Six kills in six years.Super powered cop Adam Song has dedicated his life to the law. In the military and the police force, Adam ruthlessly protects the innocent.But this time he’s killed the wrong bad guy. Now the local drug lord’s son is dead, and the boss is out for Adam’s blood. Even his secret identity won’t keep him safe. The police department hangs him out to dry, his years of exemplary … dry, his years of exemplary service forgotten. Adam must take justice into his own hands to keep his family safe.
Because Adam is a Song. And Songs take care of their own. No matter the cost.
When does justice become murder? And just how far will he go to protect his clan?
Dragon and Hugo Award nominated author Kai Wai Cheah steps onto the superhero scene with his debut Heroes Unleashed novel. His characteristic fast-paced action and attention to detail brings Adam Song and the Chinatown of Hollow City vividly to life.
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Hollow City (Song of Karma, book 1), by Kai Wai Cheah is the latest in Silver Empire’s superhero universe line. While it’s been discussed in terms of this version of the Punisher….
This may end up as a Punisher origin story, but our hero is way, WAY too sane to be Frank Castle. The vibe as you read the novel is more Michael Connelly doing a noir superhero novel, with gun porn that outdoes Larry Correia. (No, I’m not exaggerating, and you did not misread that. Gun porn that would make Larry Correia blush).
Imagine if Baen did a superhero novel and it was one part Connelly, one part Correia. You’ve got smart police tactics by a superpowered former soldier as part of a SWAT team, but you also have the problems of the politics of “Primes” (they’re not supeheroes or mutants, they’re Primes). It becomes an interesting mix of politics, powers and police. When I reference Michael Connelly, most people should think of his hero, Harry Bosch (yes, now an Amazon Prime show). And the police department in Halo City is very much like the corrupt, politics-ridden (but I repeat myself) legal system of Bosch’s LA. It helps with the noir feel of the novel, as it constantly refers to Halo City as the Hollow City, dark, soulless and corrupt….
You know, Chicago.
(Okay, if you’re looking for a direct parallel, it’s probably if San Francisco were run by Chicago politicians, down to the demographics, and “Grand Park” instead of SF’s Grant Park.)
Once again, as with the first book in the series, (Morgon Newquist’s “Heroes United”) it’s a superhero world that feels very real. Screwups are not tolerated, leaving a realistic feel to the narration — such as referring to an egomaniac “hero” who was going to livestream an arrest… so the criminal set a trap and put three rounds in the sucker’s face. Stupidity is its own death penalty. The politics are realistic enough to make me want to strangle the politicians — even down to having a Black Lives Matter group that’s against Primes. And I love the line “Politics is never personal until it happens to you,” I may need to steal it.
And the tactics are solid. The guns are detailed and make sense given the use of force required. The fact that Adam has three guns, as well as a taser, is one of the better carry policies I’ve seen of a hero in a novel for some time.
The world building is solid. The tactics are great. The character is also well developed. Publicly, Adam Song seems to have the powers of Marvel’s Bullseye — he always hits what he aims for, with preternatural reaction time. That’s what everyone else thinks, too. But it goes beyond that, and he has a very simple, straightforward approach to handling everything — it’s handled by the book. I love the byplay between what the public thinks he can do, what he says he can do, and what he actually can do. It’s the usually conflict of the civilian mindset versus the mindset of people who actually get shot at with some regularity. I had to look up his Amazon bio to make certain that Kai Wai Cheah hadn’t served in law enforcement or the military.
And then there’s our hero’s family… I await someone to bitch about Kai Wai Cheah using “Asian stereotypes” as he writes his novel in his native Singapore. Heh.
There are a bunch of cute bits as well. They’re not SWAT teams, but STAR teams (Resident Evil, anyone?). The investigator is Herbert Franks (cute Cheah. Very cute). Cheah also has bullet storm haiku… no, I’m NOT kidding.
Short version: If Harry Bosch were an Asian superhero, and Michael Connelly had a sense of humor, this is the book you’d end up with — a Superhero Baen novel. If you enjoy anything put out by Baen, or Harry Bosch, or Astro City, or Jon Bernthal’s portrayal of the Punisher in Daredevil, you’re probably going to enjoy this one.
My only problem? There is a bit of a cliffhanger. But then again, it did say book 1. For some reason, it does NOT piss me off anywhere near as much as others have.
I wholeheartedly recommend this one. 5/5. I’d recommend this for a Dragon Award if Kai Wai Cheah didn’t already have his sights set on the Alternate history award.
I received a free copy of this book from the author. I had the opportunity to review or not.
This is a very interesting premise for a police story. I have not read the previous book so was taken aback by the Prime gift of Adam Song. It grabbed me completely and I wanted to know more. And more I got.
Part of what I really enjoyed was the day to day business of a cop. We ae taken on the journey of a man living a dangerous life and we are thrown into the danger with him. The authors take you along with their vivid descriptions of the step by step actions and the thoughts of Adam as he moves through what must be done to accomplish his mission. His team must go through a gangster’s home, protect themselves from injury and perhaps even death, to capture a vicious gang leader. We are privy to every thought Adam has as he pursues the killer.
Adding interest to tale is Adam’s gift. He can amp up his senses to hear what otherwise he would not, he can speed up his movements beyond even the fastest track and field runner. This gift gives him advantages over the bad guys and help him complete many missions successfully. However, in the set of circumstances he is under, the close quarters of stairs leading to a bedroom where the killer is hiding, his advanced skills are of little use. He must rely on his training and experience.
The authors’ skills enable us to become part of the action. It was easy to connect with Adams. He was believable and likable. The characters are well-developed and interesting. The story follows a believable path even with a suspension of disbelief. They made me believe. I highly recommend this book. I believe I will be purchasing the first of the series as I await more from these talented authors.
This is a wild ands action packed superhero story for all ages. The world is our world with a sci-fi kick that maybe we wished we had. I enjoyed the read and appreciated what the author has done. We had brought to life what we all really would like to be, superheroes!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Though the superhero genre is not my favorite read, this was an excellent story. The characters are well developed and the story flows smoothly with no pacing problems. The hero has a great snarky personality. I am not really a fan of cliff hangers but I do understand it in this instance. I will have to admit that the cliff hanger took me completely by surprise. I did not see the plot going in that direction. I look forward to the next book coming out to see where the plot will go from here. It should be very entertaining. For the record, I received a free Advanced Review Copy of this book with the request to leave an honest review for other potential readers. I really recommend that you read it, it was a lot of fun to read.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I enjoyed this book it was action packed. I was guess what was going to happen next and only got it right once. Amp has super human powers and he is on the police force. When a warrant goes bad IA is out to get him and so is a local cartel. Things to from bad to worse for him. Once you start it will be hard to put down..
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is an excellent book with a riveting storyline and wonderful characters. These factors kept me riveted from the start of the book! It was difficult to put down and I admit I lost some sleep reading this! It is an incredible story.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I grew up through the 60’s & early 70’s on a comic diet of the DC variety. Superman was my fix for adventure and taking out the baddies.
Now we have all the Marvel characters as well as an absolute smorgasbord of every man, woman, child and alien creature with super powers.
This is the story of Detective Adam Song, code name Amp. A Prime who came into his powers following an incident with the CERN Hadron Particle Collider.
Here he was, a distinguished Marine, who joined the Police, and woke one morning with enhanced powers, along with many others. Some who stayed the honest path, and some who walked the darker side.
He didn’t ask for this to happen but accepted it and used his new powers to help and assist those who needed it.
When he comes across those, like him who became “enhanced”, but who chose to tread the opposite side of the law, he uses what he has been given to “serve & protect”. If that means the “baddies” end up on a mortuary slab then that’s their choice.
He still has humanity and that makes the job harder for him. We see a man sometimes torn between right and wrong and the morals ties that go with his decisions.
This is more a people’s hero story even though he was initially forced to keep his powers secret.
A great start to what, I hope, will be a long series.
Five stars for a new superhero.