can't say no. After all, this haul might be even more impressive that what put them on the map.
Knox squad are legendary killers who lost their medic as well as their tech expert Luna who may be able to reprogam their failing implants. But, Knox is at the mercy of an unknown enemy who doesn't want money as ransom. They want Nina. Knox has to convince Nina to come with him so he can trade her for Luna who is a biochem hacker who agreed to stabilize Knox and his team. Trust is one of those commodities in short supply. The two groups travel together and get to know one another during several encounters with groups of people preying on other people. But not every double cross works out and there is a bit of a surprise reveal.
Nina
is the sunshine to Knox’s seriousness and they balance each other out.
There is a huge reason why they shouldn’t get involved but of course
they’re going to regardless of our opinions on the matter. Normally lie of omission plots annoy me to no end but I
completely got why it happened here. Having had zero familiarity with Kit Rocha's previous series which apparently takes place in this same world. I took a chance on requesting and reading this story based mostly do to the the name of the series itself: Mercenary Librarians.
It's a perfect name for what Nina, Maya and Dani have been doing since they joined forces. This book also takes time before each chapter to introduce specific notes from various people about Knox's team as well as Nina and her sisters. There are several romantic interludes in this story which shouldn't surprise anyone who has read the authors previous series. The ending sets up something big for the series arc and I have no doubt books will play a much larger role in the next book.
It's a perfect name for what Nina, Maya and Dani have been doing since they joined forces. This book also takes time before each chapter to introduce specific notes from various people about Knox's team as well as Nina and her sisters. There are several romantic interludes in this story which shouldn't surprise anyone who has read the authors previous series. The ending sets up something big for the series arc and I have no doubt books will play a much larger role in the next book.
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