The Scorpio Tattoo – a readers review

It's been my pleasure to own this book since it's first publication. I am absolutely delighted that it's finally receiving the recognition it deserves. Shortly after i bought it Jude asked me to let her have my thoughts. I'd never been asked to do a review before (or since!) but this is what I wrote.


The characters:

Jonathon Rorke: A clairvoyant and bookseller, a genuine "seer" and a sympathetic character to ..

Jessica Crane:  A delicious girl sort of victim, with hidden depths who he discovers through a vision.

One more major character, who must remain nameless as naming him may spoil the plot – and, unlike so many erotic stories, there is a detailed, believable plot.

There are also several minor characters, all drawn with care and in detail

The story starts with Jonathon dreaming about a girl. The visions become so powerful that he has to investigate one night. He finds Jessica alone and in a park, unconscious. He takes her to hospital and while undergoing treatment a large, part completed, but beautiful tattoo is discovered. On her discharge Jonathon takes Jess home, where there is the most sensitive, beautiful love scene it has been my pleasure to read for a long time.

Jess explains how she is being "haunted" by a being who she can't see, but who has her in his power. He keeps calling her Elizabeth and saying how much he loves her, but  absolutely refuses to understand she is not the same girl  or to release her from this torment. Added to this, the tattoo keeps increasing in size, and the murder of two other women in strange circumstances and you have a recipe for a first rate story. Add some truly mouth watering sex scenes and you have a sure fire winner on your hands.

Everyone who likes mystery stories, with a little of the occult about them and lots of bedroom thrills will love this book.
 

Scorpio Tattoo                    Pub:  Phaze (an imprint of Mundania Press, LLC

By Jude Mason                   ISBN:  1-59426-994-7

Jonathan Rorke, owns a bookstore appropriately named Secret's Revealed, but that’s not all.  Jonathan also has psychic abilities.  When he dreams about women being tortured and tattooed, he follows the dream and is able to rescue one of them, Jessica Crane.

Terror of the unknown, and forgotten love and desire merge--both are intense, both present a constant suspense. Both are consummated in full fervor.

Jude Mason has woven a strange and alluring tale of terror, pain, memories, love and fulfillment.

To my readers, a warning.  This book contains explicit sex.

Review by Wanda C. Keesey

http://www.wandakeesey.com

Jonathan Rorke has visions, and has all his life. Now he’s dreaming of a woman in pain, a woman in trouble. Each vision comes with a little more until the night he sees where to find her. But can he get to her in time?

Jessica Crane came to start a new life only now that life is in danger from a force she cannot see. When Jonathan rescues her from certain death she’s filled with gratitude, only gratitude never felt like this.

Can they discover what it is they feel for each other before whatever is hunting Jessica finds her again?

In Scorpio Tattoo, Jonathan finds himself becoming involved with Jessica in ways he’s never allowed himself to go before. He’s half in-love with her before they even meet and meeting under these circumstances aren’t helping. The way he tries to keep himself back from her only causes him to get more involved. Her strength in dealing with what’s happening to her and the help he offers draws them closer. As their relationship deepens, they find in each other the love of a lifetime. When the danger to Jessica gets closer Jude Mason portrays the idea of true love and all its depths beautifully. With the love between Jonathan and Jessica bringing great joy the anguish of a love denied is all the more real. Both ends of a great love are crafted well in Scorpio Tattoo and I enjoyed the tale immensely.

Reviewed by: Rachel C.

Rating:
 

Jonathan is a psychic experiencing repetitive dreams of tattooed females. Lying nearly nude, outdoors, each one has the Astrological symbol of the Zodiac sign Scorpio tattooed onto her lower back. This night he is able to trace the location of the dream, and finds the woman, barely alive. On her, the tattoo has just been begun, as if the artist had drawn only the outline. When she is able to speak, in the emergency room, she tells Jonathan and the detectives that she had found an old abandoned house, and inside, something or someone pinned her down and applied the tattoo.

When Jonathan learns from an experienced detective that there had been two preceding victims, both found dead and tattooed, he has another vision in which he sees the other women being tattooed, mistaken for a different woman but unable to say so. Jonathan and Jessica find themselves immediately and immensely attracted and act on that magnetism as quickly as possible. But while Jonathan is at work in his bookstore, the invisible elusive tattooist is at work as well: on Jessica, striving to complete the tattoo.

Scorpio Tattoo is a fascinating story of the same high quality this reviewer has come to anticipate from Jude Mason. I was catapulted right into the story, and found it easy to identify with both the hero Jonathan and heroine Jessica. Even the secondary characters such as Ken, a homicide detective, are well delineated. The plot is highly intriguing and the paranormal elements are woven into it in such a way as to be extraordinarily believable.

Reviewed by Frost

There comes a time in every special person’s life when they long for the one thing which seems to be totally our of their reach. Sometimes it is wealth, sometimes fame, and for those like Jonathan Rorke, it is love. He is special, psychically gifted, and yet it has made his life lonely. He has yet to meet a woman who will try to understand him, can accept his talents, and not be afraid of him or think he is strange. Well, the strange part could be true, but only because of his gift of vision. He can’t control what he sees, or when he sees it, so often his trances have been the downfall of any meaningful relationship. To the women, they have been anything from disturbing or irritating, to frightening, misunderstood, or just plain scary. Jonathan knows it would take a very special woman to be able to stay with him, care for him, and to be able to put up with his often erratic, but always strong gifts. The recent dreams and visions he has had left him feeling more disturbed than usual, thinking about the uncertainty of his life, his loneliness, and the need he was beginning to feel more often for companionship.

With her dark hair, and silver-gray eyes, Jessica Crane presented an unexpected gift. The visions had been repeating, but this night, Jonathan has enough to act on, and he feels a burning urge to leave the warmth of his home, and hunt for the woman he feels is in deadly danger. Half naked, unconscious, and oddly tattooed, she is lovely to him, but awake, definitely will be the challenge Jonathan needs. As Jonathan hurls toward his destiny, Jessica is struggling, caught in a nightmare of pain deep inside, aching from betrayal, brutal beatings, and the battering of her ego. But Jessica has her own set of rules, and rule number one is survive at all costs. With her ripe figure, a low self-esteem, and an unfinished yet beautiful tattoo on her lower back, she is unaware she is the image of Jonathan’s dream woman. But she wants only answers, and it is up to Jonathan to get them for her. Her sanity in question by the doctor who treated her wounds, the unanswerable questions asked by Jonathan’s cop friend Ken, and the attraction she feels for her rescuer all lead Jessica to the same conclusion. She could very well love this special man, but first, she needs her questions answered. Once the answers are found, and the mystery threatening her life is solved, then and only then might they have a chance at love.

Jude Mason has brought us Scorpio Tattoo, a story that touches heart, soul, and mind as well as being a titillating and sexy love triangle with some very interesting implications. From the first, the nature of the killings were suspect, and the deaths of the two previous women have disturbed the police of the quiet community. When a vision yanks book shop owner Jonathan Rorke out of a deep sleep, he knows that a chance exists for him to save a life. He has worked with the police before, but his first thoughts are to get to the place in his mind. When he finds the woman with the odd unfinished tattoo, he is struck by her beauty, the surroundings, and the fact she still lives. Jonathan’s friend, Corporal Ken Hanks shows up at the hospital, Jonathan fills him in on the situation, and discovers there have been two others like Jessica discovered, but both of them died from unknown causes. Armed with precious little knowledge, Jonathan sets out to find the killer or killers, and to protect Jessica at all costs. Scorpio Tattoo is available starting in November 2006 from Venus Press, and if you are a lover of the paranormal, or just love a delightfully sexy romance, then I suggest you watch for it, and pick up a copy. It is a tale in the Mystical Signs Series you can’t put down, and at just under a hundred pages, Scorpio Tattoo is one quick fun, and sexy read you can’t afford to miss.

Yours in good reading,

Rose!

Reviewer: Judy King

Back to Scorpio Tattoo

Email me, I'd love to hear from you