Spider Game (Ghostwalker Book 12)

First let me say, I have all of the books in this series, and all in the other series as well. That said, this author is no longer on the top of my "must have" books. Lately, her books are getting darker and darker and her heroes more abusive and controlling. The use of repetition to pad the word count is becoming boring. The vulgar and abusive sex scenes are becoming distasteful. Don't misunderstand...I like sex. I even enjoy reading about occasional "rough" sex. Violence doesn't even bother me much, as long as it isn't sadistic, and happens to the bad guys.I resent reading about victims being further bullied and victimized by the alleged "good" guys. I didn't think 50 shades of grey was "all that", and it doesn't become more palatable by being justified as necessary to fulfill an alpha male. Bluntly speaking,Trap Dawkins is a jerk! I went from being interested in him to not caring for him. And the more I read about him, the less I liked him... And the more I read about Cayenne, the more I wished she had bonded with a real man, not a controlling jerk who would probably keep her a victim the rest of her life. I actually had to scan through the sex scenes in the latter part of the book, as reading them just pissed me off! It did have a decent ending, which will probably keep me coming back for the next book...which I will probably get from the library...

Most people have already covered it. Feehan's alpha male obsession has crossed the line from sexy to flat out abusive. Things started going downhill with Wyatt, and now Trap is even worse. The females are doormats. Even non confrontational ones like Lily or Tansy would stand up for themselves, Pepper and Cayenne don't do that at all. The overall story about Whitney used to be interesting, now it's treated like barely an afterthought, and even then it's just an excuse to send teams to try to kill the main character. I don't know where Feehan lost her way, but I'm absolutely done. These books aren't romance anymore, they're a how to guide on being mentally and emotionally abusive. It's sick Feehan.

I used to really like this series. it was fun, sexy and action packed. The last few books CFeehan's main guy characters really don't like women. The guys are just not likable AT ALL. And the woman they fall for is basically the exception to the rule, cause all women are awful. YIKES! The female characters are now having to deal with the guys acting like complete jerks. Saying and doing the most mean spirited things. And the female characters make excuses for the guys cause they had a rough start to life. There are always promises to be better, but more and more moments of gross behavior. Listen, if you let a guy (or gal, or anyone!) treat you like crap he won't stop, ever. Cause he knows he can get away with it. I can't read this series anymore. I keep hoping it'll get better. That the actual story of the Ghostwalkers with move forward, be interesting again, but it doesn't, it just gets worse. I'm done.

3.25 stars---SPIDER GAME is the twelfth installment in Christine Feehan’s contemporary, adult GHOSTWALKERS paranormal, romance series focusing on an elite group of ‘genetically enhanced’ men and women known as the Ghostwalkers. These ‘supersoldiers’ are part of an unauthorized government experiment performed by Dr. Peter Whitney-a man tantamount to evil incarnate. This is Dr. Trap Dawkins, and Cayenne’s storyline. Trap and Cayenne were first introduced, along with a new team of Ghostwalkers, in Viper Game (Ghostwalkers #11). SPIDER GAME can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty.Told from several third person points of view including Cayenne and Trap, SPIDER GAME continues to focus on the dangerous experiments of Dr. Peter Whitney. Cayenne is considered a failure; an experiment gone horribly wrong and, along with Wyatt Fontenont’s children (Viper Game #11), was tagged for extermination. Rescued by Trap and Wyatt, Cayenne found herself alone without any food, clothing or a place to live. To stay alive, Cayenne resorted to some unethical tactics in order to survive in the Louisiana Bayou. When Trap discovers that Cayene is the woman ‘made’ especially for him, he sets out to ‘trap’ his wayward mate but in doing also brings the hunt for Cayenne to his front door.Cayenne is a Ghostwalker with enhanced special abilities brought about by ‘spider DNA’. Cayenne is a dangerous soldier whose training saw the death of many Ghostwalker Teams, and the potential for many more. Trap is a billionaire researcher; an inventor whose past has threatened to destroy once again. It is the nature of the male Ghostwalker to provide, protect and be all alpha male when his female is threatened by an outside source but Trap’s over protective nature leaves something to be desired.The secondary and supporting cast includes Wyatt and Trap’s new team of genetically enhanced soldiers including Malachai, Mordichai and Ezekiel Fortunes; Jo and Draden. There are a few cameo appearances ( and several mentions of) by earlier Ghostwalkers including Gator and Flame, Lily and Ryland, and of course, Nonny who is everybody’s loving grand-mere. Violet Smythe’s return and her ambitions for the vice-presidency sets up some revealing information and the potential for a more dangerous mission for all of the Ghostwalkers.But….there comes a time in every author’s career where a change in direction is needed or required; where the long quiet muse has finally awakened some dormant need in many authors to push the boundaries of the character to a dark and dangerous abyss that borders on a free fall of questionable choices, and in this SPIDER GAME has fallen into the dangerous area of questionable actions and behavior of the leading hero. This is also true of most of Christine Feehan’s series-the amount of abuse, graphic violence, and aggression towards women is elevating at an exponential rate, and her heroes are the perpetrators of much of the abuse.In SPIDER GAME, Trap is an over protective alpha male but his actions towards his mate borders on abusive. His bi-polar emotional and physical outbursts would give anyone whiplash. When a beloved series by a favorite author crosses over into a territory where mental, emotional, physical and sexual abuse is hidden behind the proclamation of love and protection, it is time to question the author’s motives: From where did this anger come? To whom is it directed? And why is the target always the women or female lead? Trap Hawkins is NOT a likeable hero; he tries to justify his actions at every opportunity but he comes across as a controlling, jealous, and abusive pr*ck. This is not romance or romantic; this is not love or even akin to anything near love; this is all about power and control. At times, there were scenes of questionable consent that bordered on sexual assault, and for a powerful heroine she took it without question or a fight. An abuser hides behind and uses ‘love’ to justify his actions and Trap Dawkins tries to justify his actions as a need to protect. Cayenne has been tortured, experimented upon, and abused for years by scientists all in the name of the ultimate weapon of destruction, and her ‘freedom’ forces Cayenne from one abuser to another (from the proverbial frying pan into the fire)-this is NOT the love of a protective male but the need to control; to break the will of an injured animal that must succumb to the abuse in order to survive.SPIDER GAME is a sexually graphic story line with scenes of questionable consent and graphic acts of power and control. In the past, some of Christine Feehan’s male leads (especially in the Dark Series) have ‘forced’ their females into a mating, bordering on rape and sexual assault, but the frequency of abusive situations is increasing, and I am having a difficult time looking past the act and seeing a potential, positive outcome for these story line heroines. Many readers become one with the story, with the leading hero or heroine to experience the ultimate fantasy romance but when romance becomes abuse, perhaps it is time to find another hero (or series) with whom to fall in love.

Feehan was one of my top authors.Loved her dark series but had to hang the boots up on that one and now with the Ghostwalkers too!Again the lead male is a jerk, and with lines like I will expect sex whenever the Blank I want it 😳 Doesn't make a alpha male, that's makes him a jerk period!Pages of sex filling that doesn't add to the story at all, pages of blah and I'm quite sure it didn't need that many pages to do maths for peanuts!.Besides going down the creepy route of now adding spiders to genetics is getting too much out there for me. Her latest books are nothing like her earlier books. She needs to wake up and smell the coffee and get back to her early writing or stop these series because the newest books are dragging it all down. What happened to the great story lines?But for me this is the last Ghostwalker I will ever read. Shame I loved this author.

I used to really enjoy these books but the last few were mainly enforced sex with the odd page of story thrown in. The men were not likeable/redeemable in any way. Either they are being ghost written or the author is trying to emulate Fifty Shades of Grey. It's a shame because she was a good author.

I have read all the previous Ghostwalker books and thought they were good reads. This book and the previous book (Wyatts story) were awful. Did the author read fifty shades and thought to make her story's more about sex than the Ghostwalker story? This book was 1/4 story and 3/4 sex, not to mention Traps emotional abuse against Cayenne. Women are subjected to abuse because their partner believes they are flirting or wanting other men just as Trap and Wyatt thought. This has no place in a book like this. I really have to think if I want to read anymore of this series, which is a shame as I would like to know how this pans out.

I can't believe that I am giving this book such a low mark. I've bought Christine's books as soon as they come out, and this one I had preordered. It was just boring really. Too much repetitive sex, Trap was a jerk and very close to just plain abusive. The story line was thin and seemed to just be added as a filler between the sex scenes. Not that I object to a good sex scene, but this was just too much!Too much sex, not enough story line.

I think this will probably be the last Ghostwalker novel that I will purchase. I so looked forward to this release, having pre ordered it some time ago. I have to admit I'm disappointed. It certainly isn't a patch on the earlier books in the series, far too much repetitive sex, it got to the stage where it became sooo boring ! and not enough "Ghostwalker" content, which is what the book is supposed to be about.