Ritual Sins in Dangerous Hero Addict Support Group

Apr 18, 2010 Cindi rated it really liked it

I am an Anne Stuart fan; I became one after starting her fantastic "Ice" series. Since then I have been scrambling to find older books by her and so far have been thrilled and chilled by all of them. This one is no different in that respect, but Ritual Sins is a weird book.

RS is the tale of a daughter looking for answers after her mother's death at The Foundation of Being, a New Age place in the New Mexico dessert run by a charasmatic con artist who earlier spent 4 years in prison for murder.

The I am an Anne Stuart fan; I became one after starting her fantastic "Ice" series. Since then I have been scrambling to find older books by her and so far have been thrilled and chilled by all of them. This one is no different in that respect, but Ritual Sins is a weird book.

RS is the tale of a daughter looking for answers after her mother's death at The Foundation of Being, a New Age place in the New Mexico dessert run by a charasmatic con artist who earlier spent 4 years in prison for murder.

The characters in this book left me uneasy. The mother was a loose and selfish bitch who should never have had children, and the current-day neurotic, frigid and emotionally stunted daughter is the result. Rachel has come to the Foundation because her mother disinherited her and instead left over $12 million to the Foundation; her court fights won her nothing so she is now in search of proof that Luke Bardell conned her mother on her deathbed. Rachel is a very tortured young lady and truly she would love to find out that her mother asked for her as she lay dying. She also has no drive to do anything with her life, I guess because of feelings of worthlessness supported by her former model of a mother. I was conflicted in believing that this plain, mousy, uninspired daughter would suddenly change into a woman brave enough to enter the lion's den to regain her trust fund and inheritance money.

I also had trouble with her eventual hero, Luke. Poor Southern boy Luke is a mess, unsurprising as he found his suicided mother at age 8 and maybe killed his extremely abusive stepfather at 15. He did get manslaughter for killing a man in a bar fight and learned how to be a perfect criminal while in prison. He is a tall, lean specimen of a man who can make anybody follow him almost in thrall, so becoming a cult-like leader to build his financial empire is a perfect con for him. Ms. Stuart writes this self-aware narcissistic character to perfection, so much that when he becomes interested in Rachel just because she doesn't succumb to him, I was on pins and needles not know which way his character would go. It is strange, knowing the hero is the bad guy. Not just a sexy, tormented guy but really not a good man. Who would believe a con man who said he's changed?

Other personalities in the book are equally weird. There are strange folk in Luke's hometown and after meeting some of them, Rachael ALMOST feels sorry for Luke - until she remembers that he has killed and conned and maybe even helped to kill her mother of cancer. But Luke secretly fasinates Rachel and her body feels things when she is around him. You can guess the rest, but unless you read the book, you'll never believe the outcome. Can a con man change? ...more

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