{"id":6624,"date":"2026-06-19T10:40:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T10:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6624"},"modified":"2026-06-19T10:40:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T10:40:21","slug":"jack-spetza-flawed-by-a-s-warnock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6624","title":{"rendered":"Jack Spetza: Flawed by A.S. Warnock"},"content":{"rendered":"

A unique thriller about a magical stone, the ability to time travel, and a fight to keep one man\u2019s greedy hands away from the ultimate power grab<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When the Pharoah is gifted a small, green stone, his advisor, Imhotep, notices something peculiar: the stone has magical powers. Wanting to learn more about the stone\u2019s magic while also keeping himself out of harm\u2019s way, Imhotep enlists a leader from the Eldish\u00e9 tribe \u201cto start human trials after many months with no answers to the questions posed by the ancient green stone, which made things vanish.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Flash forward to the early 2000s, and a researcher named Angelique La Touch\u00e9 hopes to learn more about the Eldish\u00e9 people, as they suddenly vanished from historical records in the 12th century. With a grant from her university, Angelique journeys to the last known location of the tribe and speaks to the local villagers.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

There, she uncovers valuable\u2014and dangerous\u2014information, rumors about a man named Ja Metza: \u201cA man, or some say deity, appeared out of nowhere, killing everyone in the village and taking the chief \u2019s daughter, along with the village\u2019s sacred stone.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Angelique wants to know more, and as she searches, she stumbles into a cave with ancient paintings. She runs to find her research companion to show him her find, yet when she arrives there again, the ancient cave paintings have changed. It\u2019s then she realizes that she\u2019s uncovered the impossible reality of time travel\u2014a dangerous secret that consumes her until her death.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At Angelique\u2019s funeral, her daughter, Setrina, sits fuming, frustrated by her distant mother who was never around during her childhood. Begrudgingly, Setrina attends the meeting where she is given her mother\u2019s will; in the will is a word puzzle, one that she instantly realizes she needs to decipher to find out her mother\u2019s lifelong secret.<\/p>\n

With the help of her friend, Jack Spetza, a former SAS operative with skilled intuition, Setrina sets off to uncover her mother\u2019s secret. Very soon, they realize the danger they\u2019re in, and that quite possibly, the wealthiest, most powerful man on the planet wants the stone and would do anything, including murder, to get his hands on it.<\/p>\n

This is a fun-filled thriller rich with history and magic. Humor sprinkles the plot as well, with witty punches throughout, such as: \u201cBeing a sanctioned killer with a drug habit was like a good kill\u2014you needed a good pill.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>The definitions for the Australian lingo are a great touch as well.<\/p>\n

However, the plot is hard to follow at times as the narrator\u2019s voice switches between characters without much warning, especially Setrina\u2019s and Jack\u2019s. Moreover, while Imhotep\u2019s and Jack\u2019s characters develop throughout the novel in an easy-to-follow, engaging manner, Setrina\u2019s is lacking. The plot follows Angelique at the very beginning, which makes the reader think the narrative will naturally follow Setrina from then on, but the plot switches to mostly Jack\u2019s journey as he combats the bad guys. Setrina feels set aside, and the narrative in turn lacks the balance her perspective would have provided.<\/p>\n

Even then, the inclusions of the magical stone and time travel are enough to keep the pages turning. The entire novel feels like a puzzle that buzzes with extra pizzazz. The combat scenes mixed in with romance between Setrina and Jack makes the story hopeful and exciting too. This is a good, fun debut that has real series potential.<\/p>\n

The post Jack Spetza: Flawed by A.S. Warnock<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A unique thriller about a magical stone, the ability to time travel, and a fight to keep one man\u2019s greedy hands away from the ultimate power grab When the Pharoah is gifted a small, green stone, his advisor, Imhotep, notices something peculiar: the stone has magical powers. Wanting to learn more about the stone\u2019s magic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6624"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6624\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}