Gypsy boy Freedom Smith is built for fighting, courtesy of a family legacy stretching back to his ancestor, legendary bare-knuckle champion, Hercules Smith. Unfortunately, his talents have brought him all sorts of unwanted attention, which is how he ends up recruited by a shadowy organization known as Phoenix to infiltrate an illegal underground fighting group called the Bear Pit. There, he has to struggle against his darker impulses, fight to stay alive, and get to the heart of a centuries-old evil that’s somehow intertwined with his family history. Mind control, genetic manipulation, weird technology, free running, and hyperkinetic fight scenes all combine into something new and intriguingly different in this exciting offering, the first in a new series. I was instantly hooked, and am looking forward to the future adventures of Freedom Smith.