Lethal Rider

Written by Larissa Ione

Narrated by Erin Bennett

The prophesies were there . . . but no one listened. They are the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and they have the power to usher in Doomsday . . . or prevent it.

Eight months ago, demon-slayer Regan Matthews seduced the fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse, Thanatos. Now, she's pregnant with his child – a child who, if prophecies are to believed, is fated to save the world. But things aren't always as they appear, and the baby conceived by two warriors may yet be the very catalyst that kicks off Armageddon.

Thanatos, who will be Death when his Seal breaks, never thought he'd have a family, but as he grows close to Regan and his unborn son, he allows himself to dream. But as the world edges closer to the end of days and his evil brother plots against him, Thanatos realises that the sacrifice he must make will destroy everything he dreamed of having.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Little, Brown (Hachette UK) Audio
• Release date: Dec 5, 2013
• ISBN: 9781405530842

Larissa Ione

Air Force veteran Larissa Ione traded in a career in meteorology to pursue her passion of writing. She has since published dozens of books, hit several bestseller lists, including the New York Times and USA Today, and has been nominated for a RITA award. She now spends her days in pajamas with her computer, strong coffee, and supernatural worlds. She believes in celebrating everything, and would never be caught without a bottle of Champagne chilling in the fridge…just in case. She lives in Wisconsin with her retired U.S. Coast Guard husband, her son, a rescue cat named Vegas, and her very own hellhounds, a King Shepherd named Hexe and a Belgian Malinois named Duvel.

Reviews for Lethal Rider

[jorgeousjotts · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is my least favorite of the entire series so far. The main characters seemed to just take turns being dumb. I suppose maybe they're well suited in that respect? lol And the hero, for like the entire first half of the book he's such a whiny @sshole, I could hardly stand him. So he was wronged by the heroine in a previous book, fine. Like four different things aligned that made that a pretty understandable wrong though, including that she believed it was necessary *to save the entire world from Armageddon!*. So suck it up already buddy! For so much of the book he's constantly trying to guilt trip her and threatening her, and she's just steeped in regret over it. I wanted to knock their heads together. There's some lust thrown in there too, but that guilt drama undermined their relationship for me. The second half got a bit better, but I was a little bit just tired of them by that point. It's not the worst book ever, but it was a definite miss for me.

[mom2lnb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lethal Rider is the third book in Larissa Ione’s Lords of Deliverance series, which is a spin-off or sub-series of her Demonica series, that is about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse who are half-angel and half-demon. In this one, we have Thanatos aka Death paired with Regan, an Aegis Guardian. Their story actually began in the previous book, Immortal Rider, when the Aegis found a new prophecy which seemed to suggest that the offspring of a Horseman would bring an end to the Apocalypse that Pestilence started in the first book, Eternal Rider. Not knowing that the prophecy had been planted by Pestilence himself, the Aegis started scheming to get their hands on a Horseman’s child, and since one didn’t yet exist, they needed to “make” one. With Ares already happily mated and Limos headed down that road, that only left Thanatos, so they twisted Regan’s arm to get her to go seduce the Horseman. She wasn’t thrilled about it but finally agreed for the good of humanity. However, what she didn’t know is that Thanatos had maintained his virginity for thousands of years, thinking it was his agimortus, a vessel which if breached would cause his Seal to break. There was a natural attraction between the two, but when the seduction actually occurred things went sideways. Both of them were tricked into drinking wine laced with an aphrodisiac, which placed them in a haze of lust. Regan also lost control of her powers, which she accidentally used to pin Thanatos in an unbreakable hold during sex, resulting in a rape-like scenario. She did, however, succeed in becoming pregnant, and this story picks up eight months later, when the baby’s birth is nearly imminent. Because of what had occurred between Thanatos and Regan in the previous book, I wasn’t sure if I would like their story, but I’m happy to say that I ended up loving it.Like his siblings, Thanatos was raised as a human, and it wasn’t until adulthood that he became aware of his curse, which as Death, means that he’s drawn to sites of death and destruction. He has also dealt death to many, both human and demon, throughout his five thousand years of life. In fact, the things he’s done torment him so much that he regularly visits a demon tattoo artist who draws these emotional scenes on his skin, muting the memories and relieving him of some of the guilt. As I mentioned, until the previous book, he was still a virgin. When Regan came to his keep under false pretenses, he was very attracted to her and they messed around a bit, but he had no intention of sleeping with her until the aphrodisiac wine rendered him senseless. Needless to say, he was not OK with how things went down, and feeling betrayed, he’s been angry with Regan ever since. However, Ares and Limos have kept him paralyzed with hellhound venom for the past eight months, so he wasn’t able to do anything about it. When he finally gets free of the paralytic agent, Thanatos immediately goes searching for Regan and is shocked to find her pregnant with his child. The one thing he’s wanted all his life but never thought he could have is a family to call his own, and now that’s very much within reach if he can only convince Regan to keep the baby. In the previous book, Than was pretty intensely alpha, and while he still is, he does tone it down some in this book. Despite being the Horseman know as Death, he has a surprisingly gentle side and a capability for forgiveness that made me really fall for him. He wants nothing more than to protect and care for Regan and their child and will do whatever it takes to keep them safe and a part of his life.Regan is a human, but because her father was possessed by a demon when he impregnated her mother, she bears some supernatural powers. Children of such unions are generally looked down on and often killed, but Regan is a survivor. Shortly after her birth, her mother went on a suicide mission, so Regan spent her childhood being shuffled around to a series of foster homes with Aegis Guardians. But her powers often seemed to frighten them. Then finally as an adult, she became a Guardian herself. Much like Thanatos, all she’s ever wanted is a family and she believes she found that in the Aegis. However, given her background, she doesn’t think she’d make good mother material. Then everything changed when the Aegis sent her on the messed up mission to seduce Thanatos into getting her pregnant. I have to admit that I was not happy with her after that and wasn’t sure if I’d even like her as the heroine, but I came to understand that she didn’t intend for things to go the way they did. She turns out to be extremely apologetic and willing to do almost anything to earn Than’s forgiveness. Not to mention, she’s pretty traumatized by the whole thing, too, and is even reluctant to make love to Than when they finally reach that point in their relationship. Regan had also been a pretty intense alpha female in the previous book, but just like Than, she tones it down here. Pregnancy seems to have softened her, and even though she’s still uncertain about motherhood and adamant about giving the baby to Kynan and Gem to raise for his own safety, she does come around. By the end, I felt that she had more than proven her love for Than and her worthiness to be with him.As part of a long-running series, Lethal Rider has supporting characters aplenty, many of whom either headlined previous books or will get their own books later in the series. Eidolon (Pleasure Unbound) and Shade (Desire Unchained) offer medical assistance to Regan, as does Con (Sin Undone) in one scene, while his mate Sin shows up at the end. Vladlena (Vampire Fight Club) is there for the birth as well, while her mate Nate also appears at the end. Wraith (Passion Unleashed) helps out when Thanatos and Regan go searching for artifacts, and his mate Serena shows up in one scene, too. Lore and Idess (Ecstasy Unveiled) come into play in ways that would give away spoilers if I say anymore about them. Of course, Thanatos’s siblings, Ares (Eternal Rider) and Limos (Immortal Rider), along with their mates, Cara and Arik, provide support for Thanatos and Regan and help in the fight against their brother, Reseph aka Pestilence, who has completely overrun the Earth with his evil and must be stopped. However, he is redeemed to become the hero of the next book, Rogue Rider. After the spectacular redemption story in this book, I look forward to reading his book and seeing if Larissa Ione can make me fall for someone who spread so much chaos and misery. Kynan and Decker end up being the only Aegis friends Regan has left. Reaver and Harvester (Reaver) play fairly meaty roles in this book and Harvester’s surprising secret identity is revealed. Again I look forward to another hopefully great redemption story for Harvester, who drew a few sympathy points from me in a couple of scenes. We finally learn whether Azagoth (Azagoth) is indeed the father of the Horsemen. And rounding out the cast, we have Hades (Hades) who oversees the arrival of a particular character to the Underworld.Overall, Lethal Rider was a very impressive story that I thoroughly enjoyed. Ms. Ione possesses masterful plotting skills that never failed to keep me on the edge of my seat with all the action sequences, as well as all the twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. But at the same time, she doesn’t skimp on the romantic and steamy scenes to set the emotional tone and make a connection between her characters and the reader. The characterizations were top-notch as well, leaving me totally relating to both Thanatos and Regan in spite of my doubts when starting the book. After seeing how expertly she was able to redeem Regan and the entire situation that led to her pregnancy, I don’t think I’ll doubt her authorial abilities again unless given a reason to somewhere down the line, but I don’t expect that to happen. I also really enjoyed the running theme of betrayal and how she adroitly wove it throughout the narrative. I ended up completely loving this story and wouldn’t have changed a thing about it. It’s left me very eager to continue the series soon.

[pnrlist · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This series is shaping up pretty well. I enjoyed this one, looking forward to Reseph's book, and really looking forward to Reaver's! (3.5 stars)

[lauren2013_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lethal Rider
4.5 Stars

Best in the series so far as the Demonic Apocalypse plot reaches a climax and the romance finally lives up to its potential.

Fast paced and action packed from the outset, Lethal Rider begins exactly where Immortal Rider left off with Thanatos bent on revenge and Regan guilt ridden but determined to protect herself and her child. Thankfully, their love-hate relationship is relatively angst free as they slowly come to forgive, trust and love one another.

The politics and machinations of the Underworld and its denizens continue although this installment is not as violent or gruesome as the last, and Ione illustrates once again that morality is never black and white and so-called good people can commit heinous atrocities supposedly in the name of doing what is right.

The only weak point involves the inclusion of the Daywalkers vs. Nightwalkers subplot, which is insufficiently developed and contributes little to the story or Thanatos's characterization.

Finally, there are interesting developments in the Pestilence/Reseph storyline and some intriguing hints at things to come with Reaver and Harvester. Looking forward to what Ione has up her sleeve for the next installments.

[msralways · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely loved the whole thing! By far my favorite of the series so far and I have a feeling that Reseph's book is going to keep blowing my mind.
I really admire Ione's ability to create such a rich and diverse world and still deliver one book more amazing than the last.
We get to know how Thanatos' story is going to start while still reading Immortal Rider, fact that gave the characters the chance to really develop some more in Lethal Rider. Than and Regan had some incredible things to work out in their relationship, which created some amazingly emotion filled scenes between the two of them and some of the other characters. I fell in love with them both, but the great thing about this book was that you don't exactly know how things are going to end until he very last couple of chapters. Incredible!

[aoibhealfae · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lethal Rider is the continuation of the Lord of Deliverance series from which one the Horseman of Apocalypse – Reseph’s seal was broken (or killed) and he became Pestilence and started the clockwork of apocalypse. Three of the Horseman – his brothers and sister- tried to find ways to stop him but after countless attempts, they had no choice but to find some ways to eliminate him before the entire population obliterate by incoming demonic forces. Two of the horseman, Ares (War) and Limos (Famine) survived the attempts to broke their seal while Thanatos (Death), based on a prophecy, assumed his virginity was his seal and for thousand of years he became a celibate to prevent himself from becoming Death. But of course, one Aegis agent (kinda slayer society) managed to get both of them drunk and under influenced and she actually take his virginity which pissed him off mightily since he thought his seal was broken (that he nearly killed the island’s population in a sonic wave blast) and so his siblings paralysed him by demonhound’s venom so that he won’t go kill anyone again.

For 8 months he spent watching Jersey Shore and telemarketing until he could escape.

At the start of this book, Regan was heavily pregnant with Than’s child and began having nightmares about her dying and him covered in blood next to her. Suddenly, she was attacked by a vampire and Than (newly prison break) came and saved her. Realizing he’s the father of her child, Regan had a bit misgivings about letting him protect her and her child (who they now realize was Than’s apocalypse seal) especially with his caveman ways and short fuse to damned destruction (well, he is Death, duh).

Initially I had troubled with Than’s tendencies to overreact (boy, for an old old old guy, he did have them by buckloads) and the storyline kinda go to the same ways as cheap romance novels that was my guilty pleasure after depressing novels. Well, its the whole “fall in love after being pregnant and insecure tortured guy” thing. Frankly, for a story about impending apocalypse, the author doesn’t practice frugality in killing every several characters in every pages in spine breaking, blood gushing and multitude of beheading with dramatic arterial spattering.

Well, I had keen appreciation for paranormal horror stories so if you like a bit Dexter and the sexy part of True Blood, I’m sure that you will enjoy this book.

Since the previous book had build up to this one book, its best to say that I had faith that Larissa Ione won’t disappoint me in the next one. Well, you did get the whole idea that the world was already at the verge of collapse from all the destruction but to completely turn the antagonist in a way like it was mindblowing and very intriguing. I am so happy that the next book will be out at the end of the year so I will elaborate more about the series once I’ve reached the ending.

Final words, about the book, the cover is absolutely gorgeous. So is the next one too… *bite fingernails*

[mlsimmons-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love this series even more than the Demonica series and this is the best one yet. Can't wait for the next one.

[author_andrialarge · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So good! Love Thanatos!

[capnrandm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As the distasteful circumstances of their first disastrous coupling (a comedy of roofies, misinformation, and miscommunication) is safely in the past tense, we get to enjoy Thanatos and Regan cautiously dealing with their soon to be born child and fledgling connection. "Fragile" is a good word for both of these emotionally abused warriors, and the back an forth dance of low self esteem is my least favorite part of the book. Thanatos's inner monologue cracks me up, and his cave man ferocity for Regan and his child conjures up some of my favorite aspects of The Black Dagger Brotherhood.

All of Ione's books are frenetic with violence, politics, and passion. Though the themes driving Thanatos and Regan are fairly cliche (stuck together for the sake of the baby, etc.), this did not detract from my enjoyment of their story. I grew impatient with their low self esteem and continued ccle of misunderstanding, but Ione ironed that out quickly enough that I didn't lose interest. I have a spotting reading history with these books, which gave me enough background to enjoy the apocalypse raging around the love birds, but I think a completely new reader would be lost. Ione's books generate strong emotions, which helps differentiate the seriously-evil-cheer-when-they-die bad guys (like the racist Aegi) from the hidden-depths-maybe-retrievable bad guys (no spoilers here), or even the still-kill-a-lot-of-people-but-not-so-bad good guys (like Thanatos.)

[thehistorychic · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Read on March 10, 2013Read for Fun (Paperback)Overall Rating: 4.75Story Rating: 4.50Character Rating: 5.00I will be doing this in love letter form since I read Books 1 to 4 back to back “For the next eight and a half months, you're going to be mine. Every. Night.” ― Larissa Ione, Lethal Rider My Love Letter to Thanatos/Death and ReganDear Thanatos: You are my favorite horseman! Don't tell the others please as I really don't want their wrath to come down on me. You are so very alpha, so very stubborn, and so very awesome. Regan is a lucky gal to have you but I think you are pretty lucky to have her too. Your love story made me swoon!Dear Regan: You are a kick ass chick and will be a wonderful mothers. I loved that you were willing to make hard decisions, apologize when necessary, and hold your ground when it came down to it. The fact that you listened to your instincts and let love rule pretty much made me want to be your Best Friend.Dear Story: You were almost perfect. You gave me love, action, suspense, and made me cry. I wasn't aware of how invested I was in Than and Regan until the end when I was biting my nails. You fulfilled your duty of making me a happy reader.You also made me giggle... “So ask me again why I’ll win a battle of wills.” “Fine.” She jammed her feet under the covers. “Why?” “Because I’m immortal and you’re a mere human. I have an eternity to out-stubborn you.” ― Larissa Ione, Lethal Rider

[fishgirl182 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Larissa Ione is back with the third book in her Lords of Deliverance series. While I am a huge fan of Larissa’s, I didn’t love Immortal Rider, the previous book in the series. I had my doubts as to whether or not Lethal Rider would get it back on track for me and I am happy to say that it did not disappoint.Lethal Rider picks up about 8 months after the events of Immortal Rider. Than’s been kept in a state of mental consciousness but physical immobility by his siblings as they await the birth of his son (of which he has not knowledge of). Baby mama Regan is hiding out in Aegis headquarters, waiting to give birth, while trying to deal with her feelings of guilt over her “seduction” of Than and the resulting pregnancy. When Than breaks out and finds Regan, she has some heavy explaining to do. Pestilence is still doing his evil best to bring about the Apocalypse and the body count rises.The events of the last couple of books really come to a culmination in Lethal Rider. Pestilence, nice guy turned douchebag extraordinaire, soars to new heights of dickdom in this one. It’s clear that Ione isn’t afraid of killing characters and I was surprised by how bloody this one was. There are appearances by the usual Demonica crew as well as Reaver and Harvester. I am not really sure what’s going on between those two but I hear a rumor that Reaver might be getting his own book and I hope it’s true. There is plenty of action to go with the romance in this book and, unlike Immortal Rider, the other plotlines in the book did not overwhelm the romance and I felt like there was a good balance between the two.Speaking of romance, I loved Regan and Thanatos together! I wasn’t sure how Ione was going to make the relationship work given how things ended in the last book. But she tackles it head on, showing us the guilt that Regan feels about happened and her struggle to come to terms with it. I really felt that she explained and handled it in a way that, while not necessarily making it right, does make it more understandable and makes me believe that Than and Regan could move past this bad beginning into a new future together. Than just might be my favorite Horseman. Yes, he’s capable of mass destruction but he is kind and protective and extremely loyal. Believing all his life that having sex will break his seal, he’s never been able to have a real relationship and has been pretty isolated except for his family. When Regan comes into his life, he has a chance for a family he’s always wanted and he’s not letting Regan and his son go. His bouts of rage were tempered with really tender moments and I just wanted to give him a big hug. I ended up liking Regan a lot more than I thought I was going to. After Immortal Rider she wasn’t my favorite person. But she shows a lot of remorse for what she did to Than and she won me over. She’s tough as nails and pretty badass for someone who is almost nine months pregnant. She and Than have crazy chemistry and the sex is super hot! I never thought I would say that about pregnancy sex but Larissa Ione can make almost anything sexy. Yay for Lethal Rider! This is definitely my favorite book of the series so far. Lots of action, demon bad guys, demon good guys, crazy angels, and super sexy times. Well paced and easy to follow, the storyline nicely wrapped up a lot of loose ends while setting up Reseph’s story. And I have no idea what’s going to happen in Reseph’s book. All I know is that I want to read it NOW. Fans of this series will not be disappointed. If you haven’t read this series yet, what are you waiting for? Get on it!*I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

[deserie4comfort · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

ABOUT THE BOOK: Thanatos, the most deadly Horseman of the Apocalypse, has endured thousands of years of celibacy to prevent the end of days. But just one night with the wickedly sexy Aegis Guardian, ReganCooper, shatters centuries of resolve. Yet their passion comes with a price. And Thanatos must face a truth more terrifying than an apocalypse-he's about to become a father.Demon-slayer Regan Cooper never imagined herself the maternal type, but with the fate of the world hanging in the balance she had no choice but to seduce Thanatos and bear his child. Now, as the final battle draws closer and his rage at being betrayed is overshadowed by an undeniable passion for the mother of his child, Thanatos has a life-shattering realization: To save the world, he must sacrifice the only thing he's ever wanted- a family.REVIEW: Oh…my…GOD. It was so worth the wait. What a fantastic read. Ms. Ione pulls you into her world and wraps you into her cocoon, bringing suspense, action, and a lustful read right to your fingertips. Literally. This book was truly a humorous read and at times, had me laughing out loud. There were also times that I was arguing (outloud!) with different things going on. I won’t give any spoilers to it, in order to protect those that want to read it – and you totally should! Thanatos was such a swoon-worthy male in this piece and I have to say he had captured my heart from the very first moment Ms. Ione introduced him. This piece just solidified that adoration. Regan is the perfect fit for him, once again proving that Ms. Ione surely knows her characters. It was a fast read even though it was some 300 and something pages long. I just couldn’t put it down. The except for Rogue Rider at the end also made the entire read that much better. If you haven’t picked up the book I would run, not walk, to the nearest store and do so NOW!Five out of five stars for a fabulous adventure.