The Jackal

By: J.R. Ward

Narrated by: Jim Frangione

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sinner brings another hot adventure of true love and ultimate sacrifice in the Black Dagger Brotherhood world.

The location of the glymera’s notorious prison camp was lost after the raids. When a freak accident provides Nyx clues to where her sister may still be doing time, she becomes determined to find the secret subterranean labyrinth. Embarking on a journey under the earth, she learns a terrible truth—and meets a male who changes everything, forever.

The Jackal has been in the camp for so long he cannot recall anything of the freedom he once knew. Trapped by circumstances out of his control, he helps Nyx because he cannot help himself. After she discovers what happened to her sister, getting her back out becomes a deadly mission for them both.

United by a passion they can’t deny, they work together on an escape plan for Nyx—even though their destiny is to be forever apart. And as the Black Dagger Brotherhood is called upon for help, and Rhage discovers he has a half-brother who’s falsely imprisoned, a devious warden plots the deaths of them all…even the Brothers.

Critic reviews

"This audiobook starts off with a car accident—Nyx hits a young vampire in the road. As a result of the accident, Nyx learns the location of an underground prison where she believes her sister is wrongly imprisoned for murder. Tension mounts as she goes to find her sister and encounters the Jackal, who helps her with her quest. Narrator Jim Frangione gives the Jackal a deeply masculine pitch that matches his description. He voices Nyx as being fully capable of handling herself yet gives her believable vulnerability when the occasion requires it. This fantasy romance offers a roller coaster ride of passion and suspense."

another hit for J.R.Ward

I have to say, when I heard that Ward was writing a new side series after she finished the BDB Legacy books, I was not that excited when I heard that it'd be about the prison camp. I imagined grubby inmates, crowded cell blocks, in-fighting, nothing that could surely be romantic, or even add much excitement to the BDB world. How wrong I was! If this is the first of a 4/5 book side series this was a great start! I should have known better than to doubt Ward! While the main series may have gone slightly astray in places more recently and a bit dreary/samey at times, the legacy books always held my attention and were a breath of fresh air, and this book definitely did that for me too.

The Jackal begins in the present time, with Rhage and Bitty enjoying movie night. We get some flashbacks into his life a century ago, and Darius also makes an appearance, which I was very excited about, being strangely attached to a Brother who we barely knew! Similar to flashbacks in previous books, the phrasing/language is kind of 'old/historical', and at times it does take me out of the scene, thinking, 'this was only the early 20th C, surely people didn't talk like this then', but there are still glimmers of 'Rhageisms' and you still feel his character as we know him. I do love getting to know more about the Brothers' history, so I was really thankful for these parts.

Rhage meets 'The Jackal' during these flashback periods, but I won't give anything away about what happens.

The main female character is Nyx, and I LOVED her. She's strong, fierce, determined, yes a little stubborn but aren't most of them? I don't want to give away too much of the plot but circumstances arise where she is looking for her sister, who is in prison, and she finds out the location of the prison and goes to try and free her. Very soon into this search she meets The Jackal, who has been an inmate of the prison for a long time. He agrees to help her. They make a great team, and of course, things happen between them.

Now, I think there must be times when it's hard for a writer of a series such as this to come up with new ideas for characters, surely everything has already been done, but somehow with this couple Ward has managed to make both characters come alive beautifully, they seem quite unique, have good, solid backstories, are likeable, and I connected with them both early on, which meant I was very invested in their story.

The storyline was weaved very well, the flashbacks, then the different POVs of the two main characters, little breadcrumbs of info, making me eager to continue and read on to find out what was going on, and what would happen. For example, it becomes clear that the Jackal has different treatment in the prison, he has a secret, which we only find out later. I thought this was all done very well, there are some interesting twists, and while some of them may have been more predictable than others, they were still very satisfying.

There's even some V and Fritz. I mean, I feel spoiled.

The ending is perfect. My lip quivered. I got the warm and fuzzies.

Thank you, Ms Ward. I still love this world you create, and I can't wait to read more.

I love it!

This is so BDB! I love how the back story comes together and ties with all the other books but does not take away from this story! I'm so in love with the BDB I need one of my own 😉

In LOVE with this new series!

Wow Wow Wow! I admit I was hesitant to listen to the Prison Camp series, but this is COMPLETELY different than I expected. The story line ties in great with BDB and the characters are very VERY interesting! Can’t wait to get more on this and the other characters’ stories!!!!! Thank you Jessica!

Loved the story line.

Loved it. Easy to follow if you read the brotherhood story line. It explains some of the brothers background.

enjoyed the story

I did enjoy the story, but there is a time or two I raise an eyebrow at wear is going on. It's just that what is said, I can't imagine happening. all I all, I enjoyed.