Series: Shadow Force (Book 3)
With danger closing in, all they have is each other.
Haunted by a mission he barely survived, Delta Force
operative Mace Stevens still carries a soldier’s burden. Running a small bar in
upstate New York, he remains a stone cold warrior who guards dangerous secrets
and stays ready for anything. Anything except beautiful, vulnerable Paige
Grayson, who shows up at his door, demanding answers about her heroic
stepbrother’s death under his command.
Paige bears burdens, too. She’s plagued by demons
unleashed by an older brother who committed mass murder before her eyes. But
here in this snowy haven with Mace, she almost feels safe from the menacing
promises of her insane sibling. As a nurse whose hands can read the deepest
thoughts of anyone she touches, Paige knows Mace needs her as desperately as
she needs him. And when a faceless killer begins unleashing fresh terror, Mace
proves just how far he will go to save the woman who means everything to him.
Good book with some excellent suspense. This book starts a few months after Promises in the Dark. The Delta Force guys participated in a mission that went bad and are on temporary leave as they deal with what happened. The team was captured and tortured, and Gray was killed. Mace is staying at the bar he owns in upstate New York, along with Caleb who has lost his memory. They are taking things one day at a time while they wait for Caleb's memory to return, when Paige Grayson shows up.
Paige has had a rough life. She watched her older brother murder her friends right in front of her. She grew up to become an ER nurse and just had the husband of a patient try to kill her. The resulting media frenzy brought her past back to the present. She decides it's a good time to get away, and go ask Mace for some answers about her brother Gray's death.
Both Mace and Paige have secrets that haunt them. Mace feels guilty about not being able to save his friend or prevent the torture that caused Caleb's amnesia. He is determined to be there for Caleb as his memories return. Events from his childhood have also caused him to keep his feelings locked away. Paige is haunted by what her brother did and the feeling that she could have done something to stop him. She has a psychic ability that allows her to read someone's feelings when she touches them, and knew that her brother was up to something, but no one would believe her.
The relationship between Mace and Paige was an interesting one. They had met several years earlier when Mace was visiting with Gray. Paige had accidentally picked up a knife that belonged to him and got a sense of him that both scared and intrigued her. Mace was attracted to her even then, but as Gray's sister, the "bro-code" made her off limits. When she shows up at the bar, the heat between them is even stronger. But Mace is very wary of letting her get that close to him. I loved the slow build up of trust between them, as they are careful that Paige's hands do not touch him until they are both ready. I loved how that was shown when it happened and the effect it had on both of them.
The suspense of the story was excellent, as trouble followed Paige to Mace's. There are a couple of grisly murders, and Paige starts getting frightening messages from her imprisoned brother. The suspense builds as Paige and the guys try to figure out who is behind the murders and if they are connected to her brother. The final confrontation was intense with one character I expected and one who was a complete surprise to me. It definitely kept me glued to the book until I was all the way through.
The secondary story involving Caleb was very good. He had also been in the previous book, and seeing what he was going through in this one was heartbreaking. He had no memories of his past, just flashes of things that made him worry that while under the influence of the torture he had been the one to injure his friends. When his girlfriend from the previous book, Vivi, shows up he tries to keep her away because of it. I loved the way that she didn't give up on him, and showed him that she had confidence in his innocence. I loved seeing how their part in helping Paige also ended up helping him. We also get to see a little bit of the other members of the team, along with a lead in to the next book.
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