REVIEW: The Brotherhood of the Wheel by R.S. Belcher

The Brotherhood of the Wheel by R.S. Belcher
Publishing information: Hardcover; 384 pages
Publisher: Tor; 1 March 2016
ISBN: 978-0765380289
Series: Book #1
Copy: Provide by publisher
Reviewer: Tyson

Amazon

Synopsis: "R.S. Belcher, the acclaimed author of The Six-Gun Tarot and The Shotgun Arcana launches a gritty new urban fantasy series about the mysterious society of truckers known only as, The Brotherhood of The Wheel.

In 1119 A.D., a group of nine crusaders became known as the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon--a militant monastic order charged with protecting pilgrims and caravans traveling on the roads to and from the Holy Land. In time, the Knights Templar would grow in power and, ultimately, be laid low. But a small offshoot of the Templars endure and have returned to the order's original mission: to defend the roads of the world and guard those who travel on them.

Theirs is a secret line of knights: truckers, bikers, taxi hacks, state troopers, bus drivers, RV gypsies--any of the folks who live and work on the asphalt arteries of America. They call themselves the Brotherhood of the Wheel.

Jimmy Aussapile is one such knight. He's driving a big rig down South when a promise to a ghostly hitchhiker sets him on a quest to find out the terrible truth behind a string of children gone missing all across the country. The road leads him to Lovina Hewitt, a skeptical Louisiana State Police investigator working the same case and, eventually, to a forgotten town that's not on any map--and to the secret behind the eerie Black-Eyed Kids said to prowl the highways."

This is my second book I have read from Belcher and I am afraid to say I did not enjoy this one any more than I did Nightwise. While I liked the premise of the novel. The Knights Templar continuing to safeguard the highways of America, the book itself just didn't work for me.

The book opens up with Jimmy tracking down a man who has kidnapped a truck stop prostitute and Jimmy is hot on his trail. Using a trucker's best friend, the CB radio, he receives updates on his location. Through the opening scene you learn that there is a secret society of Templars that assist Knights such as Jimmy. A police officer clears the way for him and lets him know over the CB, yet doesn't stick with him to catch the predator. It was little things like that that bothered me and really kept the book from reaching its full potential. In my opinion a cop would assist Jimmy as they are both apart of a secret society but I don't know too many cops that would then not want to be apart of the group that finally collars the bad guy.

The Brotherhood of the Wheel didn't work for me on a few levels and I found the book really hard to finish. I had the same problem with Nightwise and if given the opportunity to read a future Belcher novel, I will most likely decline as he just doesn't appeal to me as a reader.

Overall 6/10