The Dark Lord

Forbidden Tarot #1

by Patricia Simpson

Fay Rae has spent her life protecting her sister Angie from a family secret. When she inherits a house from her mentor, Thomas Gregory, she discovers he may have been murdered, and that the souvenir deck of cards from her Egyptian vacation may be the Forbidden Tarot, able to call forth a demon.   

With the cards come two men. Dangerously appealing Simeon with his promise of a better life, and Thomas' son Michael, a brooding, wounded man whom she secretly loved as a girl. Soon, Rae and her sister find themselves in danger, and Rae must face her darkest fear. But this time she refuses to be a helpless victim in the grip of a "giant beast". . . 

The Dark Lord of the tarot has arrived. Rae must figure out who he is and how she can stop him before she loses her heart, her sister, and her life. 

Genres: Romance, Paranormal, Contemporary, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Patricia Simpson grew up in the wilderness of Western Montana, where it meant a 3-1/2 hour drive just to buy shoes. When she was young, the iPod hadn't yet been invented, and there were no radio stations in the area, so on the many long drives for shoes, Patricia amused herself by reading novels or creating her own stories in her head. She was encouraged to write by her sister, who always asked to be read what she had written so far that day, her Egyptian-born English teacher in junior high, and then again by a creative writing professor at the University of Washington. Instead of seeking a writing degree, Patricia chose to pursue a BA in Art and has worked as a graphic artist/web developer at the University of Washington since 1982. Patricia still enjoys painting almost as much as she loves to write.

Ms Simpson has won numerous awards for her fiction, including Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award, Career Achievement Award, and has been a finalist in the RITA awards and for Best Indie Paranormal of the Year.

Her Scottish husband encourages her to accompany him on his frequent business trips around the world, and whenever possible Patricia goes with him to scope out spooky historical places to use as the settings of her books.

Reviews

[Ithlilian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book on a whim at a used book store over a year ago. I never read it because of the bad reviews it received, and the fear that it was going to be a bad romance novel. I was pleasantly surprised when I started reading it this week and found myself enjoying it. The main character, Rae, is likable and interesting. She has a passion for mathematics and ancient Egypt (so do I), but has a debilitating disease and a troubling past that makes her weary of most romantic relationships. The novel opens in Egypt where Rae finds an ancient tarot deck. She brings it back home only to discover that her mentor has died and she has inherited half of his house. From there she encounters some mysterious men, and strange things start to happen to those around her.

The mystery isn't really the motivation of this novel for me, and it doesn't really take the forefront. It's really about the characters here, and they all have strong personalities. I love character based novels, and I enjoy flawed characters, so this was right up my ally in that aspect. My issue was that the bad guy was a bit too predictable from the start. The author reveals the big secret towards the end and it wasn't shocking at all. If this was supposed to be a mystery, it could have been handled a bit better, with less obvious hints throughout. The romance wasn't that steamy, which was surprising. I was really expecting this to be a gushy romance, and it wasn't at all. It was rather realistic and refreshing. That did leave me wondering what the point of the novel was. It wasn't the best mystery, it wasn't a strong romance, and it wasn't strongly paranormal. Yes, there is a paranormal element here, but the scary tarot deck was not implemented in the way I was expecting at all, and almost felt like an afterthought. I don't think this series warrants a revisit for me, because I feel like the second novel may be a repeat of this one in terms of plot. If this book had just a bit more meat in the middle to keep up my interest, and maybe a few more elements to the mystery, I would have loved it. I felt like this turned out to be a bit cheesy, and I would have almost rather just read about the main character's life instead of demons and tarot cards.

Overall, The Dark Lord had an amazing beginning with intriguing characters and a decent mystery, but tapered off around the middle, and started to get silly and predictable at the end.

[mlady_rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

After 4 days of trying, I'm giving up on this book. Only got to page 115. In general, I dropped it because I couldn't connect to the characters, I didn't care what happened to them, and it was boring and a bit confusing. But I do I have one specific complaint.

The main character has a serious case of arthritis. Serious enough that she limits her activities because of it. As a person who has arthritis, I found the constant reminder of the character's pain just ruined the escapism quality of the book.

There is a subtle difference between seeing a character's disability as "she's like me" and just having it pull down the whole story. The book Tea for Three by Anne Douglas did the "she's like me" well. That main character walked with a cane, but she didn't concentrate so hard on her disability that she let it pull her down, and thus pull the reader down.

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is unique and interesting but also predictable. Liked Rae but I thought she was too hard on Michael about his dad. She expected him to see the great things she knew about the man and instantly get over him abandoning Michael and leaving the inheritance split. Also, the stereotypical over-protectiveness of another character to where it interfered with everything got on my nerves. I did like the difference of both having realistically violent pasts, how unique plot was, the heroine being different but have a handicap, and the sweet ending. Writing style is good , but the author went too heavy with the dreaded exclamation points.

[Patricia Simpson]

If you prefer to listen to the audiobook, you can get it here: https://www.audible.com/pd/B01AIRYWEE...

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

11/06/05 #196
TITLE/AUTHOR: THE DARK LORD by Patricia Simpson
RATING: 4.5/B+
GENRE/PUB DATE/# OF PGS: Paranormal Romance, 2005, 374 pgs
COMMENTS: 1st in The Forbidden Tarot series. Fay Rae Lambers and her sister Angie are visiting Egypt when they find a box of antique tarot cards buried in the desert. When they return to the San Francisco bay area, strange things begin to occur that are connected to the tarot. Great start to a new series!

[Kate Moffatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was rather a good read, I didn't have to struggle with it, which I thought I would. Although it became a little predictable at the end, I still really enjoyed it!