Merciless, the Supervillain without Mercy (TM) is back with even bigger problems! How far will he go to fix his wife’s current state of being a soulless vampire? Can he ignore his growing feelings for Cindy, despite their difference over the new Star Wars movie? Can he survive the wrath of the President of the United States (who he accidentally stole billions from)? While he ponders those … those personal issues, Death has a new mission for him. The greatest hero on Earth has killed and she isn’t pleased. Death wants the murder solved and the perpetrator given the kind of justice only the Avatar of Death can dish out. Unfortunately for Gary, that’s only the tip of the psychotic iceberg.
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Phipps obviously adores superhero comics and this series is a loving satirical homage to them. In this third installment, Merciless is trying to find a way to bring his wife’s soul back into her vampiric body while dealing with the hilarious mess of his life. To make matters worse, a massive conspiracy to take over the world is underway and the conspirators have decided they need to take Merciless out first. Naturally Merciless, who insists he’s not a hero, is coming up with reasons to stop the bad guys.
Merciless’ growing frustration at his inability to save his wife is an insight into one of the ways true villains are made. We feel his pain and Phipps expertly makes use of this throughout the story, so much so that I think the story wouldn’t have worked without it.
All of that being said, that wasn’t even my favorite part of the novel. That comes in the form of one of the principal villains—the President of the United States. Think about that for a moment. How do you fight a president who is secretly planning to take over the world when you plan to keep living (mostly publicly) in those same United States? It’s a great dilemma, and a great novel.
This review is for the audio book.
I enjoyed this book. This is book three in the series and as all the books follow on from each other you need to be prepared to get the whole series and listen to them in the right order, I have, but I haven’t been disappointed yet. The books are full of action, with good guys taking on the bad guys…well okay it’s not that black and white. I like the fact that with this series anything can happen and usually does and not always what you are expecting. The characters are interesting and with cool names it is easy to get swept up in the fantasy world. The humour is just a bonus. Off to start the next book as it left the last one on a bit of a cliff hanger.
Gary aka Merciless saved the city from being destroyed, despite being a super villain but he was unable to save the love of his life, his wife. Unable to let her go just how far will he and his team of super villains go to get her back? He also has other problems such as the president wants him dead and has taken out a hit on him. Oh and someone killed the greatest super hero to have ever walked the planet, Ultra God and replaced him with a robot. Death and the hero’s daughter, um Gary’s ex girlfriend, want Gary’s help to find out who killed him and to put a stop to what ever plan they have cooked up now. Is the hit and the death of Ultra God connected? It’s hard to be a villain when you have to keep saving the city so that you can destroy it.
I like the narrator and have listened to a few books read by him and have enjoyed them every time. He is a master at his work and has the perfect timing to deliver the punch line
The third book of the supervillainy saga gets back on track, picking up the pace from the second book, with more action and less banter. I like the tension between Gary and Cindy as well as the overall story. And there’s a surprise behind who Gary is really fighting this time as well as a a cliff hanger of an ending that had me picking up book four right away.
The Secrets of Supervillainy (The Supervillainy Saga #3) by C.T. Phipps is a book that you can love the villains and the heroes. (Mostly the villains) All of these books in this series are witty, clever, make you giggle, groan, and are excellent reading when you are in a bad mood. They will cheer you up, get your mind off reality, and you can enjoy the silliness of supervillainy! (evil laugh)
I enjoy these books and fortunately for me, the author knows I like them and sends me them to read…the review is voluntary. Although I am reading them out of order, it doesn’t bother me, they are fun no matter when or how you read them! The characters are very imaginative, the plot super fun with crazy twists and turns (yes, it has a plot), and you get attached to the characters after a couple of books. They are so darn…evil! You can’t help but like them. So, come to the dark side…there are giggles over here.