After three novels, 999 pages, 328,601 words and countless setbacks, Russian expatriate Dr. Vladislav Volkov is still trying to save the world with his God-like scientific experiments. 

During WWII, Dr. Volkov developed an army of werevolks in an effort to defeat the Nazis. Later, during the swingin’ 60s, he tried to turn people into compliant sheep. And now, in the 80s, he’s back in the game with a dozen scrappy Sharkenstein hybrids. 

A quick comment about these Sharkenstein fellows: Each of them is burdened with a personality quirk that mirrors specific trends from 40 years ago. They represent a fever dream of 1980s pop culture fused with maritime apex predators. Among others, there’s an acid-wash jeans shark, a Karate Kid shark, a mall rat shark, an aerobics shark and one guy who’s simply known as Sharkamania. I’m surprised there isn’t a compact disc shark, a Swatch shark or a Cabbage Patch Kids shark.

Along with his fearsome shark enforcers, Dr. V has developed a nanite autophagic subversion technology system that manipulates the brain. This N.A.S.T.Y. pill is the ultimate cure for the disease of free will. “Control the mind, and you can control the world,” he says. “Where religion has failed repeatedly, science will prevail!”

This time, however, there’s a competing mad scientist working secretly in a subterranean laboratory in Sedona, Arizona. Not only does Elena McCone want to end all wars and strife, but she’s got an apocalyptic plan to bring new genesis to Earth. Inexplicably, she’s created hundreds of faceless mummy assassins to help her achieve her goal. 

Anybody who’s read the first two books in this series (Trapped! and Trapped! Again!) knows that author Richard D. Bailey is a funny guy. He consistently packs his manuscripts with witty wordplay, absurd James Bond-like gimmicks and bombastic monsters. 

Trapped! Finale! is funny as well, but this time the author takes a pause to give readers a somewhat serious plot twist. It all begins in Chapter Eight when Dr. McCone discovers a way to exploit quantum technology to mutate the human race and create a “second genesis.” Cryptically, she calls it Subject 51: Project Elena.

Angel Elena is a clone of Dr. McCone who has transcended the limitations of mere flesh. She is the triumphant conclusion of human evolutionary perfection. “I’m the harbinger of extinction,” she says in her novel-ending soliloquy. “The human experiment has run its catastrophic course—no more endless wars, overpopulation, environmental collapse or mass extinctions of innocent creatures.”

She continues her tirade with a seraphim-like flourish: “You had millennia to evolve beyond your primitive, destructive impulses, countless opportunities to choose wisdom over greed, yet instead, you’ve created weapons capable of sterilizing continents—weapons that can turn your beautiful planet into a dead husk. Extinction is not my judgment, but the logical conclusion of your choices.”

Always ready with a quippy retort, Dr. Volkov is unimpressed with Angel Elena’s incoherent jibber-jabber. “Stand down, child,” he says. “This is what happens when female angst is fueled by hormonal hysteria. You are living proof that God was just an amateur.”

[ Trapped! Finale! / By Richard D. Bailey / First Printing: October 2025 / ISBN: 9798268718119 ]