Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Facing Fire - HelenKay Dimon (Avon - Oct 2015)

Series: Bad Boys Undercover (Book 3)

When his uncle is brutally murdered, Josiah King knows that business just got personal. His uncle's ties to the Alliance can mean only one thing: Josiah and his black ops team are targets, along with everyone they love. Primed for vengeance, Josiah is determined to unravel the plot--until long-legged redhead Sutton Dahl becomes a dangerous distraction.

Sutton is very good at uncovering other people's secrets -- and protecting her own. When Josiah bursts into her life she's torn between pushing him away and asking for his help. Mysterious, strong, and much too sexy, he's a puzzle she longs to solve, and a temptation she can't ignore.

Thrown together in the face of Alliance's most lethal threat, Josiah and Sutton become unlikely partners, fighting for their lives even as the attraction between them flares into real passion. Torn between his team and the woman who means everything to him, Josiah will risk it all to save Sutton, even if that decision is his last.

Good book that had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. Josiah is the leader of Alliance's Delta team. The team has been working to track down their nemesis, Benton, the one who got away at the end of Falling Hard. It hasn't been easy, as the man always seems to be one step ahead of them. The search became personal for Josiah when Benton brutally murdered Josiah's uncle. This was Benton's opening shot in his war of revenge against Alliance. 

Sutton is a PI who has spent the last several years on a quest to find the man she holds responsible for her mother's death. Her search has brought her to Paris and the office next door to the man now calling himself Bane. A covert trip into Bane's office revealed a puzzling file of names, photos, and code of some kind. After barely making it out of his office undetected, Sutton went to work investigating the list of names, trying to find their connection to Bane.

The action ramped up when Sutton's investigation came to the attention of the folks at Alliance - because it was their names she was searching. Josiah and Mike went to Paris to discover what Sutton knows. I loved the confrontation between Sutton and Josiah. He is adamantly convinced that she is working with Benton, as he and Mike kidnap her to find out what she knows. Sutton does not give in easily, even when they are attacked and she has to depend on Josiah and Mike to keep her safe.

The development of the relationship between Josiah and Sutton is fast and intense. Josiah is quite a jerk at the beginning with his threats and refusal to believe in her innocence. Sutton doesn't exactly make things easy either, by keeping much of what she knows to herself. It was pretty obvious that part of Josiah's extreme attitude toward Sutton is because he is fighting his attraction to her. Sutton is more accepting of the attraction and has no trouble calling Josiah out on his attitude. I loved watching the push and pull between them as the attraction deepened to something more. I really like the way that  Sutton understood Josiah and sees past his walls to the man inside. Some of the scenes between them are heart-wrenching as Josiah deals with the things that happen. I ached for both of them as Josiah pushed her away because of his feelings of being broken. I loved the conversation with Mike that helped open Josiah's eyes. His big moment at the end was pretty great, especially when he let his vulnerability show.

The suspense of the story was great. The horror of the murder of Josiah's uncle and the subsequent threats made by Benton showed just how evil the man is. The additional information that Sutton provided gave the Alliance team the boost that they needed to get closer. With some of the story told from Benton's POV, we also get to see his actions and reactions. The intensity increased with each attack, as the team faced seemingly impossible, and sometimes heartbreaking choices. The final confrontation had me on the edge of my seat as I wondered if Benton would slither away again.

I loved the various team members. It was immensely satisfying to have two such strong women on the team. Tasha and Ellery were awesome in what they could do and the respect that the others had for them. I also enjoyed how Benton underestimated them and Sutton.  Harlan was the one, among the men, who seemed to be the voice of reason. He was just as intense as the others, but he also had a way of cutting through the emotion and bringing them back to the reality of what had to be done. Mike was my favorite. I loved the close friendship he had with Josiah. He had a terrific way of cutting through Josiah's angst so that he could see the whole picture. Mike was also the center of some other drama that was completely unexpected.


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