In The Black Widow Connection by T.K. Rising, Tracy Kirin is a 73-year-old woman dying from congestive heart failure in 2035, who silently declares her wish to hunt and kill the demon that tormented her life. Subsequently, we follow her story from her younger years. The story starts with the telling of the ugly slice of life in the Kirin family. Her violently abusive and alcoholic father is the bane of the family. As the plot progresses, there is some hint about Tracy’s tormentor along the way. Reaching adulthood, she, her siblings, and her mother left the house from hell－a much needed, long overdue liberation.

Stress comes from work, financial matters, and short-lived relationships, but there are bizarre incidents where Tracy’s act of friendship gets unexpected results. Is Tracy’s life meant to be terrible from the start? No, because she knows her insidious tormentor is causing it. Even though the plot drags a little in some parts, the story concept and premise become clearer halfway through the story. It’s intriguing how the events in the protagonist’s life gradually lead to a different world in the second half of the book. Chapter 34, The Hunt, is the highlight for me in terms of Tracy’s early journey in the universe, an important phase in which readers will get to know the real identity of her tormentor and his grand plan for Earth. On the whole, The Black Widow Connection may not be for everyone, but it’s quite an imaginative read.

The Black Widow Connection by TK Rising is the first book in a series called Blue Star. It is an ambitious series and an interesting book. I am a reader. I read everything. So, I know my Bible and the Old Testament books that are the foundation of the Judeo-Christian belief system. I know the books that are considered canon and I know the books that are secret and even banned. I know the story of Atlantis, and I know about all the ancient alien theories that are based on unexplained things from around the globe. TK Rising has taken bits and pieces from all these religious texts, ancient astronaut theories, and weird phenomena, and combined these into an exciting, thought-provoking novel. It is a tremendous achievement and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series.

What I liked most about The Black Widow Connection was the plot. Combining all these different beliefs into a coherent story line is no mean achievement. TK Rising has done a great job. The plot is long and complex, but it is solid and tight. The setting moves all over the United States, the world, and beyond. But every location is described with precision and is beautiful. The characters are interesting. It was fascinating to watch Tracy evolve as she lived her miserable life. Some of the character names are intriguing: Godriel, Astoreth, Lilikee, Adam, Cain, Abel, Yeshua of Nazareth, Noah. These are names plucked directly from myth and legend. TK Rising re-imagines their stories and their relationships and the result is a great read.

The Black Widow Connection by T.K. Rising is a fascinating tale of an unusual woman, set in the future in 2035 when Tracy Kirin suffers heart failure and vows to go after the demon who has tormented her throughout her entire life, plunging her life into misery. She is seventy-three years old when she has heart failure. The reader follows a character who suffered a lot of abuse from both her parents. Her father, Patrick Kirin Sr., was an abusive alcoholic and her mother, Beth, an abused housewife. Her heart had already been broken by the fact that she needed protection from those who should have loved her. But then the story moves on, and she suffers heartaches, broken relationships, strange happenings, and apocalyptic dreams. But who is her real tormentor? Is it really a demon as she thinks or someone else, determined to transform her life into a living hell? It will be interesting for the reader to find out who it is and why.

T.K. Rising’s novel is the first book in the Blue Star series, a riveting story that is written in atmospheric, vividly descriptive, and insightful prose. It is intriguing to follow a character whose path seems to be haunted by a devious being. The plot has pleasant surprises and twists, the pacing is measured, well written for fans of emotionally rich narratives, and the characters are so real that readers will instantly identify with them. There is a pervading sense of mystery that creates the suspense, a mystery built around the identity of Tracy’s tormentor, and the author makes readers want to find out who it is. The Black Widow Connection is gripping and entertaining, written with interesting and convincing characters, and infused with a unique sense of realism.

The Black Widow Connection by TK Rising is the first installment of the Blue Star series, launching the author's sci-fi fantasy adventure from planet Earth. The book starts with an introduction to Tracy, a human woman whose story is told with the revelation of a devastatingly traumatic and abusive childhood. It continues through her teen and adult years, paving the way through a sequence of ordeals that virtually catapult her from one agony to the next, fully developing her into a protagonist that is easy to root for. We're then introduced to the genuine cause of Tracy's suffering as she begins the intergalactic mission of vengeance, hunting through the universe in the cosmic afterlife.

TK Rising has written an intelligent piece of science fiction that often gears more toward the beauty and skill of literary fiction than the laser-fueled “pew-pew-pew, blast, blast” of the former genre. The writing is fluid and the emotion that pours through the pages is as gripping as it is horrifying. Rising's fresh twist comes in the form of revelation, first in Tracy's understanding of the universal truth of her life and existence, and then in her desire to redress the wrongs done to her at all cost. The Black Widow Connection is a book that will transcend genres and, as a lover of women's fiction, I found Tracy's growth to be profound. Ultimately though, this is a science fiction novel, and the second half of the novel doesn't disappoint, as Rising pulls out all the stops, making this a series that I can see having a wonderfully vast audience.

Tracy had been tempered by her parents' hatred and abuse. Verbally, physically, and mentally tortured as she grew up, such things left scars that knitted together gaping wounds with boiling hatred and anger, and such emotions could act as a lure, tempting things to her that fed on such delicious offerings. Her life seemed destined to be touched by woe; any relationships she had failed, and the only common factor she could see was herself. Those she learned to trust ultimately turned against her, condemning her to a life of solitude, drugs, and booze. She felt no better than her father, yet vowed she would not become like him. When something dark has touched someone's life, it never forgets them. Even if they could temporarily push it from their thoughts, it remains there, twisting their life. Tracy swore vengeance against it, and such a powerful emotion can spark a greater mission, and a greater state of being. Tracy is about to discover the true extent of what can be accomplished if she sets her mind to something.

The Black Widow Connection is book one in TK Rising's Blue Star series and follows Tracy's life, its dark paths as she moves from place to place with disappointment, heartache, and depression ever building as her life is twisted to outcomes she could not imagine. The book hits it full pace about halfway through, which is where I feel the plot starts to come alive. We understand the difficulties Tracy has faced, all of which have in some way tempered her into what she must do, and who she must become, and now we witness her transcendence. I enjoyed the injection of science and philosophy, and the alteration in Tracy's state of mind and mission. What was a tale of her life becomes a journey into the realms of science fiction, with great ideas and imagination injected from prisons of bees to alternative planets, genetic experiments, global threat, and transcendence.

The Black Widow Connection is a work of fantasy and science fiction aimed at young adult readers, penned by author TK Rising. In the first book in the Blue Star series, we are introduced to our heroine Tracy Kirin as she faces some strange, dark times, peculiar visions and a dark force from far away that seems to want her dead. At first we experience Tracy’s life on Earth, highly unpleasant due to an abusive dark childhood, and then we continue throughout her teenage and adult years as the source of all that darkness comes to the fore. When aliens and the apocalypse come straight from her dreams into reality, Tracy knows she’s the one they’re after.

There are plenty of parallels to draw between the two story lines which author TK Rising has created: the personal journey of Tracy and her emotional imbalances, alongside the dangerous threat of the creature with a grudge who wants to end her life. The beauty lies in the combination of both tales, as Tracy’s sense of who she is crystallizes via the trials that the main science fiction plot puts her through, culminating in a new and improved version of herself as the plot progresses. Though this is the first in the series, already a lot of development has happened, setting us up with a heroine that we know inside out and are willing to follow to Hell and back in future adventures. Overall, I think The Black Widow Connection is a superb start to a powerful series.

In The Black Widow Connection, the opening entry in the Blue Star series by TK Rising, I found a literary voice that kept me engrossed for hours, characters that made me dream of places I will never go, and who remind me of the dreams I have had. In this riveting novel, readers encounter an unusually intriguing protagonist, Tracy Kirin, a young girl plagued with strange visions of the end times. These visions leave her scared and she also has a lot of unusual events to deal with. Little does she know that her fate is linked to that of an ancient alien who wants nothing more than to see her dead. Is there anything that can make him forget the old grudge? There is much more to the story than Tracy can imagine and the adventure will become something far more than her dreams have shown her.

TK Rising grips the reader’s attention and gives them not a moment’s respite. From the very opening of the narrative, the reader is already gripped by the prose. The drama starts from the very first page and there are insights into characters that would make anyone want to know them better. The protagonist is introduced from the beginning and she isn’t an ordinary young girl. While the drama unfolds, the author enriches the narrative with a unique and strong use of humor, and this is evident in the beautiful and natural-sounding dialogues as well as how the characters are described. The Black Widow Connection melds the past and the future in a tale that makes readers feel as though they were having a very long and enjoyable dream. I savored every page of this narrative and the author’s economy of word and the ability to put life into the characters make it a must-read.

Two lucid stories, interwoven both within the story and with human history. The first-hand narrative style is simple, direct, and unadorned; there is a stark contrast between it and the more descriptive second plot line, which describes an alternative plane of existence. An excellent first book which rises from into hope.

A very realistic and complex story combined with an interesting alternative genetic solution to space travel. The story is entwined with human history in a very interesting way, and provides answers to the ancient alien questions. An excellent and very imaginative story.