Blurb: After a tragic shooting left him wounded and in disgrace, all that remained of former deputy sheriff Jude Anderson’s life was a shattered femur, the standard disability package, and a host of issues. Jude seeks sanctuary in a remote upstate cabin and tries to get his life back on track.
Life has other plans when Jude finds a dead man draped across his front doorstep. The victim is the first hookup Jude’s had in, well, ever. Once Jude processes that shock he gets another when he learns that the homicide detective sent to investigate the murder is Rowan Muir, Jude’s ex. Their split was ugly, and Rowan isn’t the forgiving type.
Now Jude is drawn back into a world he left behind: murder investigations and fighting the undeniable attraction he has for Rowan. Rowan is still holding onto a substantial grudge. But both men need to figure out how to cope with being thrown together again, because it’s becoming increasingly clear that Jude is being targeted by a murderer – one who may have come from Jude’s past for revenge.
What I loved most about this story is the great chemistry between Rowan and Jude. For some reason, they reminded me of the duo from Josh Lanyon’s Holmes & Moriarity series. I also loved the unpredictability of the first half of the book especially when the author tried to pin the case against several suspects – I thought that was really good. Halfway though, I was easily clued in on whom the culprit is in the case. When I read that part, I thought that was a total giveaway. Won’t spoil it for you but it was really very easy to guess. The suspect’s motives though were a bit surprising if I may just say.
Pacing is always an important part of storytelling. It’s almost always dependant on the mood of the story. In this case, I find it a too fast for the mood. Although some may disagree, I thought the “way too quick” pacing led the story development to suffer a bit. This could be a good thing though for the series as it opens a lot of doors for improvements and unpredictable plot points for future books.
With all these, I’d say that it was pretty solid overall. I’d definitely wait for the second book to come out.
Published March 27th 2015 by Lissa Ford Books
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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