REVIEW: AA Paton’s ‘The Bliss Kings: Captive’

Posted on May 11, 2015 by ausromtoday in Reviews // 0 Comments

The Bliss King: Captive
AA Paton

“The irony of my scarred, tattooed, gun toting, global drug empire running kidnapper, who goes by the nickname Lord Ruin, the Bliss King, telling me I’m safe is not lost on me.”

When ghostwriter Greer Gibson woke wearing silk pyjamas, in a room she didn’t recognise, she figured she’d done it again. Picked up a stranger in a local bar and gone to a city hotel with him.

Except she had no memory of doing that, the room was an expansive suite on a tropical island, she didn’t own silk pyjamas, and she was locked in.

Lek Hetherington needs a talented writer. But the best in the business, Greer Gibson, is booked out for years. That’s just a shoulder shrug for an underworld figure who rules over a global drug empire from his island hideaway.

Lek gets what he wants, even if he has to take it by force.

Captive is book 1 of 4 in The Bliss King.

What AusRom Today thought:

Paton slaps you with an intensity from the very beginning of book one, enticing and pulling you further and further into the story with each and every sentence. The intensity and detail in chapter one is palpable and hooks you immediately.

The first notable point of difference in Captive is the distinct first person narrative. Lek is a serious no-nonsense man for whom first-person POV works exceptionally well bordering as an almost confessional-style of storytelling that adds immense depth to this character immediately. Similarly, Greer is a feisty and assertive character with a softer, more vulnerable side that does shine through.

The storyline itself is a side-step from Paton’s usual contemporary romances however only as far as sub-genre is concerned. All other elements of the storytelling, structure and character development are classic Paton.

Overall, The Bliss King: Captive is a mammoth tale of grief, revenge, power and control that marks a definite change in sub-genre for Paton but still offers the page-turnability that Paton is renowned for.

– J’aimee Brooker, AusRom Today