I had mentioned in a prior review that Charlotte Rowe, aka “Burning Girl,” was sort of like the grown-up version of the little girl in Stephen King's novel, FIRESTARTER. An experimental drug may have given Charlotte exceptional powers, but she has grown to become so much more in Christopher Rice’s series.

Rather than use these abilities for ill will, Charlotte has decided to use them to take down human monsters. She works for a mysterious consortium that attempts to keep her in check. Sometimes, though, Charlotte's desire to stop the bad guys gets in the way of her own good sense, as well as the directions of her “handlers.” Early on in BLOOD VICTORY, the bad guy in her crosshairs is a serial killer/truck driver named Cyrus Mattingly. Cyrus loves to stalk out female prey inside the darkened confines of movie theaters. It will be inside one of these theaters that he will come into contact with Charlotte, who is operating under the assumed name of Hailey Brinkmann.

"I hope that [Rice] continues the series because there are so many other human monsters and dark tales out there just waiting for Charlotte Rowe to tackle."

Charlotte has been studying Cyrus and knows his modus operandi. He decides that Hailey will be his next victim. She wants to make this as easy as possible for Cyrus, confident that she will be able to get out of any situation in which she finds herself. One of her handlers, Cole Grayson, has researched Cyrus to turn up no living family or friends. All they know is that he is a loner and a trucker who grew up on a ranch somewhere in Lubbock, Texas.

Charlotte allows herself to be abducted and wakes up in what she believes to be Cyrus’ truck. She is surprised when he does not try anything physical or sexual with her, so she needs to dig deeper to find out what his game is. It is a shock when, rather quickly, she turns the tables on him and confines him. She wants to see if he has any other young women held somewhere against their will and what his next move is going to be. Cyrus is a sick man who refers to the young women he abducts as “seedlings.” Charlotte realizes that seedlings are used to grow something, and this must be the big plan or secret he is holding from her.

It is at this point that we enter the third part of the novel and literally go down the rabbit hole. I must hand it to Rice because he veers away completely from a science fiction or typical serial killer storyline. Cyrus begins to talk about “Momma” and that the girls he captures may be brought to her --- more specifically, to her ranch. The story then jumps back to Lubbock in 1969, and we get to learn all about who “Momma” is --- and I can only tell you that it is quite a wild and disturbing ride.

BLOOD VICTORY is unlike the previous two volumes, BONE MUSIC and BLOOD ECHO, which opens up countless new doors for Rice. I hope that he continues the series because there are so many other human monsters and dark tales out there just waiting for Charlotte Rowe to tackle.