Two Guns

Run Rabbit Run #2

by Jette Harris

FBI agent Richard Steyer is at his retirement banquet when he hears the news: Four high school seniors have been kidnapped from an affluent suburb in Atlanta. Two male, two female, with a taunting call to 9-1-1.

Steyer recognizes the MO as his one unsolved case: a serial killer known as The Phoenix.

Steyer, his partner Remington, and local law enforcement have one month to find the Phoenix, or the killer will disappear for the third time, leaving four more bodies behind.

But when Steyer arrives in Atlanta, the Phoenix expands his sadistic game to him, his team, and the victims’ families.

If Steyer doesn’t find the killer soon, the death toll could be much, much higher.

A crime thriller as relentless as Karin Slaughter’s Triptych, featuring a show-stealing antagonist as memorable as Hannibal Lecter.

Genres: M M Romance

Kindle Edition

Published April 1, 2018

About the author

I was born and raised in the greater metro-Atlanta area, where I live with my husband, dog, and cat.

I graduated from Mercer University in Macon, GA (class of 2008) with a dual BA in English and German, as well as a certificate in secondary English/Language Arts.

After teaching middle and high school for three years, I ran away screaming.

I now write character-driven, multi-genre novels (and work a dayjob). My specialty is thrillers, but I also write romance under the name Anna Lilian Wade.

My primary goal is to make your heart beat faster.

Reviews

[Coco.V]

🎁 Books 1 & 2 in the Series are FREE on Amazon today (4/1/2020)! 🎁

[Escape Into Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have followed my reviews or blog, then you know my feelings about 2nd books in a series. Especially when the first book blew me away. I tend to get disappointed and let down by book 2’s. Lately, though, I have read a lot of 2nd books that were as good or better than the first book. Two Guns is such a book. It was as good as the first book.

What I liked, and enjoyed, is that I got to see the police and FBI investigation of the kids’ disappearance. The author didn’t draw out the connection to Phoenix. Instead, she had the FBI agents make the connection pretty early. It was the investigation and the frantic search for kids’ that drew me in and kept my attention. The author did a great job of showing how the local police hated working with the FBI (or Feds as they are called). She showed how emotionally invested that the agents get into their cases. Mainly Steyer. Steyer had a history with Phoenix going back to the first killings in Detroit. Remington also did and his was more emotionally charged (if that makes sense).

What I also liked about the book was that Avery was so complicated. From Colossus, I knew he was depraved and sadistic. While he still was, there was a new depth to him. He loved, well loved as much as a psychopath could. He also felt a sense of kinship with Agent Steyer and Agent Remington. What scared me was that he talked to Monica’s younger sister and brothers. That talk, along with the flashback to the Detroit killings, chilled me to the bone.

I was a little perturbed that no one seemed to know that Avery was masquerading as a cop until almost the end of the book. It made me scratch my head because they were on top of everything except that. I thought that Steyer and Remington would have been more aware of who was on the local force. Seeing that Phoenix has it out for Remington. Steyer is on his list too but he wants Remington in the worse way.

It took me a while to realize who Thatch was. A long while because I couldn’t imagine Thatch as that person. I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

The end of Two Guns was fantastic. While some storylines were answered, others were not. I still have questions that I hope are answered in book 3.

What I liked about Two Guns:

A) Fast moving storyline

B) Realistic look at police/FBI investigations

C) Avery

What I disliked about Two Guns:

A) Thatch. Not that I disliked him. I pitied him more than anything

B) Avery masquerading as a cop and no one knows

C) Avery’s interactions with Monica’s brothers and sister

I would give Two Guns a rating of Adult. There is explicit violence. There is explicit sex. There is language. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

There are trigger warnings. They are: rape, assault, kidnapping, and stalking. If you are triggered by any of these, I would suggest not read the book.

I would recommend Two Guns to family and friends. I would include a warning about the explicit sex and violence and the triggers. This is a book that I would reread.

I would like to thank Jette Harris for allowing me to read and review Two Guns.

All opinions stated in this review of Two Guns are mine.

**I received a free copy of this book and volunteered to review it**

[Jacob · Rating 2 out of 5]

A continuation of the series, but an entirely different in tone and structure make the book feel more like a standalone. It's a weird transition. Essentially retrofitting a investigative story onto the story of the first book. It works on some levels but as a whole, it doesn't excite or enthrall like you'd hope it would. There sure are a copious number of mean, violent, and sadistic scenes, so if that's your thing, this might be your book. Also might want to call out a trigger warning or two on this book though. Depictions of male on male sexual assault and brutal sexual violence should be noted. Just seems like whenever there's a scene of violence, someone's grabbin, cuttin, or pepper spraying someone's genitals.

SPOILER WARNING:

Also, there is one scene in particular that struck me as poorly thought out. A cop sees a dude walking buck-naked right in front of them. The cop gives chase on his own with Tazer drawn. Others, including a pair of fellow cops, watch him go. Then the cop forces the naked dude to give him oral sex and then let him do anal, before the naked dude manages to get loose from his handcuffs and kill the cop. But here's the thing: no one trails the cop that's running down a naked dude? Like the cops that were with him don't even try to look around the area where this odd thing is happening? The townsfolk aren't even curious? Doubtful. But things like these draw me out of the book.

END SPOILER

Other than scenes like that, the book is slow and time-hops all over the map to tell its story, where a more straightforward narrative would have worked just fine.

But if you like grisly and sadistic kill scenes, lots and lots of male on male sexual assault and genital mutilation, then go for it. Have a party. This one's probably right up your alley. But it wasn't for me.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this sequel to Colossus, the abduction of the four teenagers is seen from the point of view of the local police and the two FBI agents. Whilst, I certainly liked the first book I enjoyed this sequel even more. We see more of Phoenix's character and it is more complex than the mere monster we see in the first novel. I would have been happy to see Rhodes die at the end of the first novel, but by the end of the second I was beginning to wish his stint as serial killer was just a mistake and that we'd find out it was someone else.... of course that would be impossible given the events that had occurred throughout the first and second book!
Will be looking forward to the third book in this series.

[Gabriel Ricard · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exceptional follow-up to Book 1. Jette Harris expands on this compelling, deeply disconcerting literary universe, adding depth and fascinating insights into her characters, their pasts, and what their choices will mean for their increasingly chaotic futures. I loved this book from top to bottom. One of the best suspense/thriller/horror writers currently working today.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strange, twisty serial killer novel that's very gruesome and grim; a wandering plot that at times felt confusing and disjointed, though the characters are drawn vividly and richly. Though a few gay characters exist, including the most senior FBI Agent, the plot is almost entirely focused on tracking the elusvie serial killer.

[kerri burk · Rating 5 out of 5]

could stop always happy there was another book to come!!!

love her and her books!! never want each book to end! so very happy it's a series!!! Will definitely read more of by this author!

[Stacy Koster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Read!

Two Guns is a good suspenseful read. It follows along with Colossus, the first book in the series. I enjoyed the characters, and was unable to put the book down.