The Big Reap (The Collector Book Three)

Sam Thornton doesn't feel quite right since the exposure to the corrupted soul the hell bent Ana and misguided Danny tried to unleash during the climactic event of The Wrong Goodbye. The ease which Sam begins to ignore his conscience has him fearing that his fight to retain any last shed of humanity is all but over. Has he been at this all too long or the impending all out war between Heaven and Hell getting to him? In The Big Reap, Chris F. Holm presents the power house action conclusion to his Collector trilogy.

After a short prologue, revisiting Sam Thornton's curious first collection, The Big Reap picks up right where the teaser at the end of The Wrong Goodbye left off. Met by a strange man who offers him a ride, Sam is brought to see a mysterious old man who is part of a group of ex-Collectors, whom managed to brake free from Hell's shackles, known as the Brethren. The strange, patchwork man introduces himself as Magnassun and tries to imprison Sam but some quick thinking and good fortune ensure his escape.

His luck, as always, is also his curse, as it is discovered through this brush with Magnussan, that only Collectors can kill the powerful brethren. Lilith (Sam's handler) thus sends him on an assigned to take out the remaining eight members of the group before they can do any more damage to the fragile balance of power between heaven and hell. Their very existence an affront and one which tempt others to join their loophole of an existence.

Chris F. Holm continues to explore the occult themes which emerge in the Wrong Goodbye, as the lines which link the three books together draw a grand picture. Beasts, daemons and sorcerers of all sort must come face to face with our man Sam on a desperate mission. The Big Reap is a thousand mile an hour action packed adventure which takes us all over the globe as Sam runs down the list of Brethren souls, each one more dangerous than the next. It doesn't have as much film-noir inspired mystery as the original Dead Harvest, nor the comedic buddy elements of The Wrong Goodbye but still oozes the same black humour and quick witted attitude offered by the preceding books.