Fatal Domain

Author: Steven James
Genre: Thriller
Series: A Travis Block Thriller #2
Pages: 384
Release Date: April 9, 2024
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers

When the past scratches its way into the present, it can leave deep scars.

A series of cryptic clues leads Department of Defense redactor Travis Brock to suspect that a grim chapter from his past is not yet over. With the help of his eidetic memory and his newly formed team, he must unearth the truth and stop a terrorist group from stealing one of the military’s most highly guarded technological breakthroughs. With it, the group plans to commit a daring act of espionage that could upend the work of one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical firms and impact millions of people worldwide.

In a high-stakes story of action and intrigue that reaches from a refugee settlement in Uganda to the shores of the Potomac in Washington, DC, shattering secrets from the past will be revealed, loyalties tested, and intimate betrayals brought to light as Brock is forced to decide how to forgive what he cannot forget.

From a novelist that Publishers Weekly has called a “master storyteller” comes an intricate and taut thriller that will have you guessing until the final page.

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Reviewer: Conny Withay

“With the help of his eidetic memory and his newly formed team, he must unearth the truth and stop a terrorist group from stealing one of the military’s most highly guarded technological breakthroughs,” the back jacket states in Steven James’s novel, Fatal Domain.

The second book in the Travis Brock Thriller series, this three-hundred-and-ninety-six-page advanced-reader paperback targets those who like a Christian contemporary thriller about espionage and intrigue involving the U.S. government. Containing the word hell being used as a swear word, topics of injury, torture, murder, and death may not be appropriate for immature readers.

Thirty-seven-year-old Travis Brock’s photographic memory has always been an asset to him, but now it is more so to America’s Department of Defense, where he is a redactor trying to locate Janice Daniels, a billionaire convinced she is able to change the world for the better. With his team of a highly trained sharpshooter who wants to be a romance novelist and an ex-Secret Service agent developing feelings for him, Travis must step out of his comfort zone to uncover his past relationships to stop Janice. By learning what forgiveness truly is, Travis hones in on what is important to his mission.

Having not read the first book in the series, I found this one engaging from the get-go, without knowing its backstory. Although there were multiple narrators, Travis’s first-person explanations were interesting and showed his character, fears, and frustrations. I appreciated the handling of the protagonists’ insecurities and how the team dealt with their pasts and each other, and hunting down their targets. The added Bible verses were not overdone or preachy.

Some may not like a series involving espionage and terrorism, but the scenes were not too graphic in content. Those who do not care for the ins and outs of the military and accessing personal data and information may find it intrusive.

There is no mention that Jesus is our one and only savior, who died, shed His blood on the cross for our sins, and rose on the third day. I prefer all pronouns of God capitalized for reverence.

If you like a fast-paced series about terrorism that involves a team working together while dealing with day-to-day life, this is a thriller about forgiveness that begs you to race to its ending.

Thanks to Tyndale House Publishers and Interviews & Reviews for this complimentary book. I am under no obligation to give a positive review.

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Reviewer: Rebecca Maney

"I am thinking of denial, second chances, and the cages of unforgiveness that are strewn across the landscape of my past. That place is a dominion of darkness and death and self-imposed chains. Yes, it is my choice—and also my hope—to leave that fatal domain."

Endowed with an eidetic memory, Department of Defense redactor Travis Brock remembers many things that he would rather forget. On the other hand, his skill set is a tremendous asset to a team of three whose assignment is to protect one of the military's highly guarded secrets, which explains why this story opens with Travis and one of his co-patriots perched on the top of a building while monitoring the movements of a drone that was imaging the dots and dashes from a computer across a ravine. Unfortunately, Travis would have to remember those sequences in order to translate them into usable data because there may have been a five-story plunge involved, which meant plan B.

This story twisted and turned within itself, one chapter at a time. Tangles turned into tentacles, which straightened into trails that stumbled back into twists, but there was a definite design if you stood back far enough and became as sticky as a spider web if you ventured too close. The formatting was brilliant. Short chapters kept the complexity from becoming suffocating, allowing multiple characters to appear and disappear from behind their self-imposed curtains.

Ultimately, the final outcome became rather murky before clearing up just long enough to satisfy justice. Besides, there's more to come.

Note: a few expletives are uttered in context.

I received a copy of this book from Tyndale Publishers through Interviews and Reviews. The opinions stated above are entirely my own.

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