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Name of Book: The Tree of Life (Hammer Falls 3)
Series: Hammer Falls
Author: Tal Frost
Release date: 2023
Page Count:
Genre: Paranormal, romance (new adult), horror, adventure


Tal Frost’s brilliant manipulation of emotion in the fourth of his Hammer Falls books (number 3 because of the 2.5 novella, “Control�) proves their genius with words, and also possibly reveals a little streak of sadism.

It starts very dark, with Nate Crow alone in a dungeon cell at the Seminary, and then shifts to an almost-normal world back in Hammer, Falls, where Jin Harding and his two boyfriends, Sam Gillespie and Marshall Mason, are enjoying each other and their cozy group of friends. Admittedly, there is the minor fact of Marshall having bitten off one of Jin’s fingers in order to save his life from Jin’s lust-demon father, Ashmedai.

I said ALMOST normal.

Jin has to deal with his father now, and that clearly is going to get more complicated and ugly; but he also realizes that his power is not negligible, and that the ancient demon who spawned him cannot just snap his fingers and make him do what he wants. The important fact is that Jin feels loved, and while Nate’s silence is worrisome, his deep sense of belonging (a critical word) makes him feel like it might all work out…somehow.

Then Nate’s older brother Leo shows up, barely conscious and gibbering about hiding from the demonstalkers, and throws everything into turmoil. From this point on the story gets progressively darker, and Jin’s sense of well-being is eroded, until once again (arrgh!) he bottoms out with the feeling that his very presence has been nothing but a curse on everyone he loves in Hammer Falls. His father’s obvious manipulation, and the betrayal of people who used to be his friends, are all tied up with rumors of Nate’s death, leaving Jin lost and emotionally crushed.

It is hard to read this, and Frost’s gift with language does what they’ve done in all the previous books—keeps the reader on tenterhooks, pummeled by all the emotional upset that all these characters feel, individually and collectively.

Through it all, Frost’s characters shine. Without doubt I love Sam Gillespie most of all—goofy, smart, a mere mortal boy who knows a great deal and has boundless curiosity and humor. Marshall, the bad boy of the first book, is a golden boy, the former jock bully who has become Jin’s most devoted protector. We continue to learn about all three of these young men as the story pushes relentlessly forward.

Marshall and Sam and Jin are a hot threesome, and it’s not just the sex (which Frost manages very well), but the meaning of the sex that’s at the heart of the story. Jin is a lust demon’s child, and has his own power, but also his own needs. He and his boyfriends, reluctantly sanctioned by the absent Nate, keep his sense of belonging powered up, because it is that power that allows Jin to negotiate and understand what his infernal father is up to. If you keep in mind that these are all hormonal teenaged boys, the hyper-sexuality is no surprise; what is a surprise is the great emotional power their time together gives them. Given who Jin is, understanding the difference between lust and love is important. Indeed, it is other people’s misunderstanding of that critical difference that almost crushes Jin completely.

This book is, of course, the culmination of the Hammer Falls series, and there is lots of violence and fear and physical duress. It is an adventure story and a horror story all in one. It remains, however, always a love story. And the bombastic, surprising finale brings home that message with great power, visually and emotionally.

As we learn from Ashmedai himself, he is the current manifestation of something very ancient—the gods of antiquity. It is a provocative idea, and if you’ve ever studied Greek or Roman mythology, you know just how vain, selfish, and cruel those gods were. In Tal Frost’s hands, it all begins to make a sort of warped sense.
I can’t reveal any details, because the joy of reading a plot so well constructed is to watch each piece fall into place. Frost brings their epic series to a fitting end, complete with promises of more for those of us who might not quite want to let go.