The Release
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ☆ ☆
The Release (The Prey, Book 3) by Tom Isbell
Equal parts cringe and closure. 😬😌
This final installment in The Prey trilogy starts off on the right foot, carrying the same energy and intensity as the first two books. For a while, it feels like it’s building toward a strong conclusion. The tension is there, the stakes are clear, and it seems like Isbell knows exactly where he’s going with this.
But as the story moves into its final act, things start to veer into seriously cheesy territory. 🧀 I’m talking action scenes straight out of an old-school B-movie: “a chop to the neck, and they’re out cold.” Instead of heightening the drama, scenes that should feel intense come off as unintentionally silly.
And then comes the epilogue, with our heroes holding hands and running toward the rising sun, pausing just long enough to confess their love for each other. It dials the cheese factor up so high that Kraft might want to issue a cease and desist.
That said, if you can push through the gooey cheddar coating, there’s still a satisfying core to the story. Beneath the campy execution, it does manage to wrap up the trilogy in a way that feels complete and true to the characters. 👍
It’s a rocky but respectable finale, with equal parts cringe and closure.
