Book Review: Sacrifice the Wicked by Karina Cooper

Sacrifice the Wicked
Author: Karina Cooper
Series: Dark Mission, book 4
Publisher: Avon
ISBN-10: 0062127691
ISBN-13: 978-0062127693
Source: From publisher for review
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For more information visit Karina Cooper's website


Director Parker Adams knows that Sector Three has infiltrated her Mission with witches. She has also taken classified reports that have to do with GeneCorp, and she believes are connected with Sector Three. Simon Wells takes it upon himself to relieve Adam’s of the classified reports. He breaks into her house, and accomplishes this, but on the way out someone takes the reports from him when he starts to have a degradation attack. He is a GeneCorp witch, and he knows that he doesn’t have that long to live. After he steals the report Adams meets with an informant. After her meeting with the informant Simon finds her name on Sector Three’s hit list.

This is the fourth book in Cooper’s post-apocalyptic series, Dark Mission. Each book so far has revolved around shifting POVs of a heroine and hero, who fall in love. Simon and Adams played a large role in the book before this one, All Things Wicked. Sacrifice the Wicked feels a lot like a middle book. Events don’t play out as heavy as they did in All Things Wicked. This being the fourth book I encourage readers to start at book one, unless they want a quick romance with danger sprinkled in.

I didn’t know how to feel about Parker Adams. She is a stronger female lead than some of the women in the past, and has a level head for the most part. I enjoyed her falling in lust with Simon, but I didn’t enjoy her falling in love with him. When he comes to her apartment to save her, she is ready to shoot him, and rightly so. They end up having to run for their lives. Her attraction for Simon isn’t about just how hot he is. It is also for how alpha male he is. The steamy scenes are hot, but it is no more than two days together (maybe less) before they are declaring love. Danger happens, and Simon is the hero that rocks her world.

Simon was much easier to get a handle on. He is strong in almost all ways, but he is dying. It’s something he has come to terms with until Adams is in his life. He quickly falls for her without meaning to, and for some reason this is more believable on his side. Perhaps it is because he is dying, or that he admits to dreaming about her, but most of all, I think it’s the romance of him coming for her when she is in danger. Cooper does a great job of showing the reader how much Adams means to him.

The start of the book is full of action and lusty scenes that pull the story along until just past the midway point in the book. After that the novel slows down. It starts to get really confusing. Like all of the novels in this series, I expected a big show down at the end. Instead all I found was the first cliff hanger in this series. Nothing changes for Simon and Adams. I felt let down by this, the start of the novel was an improvement, but it fell off towards the end.

I still think there is some good in the Dark Mission series. Cooper has created an interesting world of witches & hunters in an intense Seattle setting. In the first novels I wanted more out of the setting, which happened in the All Things Wicked. In Sacrificed the Wicked the strong point is Simon’s character. He is one of the better protagonists in this series. On the other hand this book reminds me of Blood of the Wicked, the first in the series. There aren’t any surprises, or anything new here and it’s starting to feel as if the romances are being recycled.
My Rating: