Seal Team 666: Reign of Evil by Weston Ochse, Seal Team 666 #3 Legend holds that when Britain is in its darkest hour, King Arthur will return to save the country, if not the world. The legend is dead wrong. When a grove of Druids sacrifice the lives of a group of innocent people, including the fiancée of a member of SEAL Team 666, the ancient king is brought back from the dead and sets his sights on subjugating humanity and cleansing his land of all who are not true Britons. Because of political sensitivities, Triple 6 is ordered to stand down, but that order is ignored by one of them seeking his own vengeance. Now, the members of America’s elite supernatural-hunting team must decide what is more important: their orders or their loyalty to a member of their team.
Last year I was introduced to, to be honest, one of the coolest concepts of military fiction. Seal Team 666. And I think we all know what 666 stands for. This isn't your ordinary Seal Team no, this group of America's elite battle it out on the supernatural plane. So far Weston Ochse has written two very successful Seal Team 666 books and actually this third installment completely escaped my attention until Titan dropped this book in the post for me. Just as the two predecessors, Reign of Evil is once again a surefire winner. This really is something of a guilty pleasure for me I think. Is there anything cooler than Seal in full battle gear fighting the supernatural? As to be expected there is a heavy emphasis on the military aspect in Weston Ochse books but Reign of Evil also has a most interesting storyline and this makes it for me the best Seal Team 666 book so far.
The story of Reign of Evil picks up the events of Age of Blood, Seal Team 666 has gotten back to base and debriefed and everything so far seems normal, they are all getting ready once again. When one member of Seal Team 666, Jack Walker, is being field test to see if he is battle-ready he gets a very disturbing phone call just a few second before he is about to make a jump out of an airplane. His fiancee, who spend time visiting a friend in Great Britain, is found dead and all evidence doesn't point towards an accident. She was brutally murdered. Now comes the hard news for Jack and the other Seal Team 666 members, this is out of their jurisdiction and they are asked to keep their distance... well as if... Jack being the Jack he is travels to Britain to find out just what is going on. And once Jack lands he starts to discover that there is a lot more going on than meets the normal persons eye. Because Jack's wife to be was murdered by a group of zealous Druids who tried to invoke the return of the Wild Hunt, led by none other than King Arthur. The Wild Hunt is an historical event that is said to "cleanse the land of all who are not true British", yes not actually a nice thing now is it? Maybe you can already guess what the cleansing might entail, to be honest it is actually quite dark. Cleanse all of those who are not truly British includes all immigrants that have currently live in Britain... This is the main premise of the story and Weston Ochse fully addresses the Wild Hunt subject and all that is accompanied with it. The whole story surrounding this and the different characters and the locations of England are all shown in a most interesting spotlight. Weston Ochse definitely knows how to write an story that punch you in the face and says you need to read me now. And dont stop.
The Wild Hunt aspect has featured in some others books that I have read but never have I read about it in the way that Weston Ochse describes it. From the start up in the grove of the Druids, and the massacre that was the result to actually embodying King Arthur and setting the Wild Hunt loose was done really skillfully and here the true horror element comes to the front. Next to the focus on Jack's and the rest of Seal Team 666 and the British counterpart of supernatural ops there is also an alternation to several events surrounding the Wild Hunt, more specifically how King Arthur goes about massing his army this, bit by bit you learn more and more about what it actually means. To be honest Weston Ochse scared me in this. How several people were amassed as dogs in the Wild Hunt gave me some serious chills. Just spot on in this supernatural setting.
As for the characters. This is already the third book and though we have seen some leave and new ones join the Seal Team, I have to say that the characterization in Reign of Evil was done very nicely. We have seen the good and the bad and the very bad moments of many different characters and as undoubtely in real life this brings soldiers closer together it did also allow me to connect better with them. In the earlier reviews I already praised Weston Ochse for showing the camaraderie between different characters and that it makes his books and the character cast highly enjoyable to read. Well this is precisely what you will get in Reign of Evil once again. Jack is firstly going alone abroad but Seal Team 666 wouldn't be a band of brothers if they wouldn't help him out. This is really a plus of the story seeing how several characters be it Walker, Holmes, Laws or YaYa or even the dog Hoover, interact with each other. There are some sharp remarks to each other but also many funny and humorous comments to keep everything lively.
I already mentioned that this third book was the best so far. This for me is I think owed to the establishement of the storyline in the first two book, firstly introducing the setting of the series in the first book and bit by bit, even already in the first book and continuing in Age of Blood to build on this foundation, exploring the world further and further and moreover as I put an emphasis on exploring the characters and the supernatural world of the Seal Team 666 universe. Really well done, this is by far one my favourite military/supernatural/urban fantasy series so far.
Reign of Evil is short is a fast paced and action packed ride but mroe over it is just plain awesome. Once you embark you won't be able to stop it until it is over. Which is far too soon. In this already third installment of the Seal Team 666 series Weston Ochse has really out done himself. When I tweeted to him that this was the best book so far he said "you just like it because I bulldozed through England. Lol" Yes it is. There are no boundaries that Weston Ochse is afraid to break. Showing partly his own vision on just what a Wild Hunt entails was done in a most detailed kind of way that will get you scarred. big time. Weston Ochse has created a very interesting take on military and supernatural fiction and this Seal Team 666 series readily stands out and I must kindly urge everyone who likes their action raw with a supernatural twist to pick up these stories asap. They won't disappoint. Just a last note: Weston Ochse did leave Reign of Evil on a bit of a cliffhanger. Lets see what the next mission of Seal Team 666 will be.
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