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Power In The Blood
"Hiawatha Bray turns his considerable talents to fiction--and the result is an unforgettable main character, an authentic look at Boston, and a pageturner of a story. ...Do not miss this realistic, compelling, and heartbreaking thriller. "
--- Hank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today Bestselling Author
“Technology and violence, suffused with old-time religion. “Power in the Blood” is a thrill from first page to last.”
— Alex Beam, author of American Crucifixion
Journalist Weldon Drake is drawn into the biggest and bloodiest story of his career when Astrid Nelson, a beautiful and brilliant computer scientist, is nearly murdered inside his African-American Baptist church.
In his quest for the truth, Drake faces off against a renowned and ruthless MIT professor, an international band of hackers plotting the biggest financial heist in history, and a brutal team of enforcers.
But Drake also discovers the most unexpected conspiracy of all -- a secret society of powerful black men, hidden in the heart of the church, who have quietly tampered with history for nearly 150 years.
--- Hank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today Bestselling Author
“Technology and violence, suffused with old-time religion. “Power in the Blood” is a thrill from first page to last.”
— Alex Beam, author of American Crucifixion
Journalist Weldon Drake is drawn into the biggest and bloodiest story of his career when Astrid Nelson, a beautiful and brilliant computer scientist, is nearly murdered inside his African-American Baptist church.
In his quest for the truth, Drake faces off against a renowned and ruthless MIT professor, an international band of hackers plotting the biggest financial heist in history, and a brutal team of enforcers.
But Drake also discovers the most unexpected conspiracy of all -- a secret society of powerful black men, hidden in the heart of the church, who have quietly tampered with history for nearly 150 years.
291 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 1, 2021
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31 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 30, 2022
A harrowing spiritual journey through the pages of a high-tech thriller!
I really enjoyed it this book and can definitely see it made into a movie! (Starring perhaps Denzel Washington and Lisa Bonet ?) It starts a little slow, then picks up speed and becomes a page-turner. The theme of computer hacking is highly relevant right now, though most of us don't realize it. Yet most regular folks, and even a lot of middle-sized businesses, have very little sense of the dangers they face until they've actually experienced them. This book could help ordinary readers begin to understand by getting swept up in Weldon Drake's mission to stop the meltdown.
I was most surprised by the ending of the story. It was not at all what I'd been trained to expect, with my immersion in popular culture. This ending was different from the usual story because it felt more like real life, where there are loose ends and unfinished business at the end of things, than there usually are at the end of a novel. At the same time, I found this "unfinished business" of Weldon Drake's to be one of the most interesting dimensions of the entire narrative. Throughout the book I found myself wanting to know more about the main character's harrowing personal struggle which is only alluded to rather obliquely here and there -- his battle with himself to become a better person and find empathy through service to others along with devotion to God, Drake's fellow deacons, and the rest of the flock. His mission even seems to include "humanity in general" at some level. I kept wondering why the incident with the random couple on the T was in the story at the beginning, as it seems to have little to do with the rest of what happens. Eventually I realized that this was Weldon Drake making an effort to take care of people who were not "his," not part of his flock, even if they didn't deserve it. It also shows him recognizing that he can be forceful in combat if this is required, which seems to be something he did not know before.
Weldon Drake's spiritual journey is only hinted at in the beginning, but gradually becomes an important force in the story, peeking through the cracks of each adventure episode, each peril our main character faces down. Finally it emerges fully visible, towards the end of the book. This spiritual and personal part of the story is what distinguishes it from the usual thriller; I really like it. [spoiler alert!] I'll admit that I have been conditioned so much by conventional narrative that for a while I definitely expected Weldon to find true love and fulfillment in life through saving Astrid. What he does find is more complex. The kind of ending I'd expected would have made it a more conventional but less illuminating tale. The truth is always more complicated. {Spoiler alert again] In the end, we are likely to think Astrid probably isn't who we thought she was, but neither is Drake, and that's pretty interesting!
Drake is trying to be a better person, but in the meantime can't help blaming other people sometimes, and making use of his skills at acting and pretending, to display a persona that does not reflect who he really is. We don't see a lot of it, but that dynamic is fascinating to me -- especially when it applies to a main character, as opposed to the villain, in a story, When I was ready to lose faith in human nature though, I was reassured by characters like Detective Precious Akinyi, as well as Drake's mentor and true friend, Carter, who seems to be worth his weight in gold. These folks seem like the solid through-and-through good people who turn out to be rarer than they should be in this world. They give me hope for the future. I also rather liked the mysterious Boo Hendricks, though we don't see much of him, and I haven't yet figured out who should play him in the movie. Give this book a try -- it will grab you and you'll need to keep turning the pages till you get to the end!
I really enjoyed it this book and can definitely see it made into a movie! (Starring perhaps Denzel Washington and Lisa Bonet ?) It starts a little slow, then picks up speed and becomes a page-turner. The theme of computer hacking is highly relevant right now, though most of us don't realize it. Yet most regular folks, and even a lot of middle-sized businesses, have very little sense of the dangers they face until they've actually experienced them. This book could help ordinary readers begin to understand by getting swept up in Weldon Drake's mission to stop the meltdown.
I was most surprised by the ending of the story. It was not at all what I'd been trained to expect, with my immersion in popular culture. This ending was different from the usual story because it felt more like real life, where there are loose ends and unfinished business at the end of things, than there usually are at the end of a novel. At the same time, I found this "unfinished business" of Weldon Drake's to be one of the most interesting dimensions of the entire narrative. Throughout the book I found myself wanting to know more about the main character's harrowing personal struggle which is only alluded to rather obliquely here and there -- his battle with himself to become a better person and find empathy through service to others along with devotion to God, Drake's fellow deacons, and the rest of the flock. His mission even seems to include "humanity in general" at some level. I kept wondering why the incident with the random couple on the T was in the story at the beginning, as it seems to have little to do with the rest of what happens. Eventually I realized that this was Weldon Drake making an effort to take care of people who were not "his," not part of his flock, even if they didn't deserve it. It also shows him recognizing that he can be forceful in combat if this is required, which seems to be something he did not know before.
Weldon Drake's spiritual journey is only hinted at in the beginning, but gradually becomes an important force in the story, peeking through the cracks of each adventure episode, each peril our main character faces down. Finally it emerges fully visible, towards the end of the book. This spiritual and personal part of the story is what distinguishes it from the usual thriller; I really like it. [spoiler alert!] I'll admit that I have been conditioned so much by conventional narrative that for a while I definitely expected Weldon to find true love and fulfillment in life through saving Astrid. What he does find is more complex. The kind of ending I'd expected would have made it a more conventional but less illuminating tale. The truth is always more complicated. {Spoiler alert again] In the end, we are likely to think Astrid probably isn't who we thought she was, but neither is Drake, and that's pretty interesting!
Drake is trying to be a better person, but in the meantime can't help blaming other people sometimes, and making use of his skills at acting and pretending, to display a persona that does not reflect who he really is. We don't see a lot of it, but that dynamic is fascinating to me -- especially when it applies to a main character, as opposed to the villain, in a story, When I was ready to lose faith in human nature though, I was reassured by characters like Detective Precious Akinyi, as well as Drake's mentor and true friend, Carter, who seems to be worth his weight in gold. These folks seem like the solid through-and-through good people who turn out to be rarer than they should be in this world. They give me hope for the future. I also rather liked the mysterious Boo Hendricks, though we don't see much of him, and I haven't yet figured out who should play him in the movie. Give this book a try -- it will grab you and you'll need to keep turning the pages till you get to the end!
September 24, 2023
This is a financial thriller like we've seen before. Hack the banks and make billions. Our hero is a newspaper reporter with a defective survival instinct. There's a James Bond element added to give the story some complexity it doesn't need. About ten times a character is told "don't do that" and they immediately do it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews