Ms Feehan has long ago proved herself a master of romance and paranormal to me, but I think I need to add suspense to the list. Lethal Game, definitely, has an edge of your seat energy woven through it. There’s a sense of 'waiting for the other shoe to drop' even as you’re immersed in fun witty banter and the building of trust and love between the main characters. A brilliant building of discovery and surprises beyond the obvious. This story grabs your heart in chapter one and has you engaged in Malichai’s future path through each page.
One of the brave members of GhostWalker Team 4 Pararescue, Malichai volunteered with his brothers to be enhanced genetically by Dr Whitney. He lives his life by the strength of character and generous heart he developed by choices he made on the streets of Chicago, long before he entered the GW program. They grew stronger as he bonded with his chosen family in the Bayou. Now he puts his life on the line to protect those on the front line, including innocents and victims. He puts other lives above his own and it’s a natural response in him. His one dream, which he feels is eluding him, is to find his partner, his angel. Until he is injured and goes to a B&B, chosen by a little girl, to recover. Here he meets Amaryllis. The one he’s been searching for. But why is she there and so many other questions come with finding her. And the nagging sense he gets that something isn’t right.
Amaryllis, one of Whitney’s Orphans, has been told she didn’t fit in with society, no one wanted her, she was a throw away. The the only way her life had meaning was through the horrid experiments meant to discover what could enhance the elite soldiers. Train to be an assassin to keep their secrets safe. She is intelligent and observant and had a strong survival instinct for herself and others. She escaped Whitney when she discovered the skills she'd developed took her off the assassin path and put onto the breeding, and worse, death path. She’d learned not to trust off the cuff but to observe and evaluate…so when the big tough looking man appeared, at the B&B she’d found refuge working in with the family who gave her a place peaks her interest, that’s just what she does.
I love the way Christine unfolds their relationship, true courtship and mystery solving. She shows, by example, with this couple and other occurrences, that pheromones and DNA pairing does not guarantee love. So much more is needed. They learn to trust and open up to each other. Love builds between them into a strong lasting bond. Its not just the spoken words, but the way they treat each other, people they know and don’t know. And how all those people treat them. There are truly some sweet, heart touching moments that have you sighing, how could you not love Malichai. Amaryllis comes to recognize Malichai as hers. She opens herself to a feeling of belonging and purpose, she never felt before, among the Team.
This is all woven through the warning bells going off in Malichai’s head and trying to figure out if they are for himself, those he loves, or something disastrous that could be threatening thousands. The Storyline slowly and beautifully unravels the dangers and concerns with the help of his team. Malichai, true to himself, acts to gather information and to protect even at great cost to himself. All culminates at the moment Malichai must not only face his greatest fear but charge right through it to save innocent lives. He’s all the stronger because he knows he has a partner in life no matter what, and family love and support, giving him determination that can make it through anything. He is truly one of Ms Feehan’s strongest characters and Amaryllis grows into the perfect match for him.
As usual, The Action and the romance are perfectly balanced for the story and seeds are planted for future books, even for the other Teams. And Whitney remains one of the most diabolical villains I’ve ever read!