Deadly Lies
In this third book in the series about the entirely fictional FBI’s Serial Services Division (they track and catch serial criminals), the literally tortured heroine is Samantha Kennedy. Sam was tortured by a cretinous killer in the first book, Deadly Fear, and was last seen in the second book, Deadly Heat, having panic attacks. As this book begins, Sam is determined to get her mojo back professionally and personally.
She attempts to do the latter by picking up ultramasculine Max Ridgeway at a bar for a night of no strings sizzling sex. Sam isn’t, in general, promiscuous — Max is only her third lover — but, in an effort to escape her demons she goes looking for a wild one-night stand. She picks “the strongest man in the place” and goes home with him. Somewhat miraculously, Max makes her come within two minutes. Nonetheless, she slips out of his bed, planning never to rendezvous with him again. Two weeks later, though, after seeing a brutal crime scene involving a young man carved to bits, she seeks Max out, looking to lose herself again in his arms. (This time, Max is so great a lover; he makes her come – look, Ma, just my hand!- at a party in less than two minutes.) Later that night, after they have sex, Sam is again walking out on Max when his phone rings. It’s the same baddie who sliced up Sam’s earlier vic. The nasty piece of work now has Max’s younger step-brother Quinlan. Max and his wildly wealthy step-father need to come up with the big bucks in a hurry or, threatens our knife-happy villain, Quinlan will be slashed and trashed too.
Sam and the SSD team are, against Max’s will, immediately involved in trying to rescue Quinlan and catch the carving killer. (Max is against their taking part because the kidnapper said any police involvement would mean death for Quinlan. Plus, Sam didn’t tell him she was FBI in the beginning of their relationship and now he doesn’t trust her.) Several of the characters from the first two books show up and it’s nice to see them — especially the now quite happy Luke and Monica. (I liked their love story which was told in Deadly Fear.)
I wanted to like Sam’s and Max’s story, but I didn’t. I enjoyed the first two books in the series and hoped that this one would offer the same combination of good suspense and a hot love story. Instead, the suspense plot is replete with obvious red herrings and too many coincidences. The identity of the killer isn’t a big shock and the motivation behind the murders is unconvincing. The love story between Sam and Max, while blazing, doesn’t have any substance. Ms. Eden never shows why Max is so drawn to Sam — she just writes over and over that he’s addicted to her. Sam, a character I have a great deal of sympathy for — what she went through in Deadly Fear is truly awful — never becomes an authentic woman in this book. Her thoughts and actions are contradictory and occasionally unbelievable. She and Max are steamy hot in bed together — she’s an orgasm machine every time he touches her — but aren’t more than sexual partners even when they’re out of the sack. They have sex when they don’t trust each other and when they do and there isn’t much difference between the two types of encounters. I fancy a little more romance in my romantic suspense — I like seeing why two people want to be together in and out of the bedroom.
If you’re looking for a book with gore, hot sex, clues that don’t necessarily go anywhere, and not much substance, read Deadly Lies. If you’re looking for a romantic suspense novel with a good love story, lots of hot sex, and a plot that ties together nicely, read either of the first two books in the series and skip this one.
Oh, and just a word of advice to all you wannabe romantic suspense writers out there. When your serial killer uses a knife to torture and dispatch his/her victims, avoid the phrase “her breasts stabbed against his chest” in your sex scenes. Certainly, don’t use it more than once. It’s jarring and rather repulsive to envision.