Book Review

Doc Turtle: Dark Lover by JR Ward Chapters 26-30

Title: Dark Lover
Author: J. R. Ward
Genre: Paranormal

Book CoverMy Date with a Vampire continues as we pass directly through the dark, dark center of J.R. Ward’s Dark Lover!

Chapter 26: Sex + exposition = sexposition

As this first chapter of the second half of Ward’s novel begins, Beth and Wrath wrap up their first dinner date with dessert: “Whole strawberries on a gold-rimmed plate.  Some chocolate on the side to dip them in.  A little cookie.”  And not one of them with a corporate sponsor!  How sad.

Wrath takes especial pleasure in feeding Beth a strawberry, even as she questions him about his whereabouts and goings-on from the night before.  Licking a dribble of juice from Beth’s face, Wrath decides that dinner has come to an end, and they adjourn to the bedchamber, where Beth’s lesson in Vampire Biology continues.  She now learns that they’ve no need for condoms since vampires aren’t susceptible to human diseases and she’s clearly not in any danger of getting preggers (“you won’t have your first needing for another five years or so after the change”).

After Wrath takes a few minutes out to answer a phone call, they return to their regular foreplay, already in progress.  It’s at this point that Beth asks to remove Wrath’s shades.  “I want to see your eyes.  You can be hard to read with those glasses on.” When he hesitates, she finally asks the $64,000 question: “You’re blind, aren’t you?” He acknowledges this, and she swears that she still trusts in him to protect her.

Here we’re gifted with one of the most appealing physical descriptions in the whole book.  Let’s make it into a little quiz, shall we? 

Which of the following descriptions of Wrath’s eyes do you suppose elicit the line “your eyes are beautiful” from Beth’s lips?  (Owners of this book: no peeking!)

a.)  his eyes shone with a nacreous light, gentle haloes warming the rest of his face in their glow.

b.)  his eyes gleamed like they were lit from inside his skull, all but popping out of his face like lightbulbs.

c.)  his eyes were pools of cool fire, dimly radiant.  They seemed to light his face in a soft and soothing glow.

d.) his eyes were bright and blue and round, with tiny black dots in the middle.

The answer will be at the end of this post!

The ensuing sex scene is a pretty steamy affair that finds Wrath uttering the line “Sweet heaven, that is so it” (OMG!) and Beth looking forward to Wrath going omnomnomnom on her neck.  The chapter ends with Wrath babbling on about his favorite fruit like a Faulknerian man-child: “Do you want to know what you taste like?…Peaches.  Like eating peaches…Just like peaches.  And I love peaches.”

Chapter 27: Daddy dearest

As this scene opens we’re havering with Havers again.  He’s wandering about his medical lab, thinking dark murderous thoughts about everyone’s favorite vampire warrior.  But how can this ninety-pound nebbish hope to tackle nearly seven feet of full-on vampire?  Oh, scheme, scheme, machinate!  Yet even as he plots Wrath’s downfall, he feels his strength ebb: his transfusions aren’t working.

Meanwhile, Wrath wraps up his get-together with Beth and withdraws to meet up with the boys.  They’re going on a lesser hunt.  “If you leave, I need to know where to find you,” he tells Beth.  “The change, Beth.  The change.  Look, it’ll be safer if you stay.” He points the way to her father’s room, just, y’know, in case she wants to check it out.

Once Wrath’s gone, she does just that, and finds a veritable shrine to her: “There were pictures of her everywhere.  Black-and-whites, close-ups, colored ones.  She was all ages, from infancy through childhood and into her teens.  In college.”  And so forth.  She learns a lot about her father as she wanders aimlessly through his bedroom: he has a refined sense of aesthetic taste (“Hudson River School landscapes set in gilt frames”), he’s wealthy (“as in millions and millions and millions loaded”), and he’s only recently dead (“there was still an inch of water in the glass”).  As the curtain falls on this chapter, Beth finds a single picture of her mother, a shot of shy raven-haired lass captured in black and white.

I know I’ve pointed this out before, and I know it’s nothing new to the legions of chrack addicts out there, but surely one of the most markedly unbelievable aspects of this book is the utterly cavalier way with which Beth copes with the unending life-changing updates that fall down on her head like revelatory raindrops.  “I’m a vampire?  Rilly?  Got any delicious Pepperidge Farm™ goldfish?”

Chapter 28: Thank god for

strikethrough

style

Hey, kids!  It’s

everyone’s favorite our beloved

a vampire killer, Mr. X!  I hadn’t noticed this guy’s similarity to Wile E. Coyote until several of the Bitchery pointed it out, but…damn.  “Hapless” is the perfect word for this guy.  (Incidentally, can anything ever be “hap”?)

In this chapter Mr. X goes vampire hunting with his Acme-brand dart gun filled with Acepromazine-filled darts and bags himself a ten-point civilian male whom he manages to smuggle past a DUI checkpoint.  We’ll have to wait for a later chapter to learn of this poor vampire’s demise, but we can already be sure it won’t be a pleasant one.

There’s a Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie sketch in which Stephen utters a sentence that he’s quite certain has never been said before.  If memory serves, the sentence is something along the lines of “grasp the solicitor’s nose firmly waiter, or else warm milk will countermand my trousers.”  This sketch is all I could think of on reading the following not-something-you-read-everyday sentence from this chapter: “He reached into his black bag, took out the dart gun, and fired another two into the vampire to keep the noise down.”

The chapter’s second scene involves Wrath and Rhage’s stakeout of Mr. X’s martial arts academy.  There’s a bit of

touching moving

pretty pointless male bonding before three lessers show up and things start to get more interesting.  The two vampires have got everything pretty much under control (we even get a rare drinking game grand-slam: “Even to Wrath’s poor eyesight, [Rhage] was a thing of beauty when he fought.  All fists and kicks.  Rapid motion.  Animal reflexes.  Power and endurance.”) until the lessers bring out the shotgun.

Bastards.

Chapter 29: The soup tonight is a tangy lessersoisse with finely chopped chives

We start things off at Butch’s favorite bar, where he’s tossin’ ‘em back and flirting with Abby the Barwench when José gives him a call: they’ve found the hooker Mr. X used for vampire bait in the previous chapter.  Of course, they all think that Wrath’s behind the killings, and Butch curses Beth for getting herself involved: “Goddamn it, I can’t believe she’s protecting him.”

Next we return to WWE’s Raw Lesser vs. Vampire No-Holds-Barred Catch-as-Catch-Can Smackdown 4, wherein two more lessers have just joined the fray, announcing their arrival with a shotgun blast to Wrath’s forearm.  It’s not serious, we’re told with characteristic Wardian bluntness: “Bone was intact.  He could still fight.”

“Wrath arm gooooood.  Wrath no like lesser.  Lesser baaaaaad.  Wrath big hurt lesser!”

And then all hell breaks loose.  Rhage channels his demon, Trogdor the Ruxpinator, and proceeds to…um…well…[massive spoiler alert] eat the lessers.  Yum.  After the demon has fed, Rhage returns to “normal,” a huddled, naked (and bloated) figure shivering in the night air.  “Hate this,” he tells Wrath laconically.

Minutes later (this chapter switches scenes with vertiginous quickness) Beth has an encounter with a demon all her own.  It seems that Zsadist was the only BDB brother within driving range of Wrath and Rhage, so after bringing those two back to the ranch he takes the opportunity to introduce himself to Beth.

It doesn’t go well.  “Not willing to share the female?” he asks Wrath when the latter steps in the end the former’s confrontation with Beth.  When Wrath responds with a negative, Zsadist slinks away menacingly.  Surely we’ll hear more from him before the book’s up, right?  Wrath’s certainly not up for taking chances with him.  “He walks into a room and I’m in the house, you come and find me.  If I’m not around, you lock yourself in one of these rooms down here.  The walls are made of steel, so he can’t materialize inside.”

Why must every superpower come with seemingly arbitrary limitations?  “You can fly, but not when the moon is full.”  “You’re impervious to everything not colored yellow.”  “You can shape-shift into anything you want to, as long as that something is somehow made of water.”  Kinda spoils the fun, doesn’t it?

On a completely unrelated note, will you allow me to whine once more about Ward’s vampire naming conventions?  What’s that you say?  You have no choice but to do so?  Very well, then.

[whine]

Okay, some of the names have a surfeit of ‘h’s, right?  Rhage, Tohrment…now why not “Vichious”?  Too much like “vichyssoise”?  At least, however, “Vishous” suggests an obvious phonetic rendering; the one that really annoys me is “Phury.” If you drop the ‘h’ from “Phury” you get “Pury,” which is how I’m always tempted to pronounce it.

[whine]

Getting back to our story, Wrath ushers a much-encumbered Rhage into Wrath’s own bedchamber, leading him gently to bed.  “Belly hurts.”  Once Rhage’s been laid in bed, Beth impresses the holy hell out of Wrath by tenderly nursing Rhage, holding his head in her lap and humming to him softly.  She also offers him a popular brand-name relief for indigestion, all but acting out an entire advertisement for this particular product.  Your next quiz question asks which of the following (IswearIswearIkidyounotIcannotMAKEthisshitup) lines actually appear in the book (Again, no peekies!):

a.)  She took the roll of Tums tablets from her purse and peeled two of them from the end.  These ought to work, she thought to herself.  They’ll go to work in seconds and last all night.

b.)  Beth knew how to spell relief.  She dug around in her purse and found the small bottle of Rolaids she always carried with her.  He might not want to have to chew them, she thought.  She took two tablets and broke them into small pieces before giving the pieces to Rhage to swallow.

c.)  Beth walked back to her purse and decided on Alka-Seltzer because it had aspirin it for his aches.  She went into Wrath’s bathroom, grabbed a glass, and did the plop-plop, fizz-fizz thing.

Ms. Ward’s gratuitous product placements make me wonder what sort of intrusion corporate sponsorship might have made in some of the most beloved literary classics.  Might Jane Eyre’s Mr. Rochester have purchased fire insurance from Allstate?  Would Crime and Punishment have had a happy ending had Raskolnikov found a brighter career after attending ITT Tech?  Would Charlotte ever even have had a chance to build her web, after a visit from the Orkin man?

But I digress, all the way into the mercifully short…

…Chapter 30: The perfect place for a Shamwow plug

Morning comes.  Mr. X’s plans have hit another snag: it seems that vampires are tough to torture.  He’s not even able to wake his vampire captive and only succeeds in killing him.  “At least cleanup was easy,” Ward remarks, as Mr. X flings back the doors to his torture cell and lets the sunlight do its thing on the vampire bits.

Mr. X then has a quick shower before heading into the dojo to oversee a lesser meeting.  Tensions are running high at the meeting: Mr. X had asked his minions to slay ten vampires on their hunt the night before, but only three kills had been made, two by a noob, Mr. O.

“We couldn’t find any,” says another, Mr. M.  “The numbers in this area have thinned.”

“The problem is not geography,” offers Mr. O, “the problem is motivation.  There are no consequences for failure.” With this, he deftly slits the throat of Mr. M and leaves him to bleed to death on the floor.  Mr. X calls him on the carpet and shouts for all of the other lessers to leave the room while he dresses Mr. O down.  “Good boy,” are the last words of the chapter.

One last carp, and then I’ll go.  If the lessers are called by their last initials only, what happens when there’s redundancy, as we know there must be since at one point Ward says there are more than 26 of them?  (I don’t remember exactly how many she said there are, but I’m pretty tired and I don’t care nearly badly enough to look for the reference right now.)  Do they start appending numbers?  Is it like Mr. S-2?  Or maybe they use the first two letters of their last names?  Like Mr.  Me and Mr. Mo?  That’s the way we had to distinguish between two Colins in my classes in elementary school: Colin Morgan and Colin Meloy (yes, I really did grow up with the front man for The Decemberists; he’s the most famous member of my high school graduating class…if only being a math professor came with more splash and glamor…).  And I had Alex Ga and Alex Go in one calculus class this past spring…

…Sorry.  Must have been a runaway [senselessrambling] tag in there somewhere.

Okay, so at least the action’s heated up.  Meanwhile the lead romance has gone pretty much nowhere.  Beth and Wrath are madly, unobstructedly in love with one another, so there’s pretty much zero romantic drama to be had.  Well, hell.

Coming up next: more sex!  And the collapse of the last wall that could possibly stand between Wrath and Beth.

Oh, yeah…here are the answers to the quiz questions!

Chapter 26: (b).  Perhaps Beth’s favorite actor is Marty Feldman?

Chapter 29: (c).  For real, J.R.?  For real?

Comments are Closed

  1. Mos Stef says:

    I don’t know if anyone can be filled with hap, but there’s pap o’ plenty.

    Not only a nebbish reference, but Trogdor? Seriously? Ace! Strong Bad might even be a good name for Wrath’s “smash lesser good” mode…

    For some reason I tend to read Phury’s name as “Pah-hurry”, which is more fun than it should be. Alright, more fun than anything should be.

    I wonder if J.R. Ward was inspired by Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Part 2’s plot turn when the move ran out it’s budget on-screen and suddenly became a hilarious, wall-to-wall product placement shill. Man that movie is overlooked, unlike this series…

  2. Tina C. says:

    b.)  his eyes gleamed like they were lit from inside his skull, all but popping out of his face like lightbulbs.

    Now that’s dead sexy right there!

    Chapter 26: (b).  Perhaps Beth’s favorite actor is Marty Feldman?

    Well, Igor (“That’s EYE-gor”) was hot.  I mean, that Brillo-pad ™ hair!  Those chihuahua eyes!

    Very very funny review!  I salute you for getting this far, as I could never could get through the first couple of chapters.

  3. Why must every superpower come with seemingly arbitrary limitations?  “You can fly, but not when the moon is full.”  “You’re impervious to everything not colored yellow.”  “You can shape-shift into anything you want to, as long as that something is somehow made of water.”

    Oh, I do so love DocTurtle :-)!

  4. Rhonni says:

    Now *this* is the way to start the morning.

    Thanks Doc Turtle for another snarkolicious glimpse over your shoulder.

  5. Terry Odell says:

    Another morning off on a note of laughter. Another morning off to a late start. Thanks, Doc Turtle.

    Now I have to go back to listing all trademarked products in my manuscript before I send it to the publisher. I like a moderate sprinkling of reality—and somehow, saying “large trash receptacle in the alley” isn’t the same as calling it a Dumpster.

  6. MamaNice says:

    I’m still a bit speechless about the whole lightbulb eyes = HAWT

    I have to say it was the Sex + Exposition = Sexposition that was my fav this time around…I gotta work some sexposition into my wip

  7. Elizabeth Wadsworth says:

    Now I have to go back to listing all trademarked products in my manuscript before I send it to the publisher.

    Are authors required to do this?

  8. Cheryl McInnis says:

    OMG, my belly is sore now after reading this and laughing so hard!
    I can’t wait for the next installment of Doc Turtle’s review…they really make my day~

  9. Anybody but me hearing Dora the Explorer?

    We’re going on a Lesser hunt! (Going on a Lesser hunt!)
    Gonna pick some juicy ones! (Gonna pick some juicy ones!)
    We’re not scared! (We’re not scared!)
    What a beauuuuuuuuuuuutiful day!

  10. Terry Odell says:

    Now I have to go back to listing all trademarked products in my manuscript before I send it to the publisher.

    Are authors required to do this?

    No—depends on the publisher. One of mine requires we not only list, but give them the trademark holders and they put them in the front of the book as disclaimers (FWIW).

    Another wants their legal department to check every reference to make sure you’re not using a trademarked product in a negative way.

    Someday, I’ll move high enough up the publishing ladder where other people will deal with things like this.  Sigh. Maybe.

    Hmm.. spamword: during 68.  I remember some of what happened during 68. 

    Oh, and I forgot to add my repeated request: Naked in Death for the good doc next.  Please?!?!

  11. This was better than coffee.

  12. JJ says:

    The fact that you went to school with Colin Meloy makes you triply awesome. But you know what? Being a math professor makes you quadruply awesome.

    Not having read these books, I did guess the first quiz correctly, mostly because I figured Ward didn’t have the word “nacreous” in her vocabulary and the others seemed too plausible.

    I am also tempted to pronounce “Phury” as “Pooree”, mostly because “Phuket” is pronounced “Poo-ket” and not “fuck it”, as I sometimes wish it were.

  13. Add me to the chorus begging for Doc Turtle to read naked in death next.  Pretty please…I even said please.  I used my manners.  Please, please, please…

  14. Star Opal says:

    Hey DocTurtle put up another round of reviews for my birthday! Thanks, Turtle!

    Would Charlotte ever even have had a chance to build her web, after a visit from the Orkin man?

    With all the awesome references (Wonder Twin powers activate!) is it wrong that this might be my favorite?

    I had the same thought about the Lesser names. ‘Do they start multiplying letters? Like Mr. AA, or Mr. ZZZ?’

    Is it just me or does the pointless male bonding actually make a bigger impact than the whole of Wrath and Beth’s relationship in this book? I know fans have said that JR Ward was in it for the world building over the romance, but seriously there’s more chemistry within the Brotherhood. IMHO anyway.

  15. HeatherK says:

    Another fab “review”. I, too, suffered from the name game in high school. I was Heather B. while another was Heather D. which could still be confusing. And there were 4 Jennifers in my graduating class. I think I’m the only one doing anything that’s in the public eye, though, and I’m by no means famous or even all that popular, which really isn’t that different from high school.

    Oh and Zsadist is my fave of the bothers. Can’t explain it, he just is.

    And when it comes to writing, I try NOT to use trademarked items. It’s more fun to leave the readers guessing from the descriptions what it is I’m talking about. 🙂

  16. Mfred says:

    I think you can be hap-ed in Europe.  Where you can also be whelmed.

  17. Lori says:

    I’ve never had any desire to read the books but I adore these reviews. Doc Turtle: you rock!

  18. J.C. Wilder says:

    That was better than dark chocolate M&M….

    (and now a word from our sponsor)

  19. RStewie says:

    Yay!  Those multiple choice questions had me seriously laughing hysterically (I got each one right, BTW, by choosing the most ridiculous of each).

    The next book needs to be something really good.  I would suggest Flowers from the Storm or For My Lady’s Heart.  Pulease!!  Doc Turtle needs to be introduced to some of the classics!  Even The Wolf and the Dove would be good!

  20. Jan says:

    Another great review. I know in advance, now, not to have drinkables in hand when reading. Sexposition was my fav. Rock on Doc. Don’t spend time putting together syllabi, those pesky students can wait!

  21. Sandia says:

    Heheheh… I always read it as “Furry”…. very sexy hero name.  I am Furry, hear me roar.

  22. earthgirl says:

    I always pronounce Vishous as, well, vis-hoos. Doesn’t sound like vicious at all.

  23. Elizabeth Wadsworth says:

    The next book needs to be something really good.  I would suggest Flowers from the Storm or For My Lady’s Heart.

    Second that.  I was underwhelmed by Naked in Death; one of Nora’s weaker efforts, I thought.

  24. patti plant says:

    I can’t believe that the chooser of those gorgeous covers is not a reader!!! She asked where to start. I was 12 when I read my first Heyer. It was These Old Shades lurking in a back corner of the public library. I was completely enchanted by the wicked Duke and his ward. Still am far too many years later…..I have since read them all and only regret that I cannot find an undiscovered title.

  25. Diane says:

    I agree with Shiloh—Naked in Death for the next fabulous Doc Turtle review. 

    Any one else think that Doc Turtle should publish a book of reviews?  These are so much better than the books themselves.

  26. Lori(K) says:

    (Incidentally, can anything ever be “hap”?)

    The opposite of hapless is hapful. My friends and I have had a running joke about this for years.

  27. Babs says:

    These reviews are awesome!

    & I must be havin’ a day because when I read “Trogdor the Ruxpinator” I immediately thought of Teddy Ruxpin…member him? And then he morphed to Teddhy Rhuxpinh…now can’t get the image of an animatronic talking vampire bear out of my head.

  28. SB Sarah says:

    now can’t get the image of an animatronic talking vampire bear out of my head.

    Someone needs to get on that, stat, as a horror novel, especially. that would scare the CRAP out of me. Gives me the jibblies just thinking about it.

    I always pronounce “Vishous” as “viscous,” especially after Lover Revealed.

  29. Kalen Hughes says:

    There’s a Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie sketch in which Stephen utters a sentence that he’s quite certain has never been said before.

    My love for the Doc is deep and true . . .

  30. So full of luhv for the awesomeness of these reviews!

  31. Librariahn says:

    The lessers DO have that ‘try, try again’ ethic going for them like Wile E Coyote, but they always reminded me of Snidely Whiplash fighting Dudley Do-Right (from Rocky and Bullwinkle). Because after each failed attempt to Wipe The Brotherhood From the Face of the Earth, I hear “Curses! Foiled Again!” echoing through the Caldwell alleyways. They seem so convinced of their Incredible Eeeebilness, but their intermittent successes against the Brotherhood seem almost accidental.

    The naming convention supposedly reflects their name in their Former Life, so just imagine the recruiting pressure for the Fore-Lesser (always made me think of Fore-Skin)…looking through the phone book…“Gotta find an S, a K and an M…already got a D, so that Dahmer dude is out…”

  32. Lostshadows says:

    Heheheh… I always read it as “Furry”…. very sexy hero name.  I am Furry, hear me roar.

    Now I’ve got the image of these vamps dressing up as animals on the weekends.

  33. StacieH4 says:

    I so aced that quiz!

  34. Kiersten says:

    By the time I hit ShamWow I was snickering in my bagel. Extra special squee points for working in comedy gods Fry and Laurie.

    Doc Turtle rocks my late morning slump!

    Anyone else thinking Reservoir Dogs with the Mr. X nonsense? Maybe they double it up when they hit 26 with Mr. AA “Hello Mr. AA”.

    The vampire Teddy Ruxpin is a must!

    Dr. T hurts belly bad. Laugh hard.

  35. West says:

    there was still an inch of water

    I actually remember this reference from the book (damn you excellent memory!), but the way you quoted it makes me think of a new expression for dying. It could be paired with “circling the drain”. As in “he was circling the drain, but there was still an inch of water.”

    I think you can be hap-ed in Europe.  Where you can also be whelmed.

    MFred, my mind went to exactly the same place.

  36. Rebyj says:

    Funny!!!  Even funnier when you’ve read the entire series and Wrath becomes a clumsy dolt in the most recent book because blind becomes blinder and the poor guy gets a seeing eye dog and a pesonal ass kicker to save his whiny ego. Ah the crazy twists and turns!! LOL

  37. Jen says:

    Between references to Trogdor, Fry and Laurie, Colin Meloy, and a very Wodehousian pondering of hap/hapless this review made my morning. Now I’m going to be doodling Phury on my notebook with little hearts all afternoon.

  38. Lovecow2000 says:

      now can’t get the image of an animatronic talking vampire bear out of my head.

    Someone needs to get on that, stat, as a horror novel, especially. that would scare the CRAP out of me. Gives me the jibblies just thinking about it.

    It’s kinda been done already…. check out this advert:

    I kind of felt that Trogdor the Ruxpinator was just another product placement.

  39. Kelly says:

    Phury – I too see Pury when I read it in your reviews.  Like a big kitty.  (In honor of JR’s writing style.  Must have incomplete sentences.)

    Having only read the reviews and not the book, it was easy to guess the Alka-Seltzer option, but seriously, option b – lightbulbs?  All three of the other options are better than that one.  I’m partial to option c.  Nicely written!

  40. Courtney says:

    Please, pretty please, let Doc Turtle review Naked In Death next. PLEASE!!!

    My DH loves—I mean absolutely over the moon adores—these books. (I can’t say much—I was like that about Harry Potter). I read the first one and passed it to him. Haven’t read any since (note my Ward-like sentence construction!) He’s read all but the latest one (saving that for vacation I think) and will talk to me about these characters as though I know who they are. He was thrilled to meet Ward at the Literacy signing in DC.

    She was very lovely to us and to the gaggle of scary adoring fangirls in front of us. They were wearing t-shirts emblazoned with thinks like “Zsadist’s Shellan” and were giggly and giddy. She whispered a spoiler to them and they were thrilled. Like I said, she seems like a lovely person and she’s definitely tapped into something a whole lot of reader’s respond to but I hate these books!

    I love Doc Turtle’s reviews though:-) I nearly cried laughing at the product placement and literary classics. I’ll be snickering at the Orkin/Charlotte’s Web reference all day.  Thanks!

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