Deadlocked 7 (35 page)

Usually, I spend time in the Author’s Note going over some hidden meanings in the books, but this one is replete with them. There are far too many to go through, so instead I thought I’d spend a little more time with a few of the characters to give you my thoughts on what they’re going through. These are only my opinions, because I think these characters all have a life of their own.

Annie Conrad
: I love this little red head so much. Her backstory, and how she struggled as a child in the Rollers, just made me fall head over heels for her. I think she’s lived in her sister’s shadow her whole life, content just to be a wallflower (albeit it a rowdy one) as her sister took charge. Now Kim is dead, and Annie is thrust into a prominent role that she’d never held before. She becomes a figurehead for the Rollers as she stands on that steeple, guarding them from the helicopters. I think one of the most powerful scenes of the book is when Laura looked up at her daughter, not with pride, but with terror. She knew that Annie would die trying to avenge Kim, and that terrified Laura.

Annie’s fall from the steeple is obviously symbolic, as is her eventual resuscitation via defibrillator by Clyde. Laura isn’t just watching Annie near death, she’s watching her daughter turn into who Laura had become so many years ago, on the dock in Georgia.
Also, for Laura, she’s realizing that Kim went through the same sort of transition, which eventually led her to her death.

Laura Conrad
: Everyone is welcome to interpret this book in any way they choose. However, where most people might see Laura’s turn to war near the end of the book as a rallying cry, I wrote it as a sorrowful moment. She has always been the most vocal member for peace out of the Rollers, and now she has decided to take Billy’s side and lead them into a hopeless struggle. It’s a dark turn, and one that’s amplified by the raging storm that comes over them as she talks to Kayla near the highway. The direction Laura is choosing to take them is fraught with conflict, death, sorrow, and war. In our culture, we often applaud the desire for revenge, but it’s a dark path. Laura makes the point that she has always wanted peace, until it was her child lying dead in the street. That will always be what drives us to war. Every bomb dropped creates more enemies than it kills.

Billy Hendrix
: In a lot of ways, I see this as Billy’s book. He’s a character that we learned to love in the original series (books 1-4), but ever since he appeared in the second series, he’s always been an unlikeable person. This book finally gave me the opportunity to help explain what happened that turned him into the war hardened, angry person that he’d become. Here we see him acting much the same as he did in the original series, but events slowly work to harden him until we understand why he was so focused on revenge through books five and six. I see this book as Billy’s redemption, and I hope readers come away from this with a newfound respect for him.

However, we also see his dark side emerging. No scene better exemplifies this than when he is leading Clyde through the dark apartment complex. Clyde is blinded in the dark and relies on Billy to lead him, which is an allegory to Billy’s time as the captain of the Rollers. Clyde follows along as Billy talks callously of killing, and then as they come into the light Clyde realizes what Billy is leading him into. That scene comes off as just two characters walking from one spot to another when you first read it, but there’s a heck of a lot more meaning hidden in it.

Levon Kline (our good old Hero)
:
Hero was used almost exclusively for exposition here, but what fun exposition it was. I love having him just sit in a room and talk to someone. He is by far the most entertaining character in the series for me, and despite how tough he acts, I think we all know the guy is all heart. I can’t go into how I feel about him in this book, or what developments were important, because they all have so much to do with the next book. There is a lot revealed about his future here, but you’ll just have to wait to find out what I mean by that.

Hero’s best scene, in my opinion, is the reveal about the gun tattoo on his neck. It really
opens the door of his entire character. He’s a man that has a tough exterior, and can be hard to like at first, but when you get to know him you’ll fall in love. I think by the end, even Beatrice is being won over by him. Okay – I can’t talk about this anymore without revealing things that are coming in the next book!

Kim Laporte
: Getting a chance to spend a little time with Kim here was a gift for me. I was so heartbroken by her loss, and I wanted to make sure that her sacrifice in the last book wasn’t just glossed over here. A lot of books seem to kill off characters and then have the heroes moving on with their lives just a few pages after. Here, I really wanted her death to have a huge impact.

And of course, there’s the reveal about the true father of her son. I was really hesitant to include that part because I think rape is a touchy subject, and one that is used lightly in entertainment far too often. However, the scene is there because I felt it was an important part of Arthur’s character development
(and BELIEVE me, it pains me to say that the rape of a female character is being used for the character development of a male character. That being said, I still feel it’s too important to leave out.) When you find out that he is not David’s father, and that he’s kept it a secret from everyone for so long, it changes everything about how you view him.

Charles Reagan
: The return of one of the greats. Ever since book five revealed that Reagan had died, readers have clamored to discover what happened. I hope the truth was satisfying.

The big reveal here was that Reagan’s son had been one of the original Dawns. It’s something that’s hinted at way back in the original series, but only now came to light. Reagan’s role here is the very essence of the title: Legacies. Reagan not only started the Rollers, he was also the reason they were all allowed to live, unbeknownst to any of them at the time. His life had a lasting effect on everyone around him, both literally and figuratively. His immunities were transferring to the others, and his
legend held strong even with the children of the Rollers that were training with Kim and Annie so many years after his death.

There are two scenes with Reagan that just murder me. There’s the scene in the apartment where he talks about the love of his life, and then there’s when he says goodbye to Billy and Hero. I’m going to miss that old guy.

Arthur and Zachary Laporte
: These two characters were introduced in past books, but this is where they really get to shine. Arthur is a man whose talents we’ve barely been introduced to. In book six there’s a scene where Arthur takes part in the murder of various members of the Wolf Pack, but the reader isn’t witness to the event. It’s just put out there as an aside. It’s not until now that we really get a sense of how dangerous he is. Arthur is one of the very few Rollers that were invited to join The Department, and now we know why. However, he has always sided with Laura as wanting peace for the Rollers. In the next book we’ll get to spend more time with him, and see that, despite his talents, he’s a man that knows the true outcome of violence.

And then there’s Zachary, who has one of my favorite scenes in the entire book. When he decides to charge back to the church, chopping through hordes of zombies to save the woman he loves, I think his character finally comes into his own. Laura has been adamant in the past that she would never marry again. Not only does she hold her marriage to David sacred, she also knows that her body is falling apart. She doesn’t want to put a spouse through the same pain that she watched her mother suffer through when her father died. However, how can we not want to see the two of them get together?

Ben and Harrison
: I purposefully didn’t reveal any backstory about Ben here because it’s meant to be a mystery. As this book closes, we’re left to wonder if Ben is just a clone of the kid that was caught in the facility in Georgia, or if he is the actual person. That’s all going to come into play in the next book – so no spoilers here!

In this book, we see a resolution (sort of) of Harrison’s drug problem. A drug addiction as serious as Harrison’s isn’t something that can just be written off in a few paragraphs, so expect it to come into play in the next book. However, here we saw Ben confront Harrison about the stolen drugs just before they emerge from Harrison’s own phoenix metaphor.

As we head into the final book, Ben is lost – a man literally contemplating his own existence and whether or not he has a soul. And his best friend is a wild-eyed, cursing, drug addled preacher. That’s got to be intriguing!

Celeste Dawn
: Celeste only has two scenes in this whole book, but I can’t stress just how integral they are. The Rollers have settled on a war they can’t win, and Covington is poised to take over the entire world – Hero has been unwittingly poisoned with the Tempest strain, and The Department has been wiped out by an airstrike. When you finish this book, there’s absolutely no hope for the heroes of the story. They have never been at a lower, more helpless point. And yet, there’s a young girl in the belly of the beast, practicing for her chance to break free. If the heroes stand any chance in book eight, you’d better believe it resides with this girl.

Richard Covington
: And then there’s the return of the series’ villain! In the original series, we didn’t meet Covington until the third book – the penultimate book of that series. Again, the same happens here. We never expected him to make a return, and suddenly here he is, right before we head into the final book of the second series.

Covington has been behind the scenes all along, plotting his revenge against The Electorate. However, his madness stretches far behind something as petty as revenge. When Hero is speaking to Beatrice about how The Electorate is playing God, little did we know how prophetic he was! I love the turn at the end when we discover that Covington has such a grand delusion. It sets the stakes of the final book incredibly high.

In Conclusion

If you’ve enjoyed the Deadlocked series, please make sure to check out my other series, 314. If you’re leery of starting a new series, just do me a favor and go read the sample of 314. If you’re not hooked by the end of the sample, then feel free to move on. However, I’m pretty sure you’ll be hooked.

Please visit the website
www.arwisebooks.com
for more information about all of my books.

Also, visit the AR Wise fanpage on Facebook for a chance to win all sorts of great prizes! Lately I’ve been giving away free signed covers of the Deadlocked books. Supplies are limited, so go find out how to get your free, numbered cover now!

Finally, thank you to everyone that has taken a minute to write a positive review of one of my books. You really can’t overestimate just how important those reviews are to an independent author like myself. They aren’t just what help me get the word out about the books, they are also my inspiration for continuing to write. Thank you!