Power

Hikers Trilogy #1

by Lauren Algeo

After a mass shooting in Waterloo station, Scott Brewer, a former Detective Inspector, returns to London to investigate. It becomes apparent that this was the work of hikers, a family of hired assassins with the power of mind control. Brewer now hunts them after his own near-fatal encounter with one and is joined on his mission by Georgie Duncan, a moody teenager with a turbulent past. Can they learn to work together and find a method to kill the seemingly invincible hikers?

Genres: Thriller

426 pages, ebook

First published January 19, 2013

About the author

Lauren Algeo (1985 - ) was born in England and currently lives in Kent with her husband. She graduated from Greenwich University with a First-class honours degree in Graphic Design and works for a design agency in London Bridge.

Lauren is the best-selling author of The Hikers Trilogy – a horror/thriller series about one man's struggle to defeat a family of mind-controlling assassins, and the people he meets along the way. Hikers Part One: Power was published in 2013, followed by Part Two: Passion in 2014 and Part Three: Politics in 2015. There are also two accompanying novels to the Hikers Trilogy: Brewer's Journal (published in 2014) and Georgie's Story (2015). Lauren has two collections of short horror stories, Survive The Night (2014) and Fear The Night (2017), a standalone romance thriller, The Perfect Date (2013), and a story in charity anthology, Eye of Fear (2016).

Lauren is obsessed with books and films, particularly anything horror-related. Her favourite author is Stephen King and she loves watching TV shows like American Horror Story, Sense8 and Game of Thrones. She has an Alaskan Shepherd, called Opie, who she blogs about at opieandus.wordpress.com. She is also a trustee of The Chris Aked Foundation, a charity providing support and experiences to children whose families are dealing with cancer and other life affecting illnesses. All proceeds from Fear The Night go to the foundation, and you can follow them @akedarmy or www.facebook.com/akedarmy.

Join the 'Lauren Algeo Author' Facebook page for more information: www.facebook.com/HikersTrilogy or follow her on Twitter: @laurenalgeo (https://twitter.com/LaurenAlgeo)

Reviews

[Artis Fricbergs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't recall the last time a book completely fooled me and drew me in quite like this. The innocuous, almost benign title misleads you as to the intensity and unrelenting pace of this horrifying story. The hikers are beyond pure evil. Enough said. The protagonists, Brewer and Georgie, become your friends. You know these people, you've known these people, you've been these people. You can't help but love them and care about them. They are flawed, they are damaged, and in being so, they become touchable and real. We can relate to their pain and their burdens, that's what made me care for these heroes from the opening pages and held me until the final sentence. Lauren writes with a gritty honesty and torrid pace that refuses to release you. You have no time to inhale, let alone breathe, or to analyze or reflect... only be drawn in and held captive with each deliciously dark page you turn. The build is honest, troubling, horrifying and intense. The story concept is truly original, painful and unpredictable, and the writing is excellent. I simply can't wait to find out what happens next in Hikers Part 2.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hikers-Part One: Power by Lauren Algeo is a science-fiction horror novel like no other. From the very first chapter this novel had me hooked. The plot is so unique and frankly quite terrifying! The idea of having someone overwhelm a person's mind and "hitchhike" to make you do their evil bidding is the thing of nightmares.
The main protagonist is a tortured man who spends his days hunting these "hikers." Algeo does a fantastic job developing our main protagonist and has the writing ability to include an unlikely partner after a particularly frightening encounter. The writing style is fantastic and the story is fast paced and enthralling. As a reader, you will not want to put this book down!
This is a great read for fans of science fiction and horror. The surprise twist at the end will leave you in shock and on the edge of your seat awaiting the followup. I can not wait to continue this amazing adventure and to see just how much more frightening Algeo can make this story.

http://novelideareviews.blogspot.com/...

[Eisah Eisah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

(Spoilers within)

This is a short story, only about 12,000 words, so this will probably be a fairly short review.

That said, I really liked this story. The Prologue didn't catch me. It's only two pages, but I thought there were too many questions in the narrative in it ("When the mind-shattering images manifest with claws and teeth and repressed emotions, what good is a blade or axe? If the power we possess could subdue it, would we not have slain it in our sleep, when all the world's laws and possibilities were at our command" etc etc).

However, that was a short part, and I really liked the first chapter - or "Part 4", as it's labeled. I think the dialogue between the boy and the woman is done very well, with the boy being a skeptic and demanding logic, and the woman having seen horrors and insisting that there are things people don't yet understand, but they exist regardless of our understanding them or not. Both of their opinions make sense for their characters.

Now, the story is sort of told backwards, with the first chapter being the end and the last chapter being the start. I glanced at some reviews beforehand and knew this was going to happen, and I wasn't sure how well it would work. I think it worked for the most part, perhaps because it is a short enough story that you're only piecing together a few chapters. If it was much longer it would probably get too confusing.

One thing it did do was that I got confused about which character was in one of the chapters. At first I thought it was 'the leader', but when I double checked I realized she was someone else. Because names are often avoided in a lot of it, and it's so short that characters only have a small amount of time, it was an easy mix-up to make.

Even so, in their brief moments I did feel something for the characters. Cynthia, for example, only appears in one chapter and dies during it, so we have very little time with her. However, the way she acts in that brief time says a lot about her. I did feel bad that she died. Taj, on the other hand didn't get quite as much so I didn't feel as bad about that one.

I think where the story excels is in creating terrifying situations for the characters. There really is a feeling that they have little chance of escape. Sometimes I couldn't quite picture what was happening. For example, the leader where's a strange helmet that's mentioned a lot, but I'm not sure exactly what it looked like. There was something about it having a ridiculously long neck and two faces. It left me having a little trouble imagining what she looked like.

I can understand why that would happen in a book like this. When you're trying to describe something nightmarish, something that wouldn't really make sense, it can be hard to express it in a way that would give everyone a clear image without going into a tedious amount of details, so I chalked it up to, "she has a weird helmet" and continued on. But for the most part, I think it did a good job of dropping the reader into an improbable world with characters we would barely know, and then creating an intense situation. It was able to take something as simple as "a woman is following me" and make it scary. Not every single one worked for me - I don't find stalagmites that frightening - but I could get what it was going for and some others might find stalagmites forming into the shape of a mouth unnerving.

I think the author could expand a lot on this concept. Right now it looks like this is his first time publishing, and I really enjoyed it. I hope he does do some more. I like a good horror and I like fantasy/medieval settings, and this was a nice mixture of both for me. And, for people looking for it, for what short time they had, I felt it had a strong set of female characters, too.

It kept me fascinated throughout, so I'm going to give it a 10/10.

Read more reviews here.

[David Kummer · Rating 5 out of 5]

**I received a free copy of this book from the author to review. Not that it matters, really. I didn’t get money or anything, but you’re supposed to put this at the top of your review I believe? Anyways, skip on to the review now.**

WHAT I LIKED:

Difficulty
Oh, Lauren Alego, how in the heck did you write this book?

This is the second book ever that I’ve read and thought, “Wow. That’d be so hard to write.” The other was the Inheritance Series by Christopher Paolini. (Great read, that.)

This book -what with the world-building, the whole premise of hikers, and the thinking up of ways to kill people- would be incredibly difficult to write. A novel, in and of itself, is hard to write, as I’ve learned many, many times with failed works. This, even more so, would be impossible for me to go about and finish, so I salute to Alego in that regard.

Chapter 34
The best chapter, by far, was Chapter 34. It was the first time you really saw inside the hikers’ organization and understood everything. You saw the Grand (lead hiker), how the hikers had different levels of working, and just all sorts of things about how they managed. It was really thrilling and I read through that chapter in a jiffy. Giffy? Ghiffy?

Interesting
So, with 1/3 of this book left, I had a nice bout of insomnia and decided to go ahead and finish the thing.

For, like, an hour I went through and read the last 30ish % and I was never bored. Not. Once. It was great. I loved the ending and was about to buy the second book, right there, on the spot, but then decided I should wait and write this review first.

Don’t worry. I’m gonna buy the second book.

BONUS: This Quote
“Most people on the ledge of a tall building were not afraid they’d fall; they were afraid they’d jump.”

GENIUS!! GO BUY IT NOW!! PUT THIS ON A FREAKING MEME!!

WHAT I DISLIKED:

P.O.V. Changes Could Be Confusing
Sometimes, in a book, the point of view will change. If you didn’t know that, you might not read enough books.

Anyways, that can be a great thing. It can keep the story fresh, and exciting, and show us new people. And, for the most part, that was wonderful in this book. But a few times the P.O.V. would change very quickly and leave me re-reading sections to get a better feel for what was going on.

Now, this never happened in important, emotional moments so that’s a good thing. That would really ruin said important, emotional moments.

The Big Revelation Isn’t Very Exciting
So, like 60 % through the book there is a big revelation that finally answers a main question: What are Hikers?

They’ve theorized, by that point, that the hikers are their own breed, or a mix of breeds, or are just humans with like some special mind stuff. They finally find out what the answer is, and it’s not really all that it’s prepped up to be.

-logues
Oh, the -logues. The dialogues and monologues. Oh, the -louges. (I’m in a very dramatic mood today, clearly. It’s March Madness Fever, I tell ya.)

Like many books I’ve read, there are a lot of times when characters have mini-speeches or are talking to themselves in their mind. Like, the author will describe what they’re thinking and stuff with lots of imagery. And while this does have its place in literature, I’m not too fond of it in Thrillers and Adventure stories.

That said, this book isn’t nearly as bad with them as some other books. They don’t really take anything away from the story.

MY RATING: 8.5/10

Lauren Alego really has something special with the series. It’s a shame that it’s not on the Bestsellers list or something. This is genuinely something that could be made into a movie, and then I’d go see that movie. It’s fantastic, thrilling, breathtaking, and a passionate piece of work. I HIGHLY recommend you go buy it, or at least get a sample.

[Jeni · Rating 3 out of 5]

First and foremost let me begin by stating that I received a free copy of the book from the author in exchange for my honest review. Thank you


This is a simple story but one well written about two people (Brewer and Georgie) who after suffering tragedies in their life find a common purpose to fight for. A way to destroy the family of assassins who have the power to control people’s mind and who nearly destroyed their lives.

I was pleased that the story between Georgie and Brewer was not a romantic one, but rather a paternal one. They help each other heal and accept their past. Brewer was the father figure Georgie needed, to regain her trust on people. Goergie gave brewer purpose and opportunity to regain some of his humanity.

The ending was heartbreaking and gripping at the same time. I ended up yelling at the book, as I do at movies, not to go into that room; but they never listen. I was so upset with the ending at first; I couldn’t understand why the author had chosen to end it that way. But then I realize that it was a perfect ending.


I recommend this book to those that don’t expect happily ever after endings, but enjoy a good adventure.

[Angie Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

**I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for my fair and honest review.**

“Hikers - Part One: Power” by Lauren Algeo was not at all what I expected, and everything I could possibly want from a horror novel. The story is pretty original, but more than that, it’s terrifying fun. From the moment I picked up the book, I found it incredibly hard to put down. The characters are well-developed, the pacing immaculate, and the frights just plain perfect. Algeo created a supernatural hired assassin so believable that it makes me wonder if they are really out there. That’s exactly how I want to walk away from anything horror: wondering if something is waiting around the next corner for me. You can’t go wrong with the first book in what is sure to be an amazing trilogy.

[Heather Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Hikers - Part One: Power” by Lauren Algeo was not at all what I expected, and everything I could possibly want from a horror novel. The story is pretty original, but more than that, it’s terrifying fun. From the moment I picked up the book, I found it incredibly hard to put down. The characters are well-developed, the pacing immaculate, and the frights just plain perfect

This is a simple story but one well written about two people (Brewer and Georgie) who after suffering tragedies in their life find a common purpose to fight for. A way to destroy the family of assassins who have the power to control people's mind and who nearly destroyed their lives.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great little story, not the typical horror story. It has two characters Brewer and Georgie who become romantic while trying to find the person or people responsible for seemingly random murders. The people behind the murders have the ability to mentally take over a person and have them kill others. I'm glad the second book is out now and can't wait to see what twists and turns are in store for Brewer.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a thrilling book!? Loved it!

Hikers is excellent! It is an intriguing read that will keep you guessing. It is also quite thrilling and creepy at times. The characters are amazing. I grew to really love Brewer and Georgie, and the relationship they have.

I didn't really know what to expect when I read this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. I will definitely check out the rest of the series.

[Roxanne Johnson-bisland · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you are looking for a quick read this is not the book for you.
if you want a book that makes you want to know what happens next.yup this is the book :)
to be pushed by an unknown source thinking it's just the voices in your head, to do and think things you would have never thought of before is scary. To survive the attack is amazing in its own. to walk away being able to hear the source sends one man into a quest to find out how to stop them.

[Sarah Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! It was suspenseful, heartbreaking and a bit terrifying. The characters were great, especially Georgie. You can't help but feel for her and Brewer. I really liked the growth these characters go through from beginning to end. The writing was amazing. I just got sucked right into the story. I just didn't want to put the book down. Highly recommend this book.

[C Dove · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a good read. Read in a day. Scott Brewer & Georgie made a great pair. The form of paranormal " evil" Grand was very good. A must read for people who have followed the Guide's

[Smruti :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

my brother made me read this 💀. it was such an unexpectedly touching book Georgie’s story ong brought me close to tears. the ending wasn’t great, but it was worth reading.

[Lyn Mckenzie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not impressed

I thought this was going to be a good book but now had to put it down 1/4 of the way through as in was struggling to read it. Found that it seemed to skip scenes and certain bits didn't make sense.