Temptation (Debt Collector 13)

Temptation by Susan Kaye Quinn

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I will recommend Temptation, Debt Collector episode 13, as a significant part of the entire season while giving 1.5 stars. One star being "I didn't like it". It didn't go that low, but it was barely OK. Two stars.

This would barely rate as a story, which is why zero or one star might serve. Stories have beginnings, middles, and ends. This was more like a transition sentence to the next paragraph. The 6 chapters that make up this episode did supply some plot moving information so while I felt little significant happened, it seemed to have a point.

Ms. Quinn may have called it Temptation for a couple things that take place. One being some kind of life energy seduction where Ishtar and Moloch keep pumping life energy into Wraith. It is written to make it appear as if this "life energy hit" was causing some extreme addictive euphoria. It appears to work. Then they pass Wraith off to Zachariel for the purpose of being sexually and emotionally seduced.

Zachariel announces this seduction is his "job". Then he doesn't try to do it. By not doing it he appears to accomplish the job, just the same. Yeah, you'll have to read it. It'll make sense.


After the seduction chapters we're off to "work"… which is either soul sucking or energy giving. Seth, who seems to hold the leashes, takes Zachariel and Wraith to a techno-sex-party that is… what is it? A concert? A form of pole dancing except the dancers are slashing which appears to be a synonym for computer hacking? Again, you should read it to get my meaning.

When this 60s acid trip hacking/slashing party ala concert-entertainment concludes, the "performers" get the pay out of life energy.

There's a proverbial "gun on the wall" hint, (that is an implication of future action in the story) when Zachariel asks Wraith to distract Seth. Since the scene only showed Zachariel asking Wraith to deceive Seth so Zachariel could do something mysterious, we won't see that proverbial "gun on the wall" and we won't until later in the season. Wraith does the distraction, and they manage not to get caught in the deception.

I don't recall the story mentioning what Wraith "wants". Some schools of thought about writing claim that "what the protagonist wants" IS the story. I believe that is one of the better schools of thought on writing, so telling what the protagonist wants outright instead of having the reader discover it over time and several clues might prove as a spoiler.

In this case, I am guessing what the protagonist wants is NOT such a spoiler. This "thing" Wraith wants only rarely has comes up. So far it only comes to our attention when Moloch seems to want something from Wraith, and she's uncooperative. He then dangles the "I can give you what you want" carrot to prod her to accomplish his insidious plans. The trouble with that is it doesn't help the reader suspend disbelief much because Wraith seems to want other things much more than the "this is what you really want" carrot.

What Wraith apparently wants is her dad. More clearly, how he mysteriously died or who is responsible, which Moloch apparently knows and has convinced Wraith he can provide that information. It appears to motivate her but I never had the impression it should.

Yes, Wraith's father's death is significant in the story, but to this point it hasn't impressed me to be what motivates Alexandra Morgan "Wraith" Sterling.

What is obvious by the end of this episode is Moloch wants Wraith more for her power as Alexandra Morgan Sterling, the rich and power heir to Sterling Cybernetics’ and advocate against debt collecting as the daughter of the founder of the "Lifetime organization" that lobbies against debt collecting… than as "Wraith" the soul sucking unregistered "secret" debt collector.

I doubt you could skip this episode without finishing the season confused, so do read it.

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