Adam has a unique abilityâhe can heal from any injury. Thus far, he's used his ability for bar fights to win money. But after getting fired from his job, he realizes he needs to turn his life around.
He partners with Shane Cranston, a lieutenant with the Mapleton police department. After going on an eventful ride-along with Shane, Adam begins to put his ability to the test. While working together, they stumble upon evidence linking certain people to the terroristic events that had previously occurred in Decker City.
Adam and Shane realize something bigger is happening and the threat may be far from over. The criminal organization that was once believed to be only in Decker City has found its way into Mapleton and it's up to Adam and Shane to stop it before it's too late.
Deathwish is Book 2 in the Superhero Series, the sequel to The Silver Hood.
Adam has a unique abilityâhe can heal from any injury. Thus far, he's used his ability for bar fights to win money. But after getting fired from his job, he realizes he needs to turn his life around.
He partners with Shane Cranston, a lieutenant with the Mapleton police department. After going on an eventful ride-along with Shane, Adam begins to put his ability to the test. While working together, they stumble upon evidence linking certain people to the terroristic events that had previously occurred in Decker City.
Adam and Shane realize something bigger is happening and the threat may be far from over. The criminal organization that was once believed to be only in Decker City has found its way into Mapleton and it's up to Adam and Shane to stop it before it's too late.
Deathwish is Book 2 in the Superhero Series, the sequel to The Silver Hood.
âPlease state your name for the record.â
I looked at the three police officers standing at the other side of the table. âSeriously? When did you guys learn manners? Weâre saying âpleaseâ now?â The three officers remained motionless, staring blankly at me, waiting for my response. I tilted my head backwards. âFine. Adam.â
âAnd your last name?â the officer on the right said.
âCome on, guys. Iâve been here how many times? Eight? Nine?â
âFifteen,â the officer on the left said.
âOkay, fifteen times. Do you guys still not understand I donât have a last name?â
âEveryone has a last name,â the same officer said.
âIâm like Cher, or Adele, or Madonna. They all basically have one name.â
âSo youâre like a woman with one name?â he sarcastically asked.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. âWould you have preferred Bono, or Sting, or Prince? How about Slash? Look, for the fifteenth time, I moved around a lot as a child. I donât know who my actual parents are. I was adopted and then given up. I was in and out of multiple foster homes until I was old enough to get my own place. You want a last name? How about Daniels? That was the last name of my foster parents when I was eleven. What about Anderson? It was the last name of my foster parents when I was fourteen. And by far the worst name I had was when I was nineâKrochtangle. Try getting through school with that kind of butchered last name. Adam Krochtangle. The kids were really nice to me if you could imagine.â
The officer on the right slammed his hands on the table and stared at me. âYouâve been here fifteen times in just over four months. I donât care about your life story. I care about the safety of the people in Mapleton.â Little droplets of spit expelled from his mouth as he yelled at me.
I wiped my face on my sleeve. âSay it, donât spray it.â
His face turned a darker shade of red. He leaned in closer, and his voice grew louder. âYou are involved in a local fight club. Itâs an illegal activity. We could throw you in jail for a long timeââ
I leaned forward and interrupted his power trip. âNo, you canât. First of all, your intimidation tactics donât intimidate me. You remember this is my fifteenth visit here, as your fellow officer over there so nicely pointed out earlier. And second, Iâm not a part of any fight club. I actually have no idea what youâre talking about.â
I was telling the truth. This time, at least. I wasnât a part of any fight club. I just fought for money. It wasnât a club, though. Clubs involve badges, members, people sitting around campfires telling stories or singing songs. This was more like a hobby or an activity I took part in. Word had got around that I was indestructible. Iâm not exactly sure what it was or how it happened. Something about something weird with my DNA. I canât explain the science crap behind it. Honestly, I donât even understand it. Nor do I care at this point. All I can say is Iâm indestructible. I heal incredibly quickly. Almost instantly. So Iâm kind of hard to beat in a fight. I never lose. I always get back up after a hit.Â
Yes, I bleed.
And yes, I still feel pain. But the healing takes the pain away as quickly as it heals me physically. Â
I first realized I had this ability when I was around five or six. I was riding my bike and my foster parents at the time, the Parkers, were watching me ride up and down their driveway. Then, as most kids do, I fell.Â
I remember the pain, then looking down at my hand and seeing my fingers bent backwards, obviously broken. But to the Parkersâ surprise as they helped me up, my fingers began bending back to normal.Â
I remember the look on their faces. Imagine youâre on a plane and the pilot comes on the speaker and tells you the plane is going down. Whatâs your reaction to hearing that news? Fear? Disbelief? You probably get that oh my God expression where your mouth drops and your eyes open wide.Â
After taking me inside and cleaning the blood off my scraped hands and arms, they each made that face. I looked at them, wondering what the hell was going on. The bones in my fingers had healed and were good as new. They were supposed to bend back to normal immediately after an injury, right? My scrapes were completely healed too, showing no signs of any wounds.Â
Needless to say, I didnât last long at that household. I scared them off. Something about being a âmonsterâ or âthe Devil.â That was the end of the Parkers.
Thereâs a local bar I frequent, The Stout House. People started placing bets on these fights. It started when someone picked a fight with me because he thought I was cheating in pool. I was, but thatâs not the point. Anyway, I won that fight easily. The following day, he came back with a friend. I took them both down. People started placing bets on when I would lose. I was like the Goldberg of fight clâI mean fight activity. âWhoâs next?âÂ
I started making around $40 per fight off these bets. It soon jumped to $50. Then $100. Word spread and people from other bars started making their way over to The Stout House either to place bets and watch the fights or to participate in the fights themselves. The pot had now jumped up to close to $500 per fight. Because of its popularity, it has unfortunately caused some police attention. They typically show up after the fight has ended and after Iâve collected my money. They really have nothing on me, because no one ever presses charges. Itâs become such a popular event at the bar that if I end up getting arrested and canât take part anymore, the person who sold me out will have a lot of angry people after them. Â
Tonightâs pot was worth $613. I won, obviously. I put the cash in my pocket and minutes later, the police showed up. Everyone booed as they placed handcuffs on me and put me in the back of their police cruiser. Â
I sat in their interrogation room while Lunatic Larry tried his best to intimidate me. I called him that because he flares up and acts like a crazed psycho when I get under his skin, which is quite easy to do.Â
Larry had a buzz cut with a neatly trimmed beard to match the short hair on his head. He was the guy on the right of the table who slammed his hands down. He had a short fuse. His full name was Larry Jenkinson. Â
The guy on the left, I called him Obvious OâBrian. His red hair was short with a messy look. He stood a little shorter than Larry. Just under six feet, maybe?
OâBrian liked to state the obvious. For example, a few weeks ago, he arrested me after one of my bar fights. During the interrogation, he pointed out the dried blood on my knuckles and asked if it came from the fight. NoâI was painting a mural of the devil and you caught me red-handed. I think he may be a rookie. His name was James OâBrian, but he annoyed me. I hate stupid people. Â
Finally, the quiet guy in the middle; his name was Shane Cranston, the lieutenant of these two knuckleheads and nine other men on the force. He seemed only a little older than me. His hair was short and pushed off to one side. Iâve seen him wear glasses before, but he didnât currently have them on. He may be a contacts kind of guy.
I liked him, so I didnât have an obnoxious name for him. Heâs the one who has looked out for me and has always gotten me out of trouble. Unfortunately, heâs also usually the one who arrests me. Heâs always telling me heâs âlooking out for my best interestsâ but we agree to disagree about that. Â
âI oughta come around this table and beat you myself,â Lunatic Larry screamed from across the table. âMaybe thatâll give you something to think about. Perhaps a loss to end that undefeated streak will surely put a damper on your day, wouldnât it?â
âSo youâll want to claim a victory over a guy whoâs handcuffed to a table, unable to defend himself?â I responded, shrugging my shoulders. âSeems like that would be cheating, wouldnât you think? But, if thatâs how you want to win.â I was just toying with him at this point. I knew I was annoying him. Â
âIâm going to kill this kid!â he screamed as he tried to leap across the table and grab me. Shane grabbed him and pulled him back. Â
âGet lost,â Shane told Lunatic Larry, and pointed to the door. âNow!âÂ
Larry turned to glare at Shane. I thought he was about to throw a punch at him. Finally, after the short stare down between the two men, Lunatic Larry stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.Â
âOâBrian, go calm your partner down. And knock some freakinâ sense into him,â Shane said.
âYes, sir,â Obvious OâBrian replied, before following Lunatic Larry out of the room. Â
The door slammed shut again, and I turned to Shane. âI think heâs really starting to like me. Do you think I have a shot?â
âWhat are you doing?â Shane asked me, shaking his head in frustration.
âWhat do you mean? I thought we had a connection.â
âDrop the wise-ass remarks. You know what I mean. Why do you start with him?â
âBecause heâs an idiot. He thinks heâs some tough guy who can boss everyone around. I just like to let him know he canât.â
âWell, one of these days, youâre going to regret it.â
âThanks for the heads up.â I lifted my hands from the table by a few inches, which was all the slack that the cuffs would give me. âThink we can get a move on? Iâm pretty sure this is the longest you guys have kept me here. Youâve got nothing on me, so you have to let me go.â I knew they would. I was just trying to make this process go quicker. I also really had to pee. Â
âCome on.â Shane reached across the table and unlocked my handcuffs. I stood up and rubbed my wrists. Those things arenât comfortable to wear for long periods of time.Â
Shane opened the door to the hallway. Lunatic Larry was sitting on the bench with Obvious OâBrian. Â
âYouâre letting him go? Again!â Larry leaped up from his seat, furious.
Shane moved quickly to stand between us. âJenkinson, sit back down, calm down, and shut up.â The two officers shared another glare, and then Lunatic Larry sat back down.Â
Shane continued to escort me out of the police station. âGo home Adam. Please stop getting yourself into trouble.â
âIâm only in trouble because you guys keep arresting me.â
âLook, one of these days I may not be around to help you,â Shane said. âYouâre making it harder and harder for me to continue bailing you out. Iâm trying to help you. If you donât get your act together, youâll find yourself in jail for a long timeâor worse, dead.â
âThanks for the pep talk, Dad. I appreciate your concern and all of your help, but this is my life. Everyone who said they wanted to help has abandoned me. Iâm sure you can understand if I donât believe you either.â
âI understand,â he said, nodding. He opened the front door to the police station and held it open for me. âYouâre free to go. I suggest you go home and get some sleep.â
âWhy? Are you guys planning a party for my sweet sixteenth?â
âIf you donât leave, Iâll have Officer Jenkinson come out here and release some of that anger in your direction.â
âThe lunatic doesnât have a shot. I can take him.â
Shane turned back around and yelled inside. âOfficer Jenkinson?â
âOkay, okay. I get your point. Iâm leaving.â I hurried through the front door and down the steps. I could easily fight and beat Lunatic Larry, but I wasnât in the mood to have the entire police force breathing down my neck for beating up one of their own. Plus, theyâd have something to arrest me for: assaulting a police officer. I didnât want to deal with that kind of charge. Iâd never get preferential treatment from Shane ever again. It was time to go home and call it a night.
Deathwish is the second novel in author Justin Richman's great new Superhero series, and I believe it is even better than his debut outing. It's a fast-paced, exciting, and entertaining story about a regular guy with a superhuman ability to heal even his most grievous wounds instantly. Adam was dealt a tough hand when the ability was discovered and has really been on his own his whole life. I really liked the clever and snarky guy, even his (at times) "Dad joke" dialogue. He's an extrovert and ready to take action, shake things up, and make things work. I loved that he jumped into action even as bullets were flying, knowing absolutely nothing about what he was doing or heading into. I laughed out loud quite a bit and would have read this book cover to cover in one sitting if I hadn't had to deal with real life.
As in Richman's first Superhero book, there are some great secondary and supporting characters. Shane Cranston, Adam's friendly connection in the Mapleton PD, is a nice guy who is good at this job and genuinely tries to help the wayward Adam find his way. The same can be said for Adam's best friend, Chuck, who is the only other person who knows Adam's secret. I liked Adam's flirtation with Kate Phillips and would love to see that go somewhere for Adam. However, there is a particularly interesting lock-picking officer, Liz McKenzie, who would be fun to get to know better.
I also enjoyed the crossover between this and book one, The Silver Hood. Usually, a series will maintain the same setting throughout, but in the second Superhero book, we're actually in a nearby city. It was interesting to see the towns all used the same radio dispatcher until Decker City got so busy and crime-riddled that they had to set up a separate system. It was reasonably true to life regarding the lack of cooperation and exchange of information that can arise between agencies. I appreciated that the author didn't let Shane and Adam "poach" on Decker City's jurisdiction without the DC PD initially asking for assistance and, later, the two rightfully anticipating repercussions for overstepping.
The action in the story is steady, with exciting, almost frantic moments regularly kicking the pace up a notch (to "Eleven"). A major plot twist made me exclaim aloud; I was that surprised. There is a bit of a cliffhanger ending, and there are still some shadowy things and people lurking in the background that predict this author has much more planned! There is also an intriguing explanation for how Adam acquired his unique healing ability.
With its entertaining premise and non-stop excitement and action, I recommend DEATHWISH to readers who enjoy fantastic superhero tales. (This book has some death and destruction and drinking, but no drugs or "kissing scenes," if that is a consideration for sharing with a younger audience.)