Prey: Emergence

De: T. Purcell Dodge

Narrado por: Daniel F. Purcell

“Gage. Like baggage without the bag. I’m a whole lot of mess.”

Bridget “Gage” Grayson has been fighting her whole life. Fighting the demons in her mind. Fighting to find her place in the world. Fighting to find a pseudo-family after being orphaned at a young age.

Training her body to be a weapon is the one thing that has brought her peace. For five years, she has collected people from all walks of life with special skills to create a business to ensure no victim goes without justice.

Proactive Resources for Evidentiary Yields (PREY) exists to solve the cases which law enforcement cannot due to red tape or lack of resources. Who better to catch a violent predator than a victim of their crime? Gage pretends to be the prey, changing her appearance in any way needed to mirror the victims, then she preys on the criminal the moment she’s engaged.

The last five years have been the best of her life. Her chosen family of friends has helped to turn dozens of violent criminals over to the authorities for justice to be served. But now, Gage’s past is rearing its ugly head and she’s not sure if she’s strong enough to withstand the storm. All she knows is if her friends knew the secrets she’s kept, they might never forgive her, and her happy existence of camaraderie and purpose might be coming to an end. So, she must continue to play a victim for PREY, while trying to forget the true victimization she has endured, and maintain a distance from the only people who have ever shown her love and acceptance. All while spurning the advances of an Australian gunrunner, fighting underground cage fights, and perfecting the latest make-up techniques.

Easy. Right?

There is violence, profanity, and torture in this book.

©2019 T. Purcell Dodge (P)2020 T. Purcell Dodge

Left me wanting more!

Great story! Action, excitement, all of it! Can’t wait for book 2!!! Gage is a badass!

Great Lead FMC, Exciting Action Scenes!

This is a lovely story. It is definitely a character-centric story, which I vastly prefer to plot-centric stories. The plot does not really start until halfway through the book (aside from some minor setup and foreshadowing) and it does not inhibit the pacing or flow of the narrative at all. The character dynamics and relationships keep everything afloat by themselves. They are endearing, unique and fun to read.

Gage is a remarkable lead character: strong and brave yet vulnerable and beaten down by past trauma. She was a fun character to spend time with as a reader. Seeing how she worked to catch the bad guys was entertaining. Seeing her work her way out of dangerous situations was gripping.

Great action scenes. The author masterfully builds tension when the characters are in danger. And I don't use that term lightly.

The side characters were all fun and have a distinct vibe to them. The witty, bickering banter is a joy and helped to convey the dynamic of these characters as teammates and as friends.

The story did have a few issues with character development.

**MINOR SPOILERS BELOW**
Mere's actions during the second half of the story are toxic, inexcusable and immature. I think the story wants you to see things from her perspective. But her behavior is so cruel and destructive that there is no excuse for acting as she did. And all that would be fine if there was some sort of conciliatory confrontation between she and Gage that led to Mere repenting for her actions. But there isn't. Mere's impudent malice goes unanswered.

The love story drags the book down more than it adds to it. Mak does not have as authentic of a relationship with Gage as her teammates do. He seems a little too perfect: naturally athletic physique, emotionally available, kind, patient, sensitive. If he would have been given a character flaw or two, maybe the love story wouldn't have been a drag to read.

This is more of a minor note. But Lina not being able to find anything on Alex, while a beat cop is able to? Seems like a massive mess up for one so skilled.
**MINOR SPOILERS END**

I appreciate the narrator's passion and energy. But he was miscast for this reading in my opinion. He does not do accents very well (and there are a lot of accents) and he flubs lines here and there. But nothing too terrible or distracting, so I give it four stars.

All in all, this was a great story with lovely character work. If you like seeing a female lead who is easy to cheer for go through pain and find some kind of dark catharsis, this is the story for you. Despite some issues with development and motivation from the side characters, it does not hold this book back from being an excellent read. I'm excited to move on to Book 2 in this series!

good book, but didn't like the narrator

This book would have been so much more enjoyable with a better narrator. He sounded like his tongue was swollen and most of his accents weren't very good...except for his Australian. I think a female narrator would have worked so much better, as the lead is a strong woman. The book in and of it self was good. I actually hope there is a sequal since it ended quite abruptly. Gage (pronounced like baggage without the bag (Gidge)) was a compelling lead character. I love the concept of PREY, but wish there would have been more missions for the team. Although, because of the narrator, it was hard to get into at first. Once the story got going though, it was great. I would recommend this book, but listen to the sample to make sure you can get through it. I think Kindle or hard copy would be the way to go. Honestly, even if the narrator isn't changed I will still get the next book.
*I requested a free copy of the audiobook for a review.*

Excellent

Gage an intriguing person. Raised as an orphan, learning the skills of life the hard way. Mastering the skills and recruiting others. In this she sets herself us as voluntible as a prey. Good intriguing story that keeps you to the end. Audio added to the story. Given audio for my voluntary review

Good mystery for teens

Bad language warning.

Daniel Purcell did a good job narrating.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Think military task force without the red tape

I absolutely loved this book. It has everything, an ass kicking heroine, a group of skilled and crafty people. It's got fast cars, a plot that keeps you guessing and an ending that, well you'll just need to listen to find out.
Gage is a character full of complexity and mystery. Her band of misfit could each be their own side story. Oh and no spoilers but I need to meet me an Australian gun runner, cause I've been missing out.
I'm new to audio books, and have a light attention span. This book kept me going for like three days of busy work (I'm a research scientist). I loved the narration, the voice was easy to follow without making me sleepy or drown out the story. I will be replaying this again.

Enjoyed this even though it's not my usual fare.

I despise when reviews are done for something other than what it actually is.

So I am reviewing this as a female centered fictional thriller novel.

If you are the type of reader that likes lots of dialogue and character development, this book is for you. First half of the story is at least 80% that. You'll love it!
The MC is a deep, strong, flawed, character that unfolds and grows throughout the novel. She is somewhat in charge of a group of specialists that capture bad guys with evidence for the police. Kind of like an A-team meets Charlie's Angels.
The good guys and bad guys are all enjoyable and interesting characters.
I LOVE that the author didn't try to make this some Harlequin romance novel trying to be a thriller. Big Kudos for that!
My biggest suggestion is to have the MC's dogs, Tiny and Killer play a more prominent roll in the next book. With a little work they can be as enjoyable as R2D2 & C3PO from Star Wars or Oberon from The Iron Druid book series.
Don't expect this to be a Tom Clancy or a John Grisham novel. The author seems to be starting out and looks to have great potential. I'm positive that the next books in the series (this should DEFINITELY be a series) will get better and better.

The narrator, Daniel, did a decent job but I don't think this was the best book for him. If the author rereleases the audio there should be male and female narrators, if not just a female narrator. It seemed like over 80% of the dialogue is female. You may want to boost the speed up a bit as he reads a tad slowly. Maybe that's just me though. I usually listen at 2 to 3 times speed.

Overall, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would and even though it's not my usual fare, I may just get the 2nd one when it comes to Audible to see how the author and characters grow.

Captivating

The author did an excellent job developing the story I was intrigued from beginning to end, each character played a meaningful role and it made you connect and at times empathize with them. I love how the plot develops and the main character Gige was able to overcome such a horrible childhood and even though she struggled with her emotions she was able to find her purpose and a loving and supportive group of friends that were there for her. The narrator did an excellent job bringing each character to live. I definitely recommend this book for whoever is looking for some mystery, encouragement and good humor.

Worth the listen!

It took me a bit to get used to the cadence of the narration on this one. I feel that, with the number of predominant female characters, a female voice as narrator may have been a better choice though.The storyline is strong enough to grab your interest and, with the exception of the literary trope of portraying small town law enforcement as incompetent/prejudiced bumbling idiots with a fat, power mad sherriff/police chief and the obligatory lone detective who tries to do his best under terrible conditions, is original and keeps that interest going. Overall I enjoyed this book and would recommend it.