I discovered this series through Ledwidge’s work on the 11 books he wrote for the Michael Bennett series. This series is an action-packed, fast-paced crime thriller that usually has me on the edge of my seat and often staying up way past my bedtime on a work night, chanting “just one more chapter”, kind of like his Michael Bennett books. Mike Gannon, former Navy SEAL and NYPD cop, is once again (this has been going on for the entire series) just trying to enjoy his retirement when trouble finds him and chaos and mayhem always ensues.
The book summary for this installment just basically lays out the start of the story. The old girlfriend, Colleen, actually turns out to be a teenage crush and unrequited love of Mike’s because back then Collen was “way out of his league”. So, of course, he accepts a dinner invitation from her after running into her in a remote CT town where he is on a fishing holiday. Colleen is in town investigating a murder of a female student, Olivia, from the local and prestigious college. Shortly thereafter, the wife, Jodi, of the college president, Martin Cushing, blows the whistle (she has a video) on her husband and his friend, Frank Stone, a gazillionaire Wall St bigwig thug, being involved in Olivia’s death.
Most of the story flips back and forth between Mike and Shaw, who is Frank Stone’s personal hitman; there are a few chapters from Cushing. Early in the story, Mike, Colleen and Jodi are holed up in a local restaurant, The Forge, along with a ragtag band of customers, a waitress and the restaurant owner, who all realize that they have to work together in order to survive the night.
Most of the story revolves around Mike and the rest of the gang not getting killed and/or captured by Shaw and the rest of the Cushing’s/Stone’s henchmen and lackeys, that is comprised of the local corrupt police department and the college security team. Unfortunately, the bad guys had no idea who they were dealing with when they decided to go up against Mike. Mike may be retired, but he’s most certainly not your typical retiree and proves that underestimating him is at your own risk. LOVED THE ENDING!!! Way to go Mike!!! Mike is a badass!!!
This was another one of Ledwidge’s action-packed, fast-paced stories, which are my fave kind of stories. The character development for Mike is already pretty well done, however, the character development for some of the MC’s was a little thin. The storyline was interesting and kept me engrossed to the end. I do want to mention one thing that I see so much more from male crime thriller authors than female crime thriller authors and that is an obsession with the brand name of guns, ammo, cars, boats, etc. I’m thinking it’s got to be just a guy thing that a lot of male fans/readers enjoy reading. I find is boring and unnecessary. Anyway, other than that, the writing was a perfect example of what Ledwidge does best. I’m looking at an overall rating of 4.3 that I will be rounding down to a 4star rating. I want to thank NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
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