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Call the Bluff by O. E. Tearmann
And after reading the first book , ‘The Hands We’re Given,’ in this series ‘Aces High Jokers Wild,’ we begged (internally) to read the other books, and the authors heard our silent prayers! How good was the first book? Well, let us just say that “The Hands We’re Given” is one of the best books ever reviewed on Scribble’s Worth. Are we reading the series of the year? We’ll see, so onwards with the review! Humor, and an explosion, greet us to start the second book of this series, “Call the Bluff,” and after reading the Table of Contents, we realize we will surely have lots of trouble. “Adrenaline was treating his guts like its personal skate park and taking some extra turns around his heart. But that wasn’t his biggest problem right now. Hell, it didn’t make top ten on his list.” As readers of the first book, we get the feeling of being home as soon as Janice starts cursing and grabbing collars, and we realize how much we missed this story, even if we read the first book not long ago. And… TWEAK! Okay, we know, we know that Tweak isn’t everybody’s favorite char62
acter, but she made a bad ass appearance in this second book. The hopeful, romantic, soft, understanding and cozy narrative that made us fall in love with the book didn’t change at all with this second part of the series and felt like a perfect continuation of the story “Go to bed,” Aidan muttered into the kiss. “You’re being weird again.” “The word you’re looking for is eloquent.” Kevin rejoined with one of his sidelong smirks. Okay. Heads up. Although there is romance, sex, and the heart-warming family bonds, the authors didn’t forget that this is a Cyberpunk book and there is high-tension at every corner with dangerous missions. The plot this time isn’t just about getting a team together, and running things as smoothly as Aidan can, but there is a massive mission going on that is “too big to drop,” and by the way, the fierce commander Magnum explains it, it’s scary as hell, and it will be almost impossible to do it. They have one chance, and one chance only, and if they fail… Everybody dies. The question that sets this series, and this book as good or bad is: “How
the authors are going to pull off this gigantic stunt while also being believable in the process?” If they just tell us, or imply, that Tweak pulled this off after 2 weeks of intense programming and coding alone, we won’t believe it, at all. This is just too big, even for her. We want details, and we want them to be good. Will we get them? In the midst of the chaos, the fear and the demands of such a dangerous mission, we also get the hint, the idea that the High Commanders of the rebellion, have some massive contacts inside the corporations that they are trying to fight. Now, this raises several questions—and increases the possibility of treason or set-up by at least a hundred-fold— “Are they all being played by the higher government they are trying to bring down?” We will have to discover, and there is only one way for that. Oh, as a side note… you want to avoid eating before you read the first chapter of the book. Believe me. It, will, be, shocking! How could they do that, and above all, can it be true? Given that many things that happen in this book are
Books ‘N Pieces Magazine — April 2022 — www.BooksNPieces.com
