Review: Battle Lines - Will Hill

As the clock ticks down to zero hour and the return of dracula, the devastated remnants of Department 19 try to hold back the rising darkness.

Jamie Carpenter is training new recruits, preparing them for a fight that seems increasingly futile. Kate Randall is trying to plug the Department's final leaks, as Matt Browning races against time to find a cure for vampirism. And on the other side of the world, Larissa Kinley makes a shocking discovery.

In the midst of it all, Department 19 faces a new and deadly threat, born out of one of the most shameful moments of its own long and bloody history.

As the darkness gathers, and the pressure builds, one thing becomes clear.

It's only a matter of time until everything goes bang.

Department 19 Series:
Department 19
The Rising
Battle Lines
Zero Hour

Visit the Department 19 website for more information

Review:
It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of the Department 19 series and the previous two books are both firm favourites so I had high expectations for Battle Lines. I'm happy to say that once again Will Hill hits the ball out of the park with an action packed story full of brilliant twists and shocking discoveries for our favourite characters.

We have really seen Jamie and his friends come such a long way since the beginning of the series. Jamie is now an experienced Operator who is in charge of training new recruits and keeping his team safe as they search for Dracula. Matt is desperately searching for a cure for vampirism and Kate has taken on the difficult task of trying to uncover the remaining spies in the Department who have been feeding information to Dracula and his followers. At the same time Larissa is on secondment to the American NS9 department helping them to train new recruits and it is there that she makes a very surprising discovery that could change everything. As well as catching up with old favourites this book also introduces new characters and it also ups the ante with some powerful new enemies for the short handed department to try and handle. Nothing is quite what it seems and in some ways I think this story was even more gory and shocking than the previous ones.

As with the earlier books in the series Battle Lines is quite a doorstop and comes in at just over 700 pages but for such a huge book I found it incredibly easy to whiz through and I finished reading it within a couple of days. This series is a complex one, there are multiple points of view and a lot of different plot threads but they are so masterfully written that I never seem to have any trouble keeping track of people or remembering what is going on even with a year long wait between book releases. That is probably one of the best compliments I can give these books, they are incredibly addictive and each chapter leaves you desperate for more. Thankfully because I ended up leaving it so late to read this book I already have a copy of Zero Hour and I'm excited that I won't have to wait to find out what happens next. The stakes are getting higher and Dracula is close to rising so things are going to get even more interesting from here onwards!

Source: Received from publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

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