Coyle and Fang: Curse of Shadows

Coyle and Fang Adventure Series, Book 1

By: Robert Adauto III

Narrated by: Elisabeth Lagelee

John Wick meets Sherlock Holmes

Sherlyn Coyle uses her brilliant detective skills hunting her murderous ex-fiance, known around the world as "The Ripper".

Fang is a vampire assassin who broke out of her cage, and she's looking for blood.

Fate brings them together to catch an evil madman who stole a dangerous book, the Curse of Shadows, a tome able to turn ordinary people into horrid creatures.

Can Coyle and Fang trust each other enough to stop thousands from being destroyed?

Set in an amazing steampunk world, Coyle and Fang: Curse of Shadows is the first book in the series. Each book is packed with action, mysteries, and thrills.

©2021 Robert Adauto III (P)2022 Robert Adauto III

All the stars

One of this reader’s great joys is when a beloved book is brought beautifully to life through a compelling audiobook performance, and Elisabeth Lagelee has done just that here.

Coyle and Fang: Curse of Shadows is the well-deserved winner of the 2022 Realm Makers award for best debut novel, and is the first book in the Coyle and Fang series. It is imaginative, action-packed, and exceptionally entertaining. Its greatest strength is its well-developed characters. When book characters end up feeling like old friends, you know the author has done something right.

Great story and excellent narration

I really liked the story. It was full of intrigue. A story that keeps you guessing is always the best kind. The narrator does a great job with range of variation and the voices were superb.

Great Read

Great Read with a new twist on vampires and monsters. Coyle is a strong woman character but also shows her troubles & fears.
The intense action continues through out the book..... leaving you to wonder what will be in the next chapter.

The series would make a great movie one day.

Great Steampunk Adventure

This was my first experience with Robert Adauto III's work, and I enjoyed it a lot. The story was fascinating. The characters were creative and fun. I liked the twisted mystery with the dropped clues that interspersed the story, and the flashes of humor. I appreciated the multiple connections to other literary characters. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. Elisabeth Lagelee's narration was great and kept my attention. I was given a free copy of the audiobook, and I have voluntarily posted this review.

4 star listen

What a great take on so many classics!
Holmes and Watson,
Jack the Ripper,
Van halsing
Vamps
What’s not to like!

Fantasy adventure troupe
Great storyline
Great narration
Solid 4 star listen!
Recommended can’t wait for the next audio
Both fmc are flawed and fabulous as well as being sfcs
Gifted audio this is my honest review ♥️

Not What I Expected

This book was billed as a John Wick meets Sherlock Holmes [Victorian] adventure … which I guess is why Amazon pegged it as Steampunk; but that really didn’t drive the story much; making it mostly windows dressing for what was arguably more horror fiction than steampunk noir. The only connection I found to anything Sherlockian was the MC [Coyle] use of a pipe with an apparent penchant for details that debuted early in the story before disappearing for most of the rest. Presumably the other MC [Fang] was supposed to be “John Wick” of the story … but I couldn’t see that connection anywhere.

What you do get and a horror plot set in an imaginary 19th century San Fransisco with vampires, fae and gnomes that spend more time in the mind bending games/drug induced dreams (that were a struggle to work through) and less detective work or straight up action (not accompanied by mental torment or struggle). And what exactly did the Templars add to all of this? I couldn’t figure that out either (other than to add a level of “coolness” to the story) … make this a highly derivative and formulaic story that did not work well for me.

The narration was good for the story as actually told (my wife really like it). So … forget any preconceptions you might have from the blurb … what you get here is a mad “boogeyman” bent on corrupting people into new and horrifying creatures 9such a ghouls) using a book of magic knowns as the Curse of Shadows. Fang is a vampire assassin introduced with her escape from the lab/prison that made her [different that other vampires]. Coyle is a talented constable/boy scout trying to over come an eye popping level of misogyny within the SF deceive ranks who is cashiered for giving into to her justified anger during a detective exam. Add a gratuitous pipe to complete the nominal connection to Holmes just in case the read can’t make the obvious connection on their own.

While the origin stories didn’t work for me, they were done relatively well. The two outcasts eventually team up to find the Curse of Shadows before it was too late. They are opposed by a shapeshifting fae that adds s few twists. Eventually the super spies … er … protagonists … end up in the bad guy’s layer for a marginally wickian chain of unbelievable action sequences. Just relax and enjoy the predictable marched toward a satisfying end.

I was given this free advance listener copy (ALC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#CoyleAndFang #FreeAudiobookCodes

Great storyline

This is good story that has great characters and keeps you interested throughout the story