Blood of Angels (Straw Men #3)

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Title: Blood of Angels
Series: Straw Men
Author: Michael Marshall
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 422
Format: Kindle digital edition

Synopsis:

Nina and Ward are dragged back into an investigation, of a potential female serial killer. At the same time Paul, with the help of the Straw Men, escapes from custody and begins to put into place a horrific plan. A former Straw Men is dragged back into service and a young man of Straw Man parentage is roped into Paul's plan.

Nina is kidnapped and Ward and Zandt are distracted from thwarting Paul's plan. And it is revealed that the Straw Men have been around destroying Civilization since Atlantis and now they intend to begin again.

My Thoughts:

I was kind of going along for the ride until the author stated that Jesus was just a man who faked his death and secretly lived out the rest of his life in Europe. I don't have a problem with conspiracy theories about the Church or saints or what not, but when you baldly deny Jesus' claim of Divinity, then you've moved into Blasphemous territory. I take that rather seriously.

My other issue is with the series as a whole. The Straw Men themselves, in fact. They are presented as this group of evil people bent on murder and mayhem but with the tight control of a genius. They have persisted for untold time and continue strong. I just don't buy it. Evil, by its very nature, is destructive and eventually self-destructive. You might have individuals who can control themselves while allowing evil full reign in their life, but never groups of people and even those individuals must at some point succumb themselves. A group dedicated to evil will rise, prosper and then decay and fall, usually to another group.

Other than those 2 things, this was an ok read. I'm not a big fan of Conspiracies and Grand Paranoia, so some of the appeal of this series just wasn't aimed at me.
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