“The only thing in this world you can truly control is yourself.”Janey Sinclair’s ability to teleport has always been a mystery to her. She tried for years to ignore it, but when tragedy shatters her life, Janey’s anger consumes her. She hones her fighting skills, steals a prototype suit of military body armor, and takes to the streets of Atlanta, venting her rage as the masked vigilante dubbed … vigilante dubbed “the Gray Widow” by the press.
But Janey’s power, and her willingness to use it, plunges her into a conflict on a much grander scale than she had anticipated.
Soon she encounters Simon Grove, a bloodthirsty runaway with a shapeshifting ability gone horribly wrong…
Garrison Vessler, an ex-FBI agent and current private defense contractor, who holds some of the answers Janey’s been searching for…
And Tim Kapoor, the first person in years with a chance of breaking through Janey’s emotional shell—if she’ll let him.
But as Janey’s vigilantism gains worldwide attention, and her showdown with Simon Grove draws ever closer, the reason for her augmented abilities—hers and all the others like her—begins to reveal itself. Because, high above the Earth, other eyes are watching. And they have far-reaching plans…
Gray Widow’s Walk is book one of the Gray Widow Trilogy, to be followed by Gray Widow’s Web and Gray Widow’s War.
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GRAY WIDOW’S WALK by Dan Jolley is a fascinating bit of dark superhero fantasy that I think fans of literary comic book fiction will enjoy. I’m a big fan of superhero fiction (my Supervillainy Saga series is evidence enough of that) but it can be sometimes hard to differentiate the gems from the dross. Sometimes they’re too dark, sometimes they don’t have enough “superhero” elements to justify their inclusion in the genre, and sometimes they’re just bad. Gray Widow’s Walk is none of these and is a trilogy I look forward to devouring.
The premise is Janey Sinclair is the titular Gray Widow. Unlike the vast majority of female superheroes across all media, she is fully covered and wears a set of body-armor that is more akin to Boba Fett or Samus Aran than Wonder Woman’s attire (not that I don’t love Princess Diana of Themyscira). She is also capable of teleporting, an ability that makes her unique among humanity as far as she knows. Janey has had a series of horrible events happen to her in recent years and it has convinced her to become a crime-fighting vigilante.
Janey has some initial success with her attempts to clean up Atlanta, Georgia because she has a near preternatural sense for when crime is about to go down. She also benefits from the fact she can be at any location instantly without any need to wait for police. Her motives aren’t entirely pure, though, because she’s driven by a desire to vent the anger she feels from so many horrible tragedies in her life. It takes a lot to turn someone into a teleporting Batwoman and Janey has more justification than Bruce Wayne by far.
Unfortunately, Janey is not the only superpowered individual in the world. Simon Grove is blessed with the ability to shapeshift and is truly sick in the head. A violent misogynist and serial killer, he’s protected by individuals who want to figure out the nature of his abilities. Indeed, people who want to exploit the powers of Augments are everywhere in Georgia and they have the resources to carry out their mission in secret. Well, at least until Janey blows the whole thing open by drawing massive amounts of attention to the fact superpowers are real.
I really enjoyed this book and think a large part of this is due to the fact Dan tries to keep both the comic book elements as well as a gritty “realistic” story. It’s more or less a prose version of The Dark Knight with the addition of superpowers. Janey is a fascinating character that can’t fully come to terms with her own simmering rage because she’s not a naturally violent or aggressive person. The Gray Widow is something that springs from her pain and her attempts to live a normal life while also bouncing around town beating criminals is an interesting contrast. Certainly, it plays havoc with her love life.
I think my favorite part of the book is the fact that Janey unwittingly triggers a media frenzy with her actions, having never quite contemplated that the public would be interested in the sudden appearance of a real life superhero among them. She inspires imitators, lawsuit happy bottom feeders, and a public that doesn’t quite realize how serious her actions are. The police, of course, are confused as much as anything else.
There’s also the typical media vultures who only know that the public will eat this up.
In conclusion, Gray Widow’s Walk is an excellent superhero prose fiction novel and one that I very much enjoyed. I’m definitely going to check out the other two volumes in the trilogy and I’m eager to see how the story turns out. A warning for readers, Simon Grove is a femicide focused serial killer that is motivated by sick obsessions. Dan Jolley always cuts away from the horrible things the man does but it’s not too hard to fill in the blanks as to what he does.
There are so many sides to Janey Sinclair. She’s determined and strong, yet sensitive and full of self-doubt. She’s brimming with passion and pain, inner turmoil and righteous indignation. There’s a haunted and lonely melancholy there as well, which makes her as vulnerable as she is tough. She’s a great character and Gray Widow’s Walk is a great read. It moves fast and is full of action and surprises, but not at the expense of character. The suspense is palpable and that makes it a real page turner. The title telegraphs that fact that the world Dan Jolley created isn’t black and white and neither are the characters. The villains are as complex and multifaceted as the heroes. The dialogue crackles and the action doesn’t let up. I can’t wait to find out what happens to Janey Sinclair next.