Book Reviews

Book Blurb

A charming, confident FBI analyst gets more than the fling he bargained for when his lover lands smack in the middle of his investigation.

 

Gabe Lopez travels to Everness, Texas, to investigate and profile a dangerous group of white supremacists living on the outskirts of the small town.  As far as he’s concerned, the assignment can’t end soon enough. When he stops to help Matt York with a flat tire, he anticipates a sexy distraction—nothing more. But Matt has a knack for getting himself into trouble, and soon Gabe is torn between protecting Matt and doing his job.

 

Matt left a successful life and business back in San Francisco to fulfill a promise to his aunt: find his runaway cousin and bring him home. But Tommy is on a dangerous path, and someone is trying to scare Matt off—or worse.

 

When the situation escalates, Matt turns to Gabe, who doesn’t like mixing business and pleasure. But in Everness, the secrets are buried deep, and like it or not, Matt is at risk of being buried right alongside them.

 

Book Review

Everness, the small, somewhat stereotypical town in Texas I got to know in book one of this series, is also the setting for this sequel, and while Jake and Danny are back in a secondary role, the primary focus is on two new main characters. Gabe is an FBI analyst who has come to town to profile the group of white supremacists that was a lot of trouble in the first volume of the series. Matt is trying to locate his cousin and finds a lot of obstacles in his way to figuring out what happened. Their attraction is immediate and while they try to fight their budding feelings when a conflict of interest becomes apparent, the developing relationship is as fast-paced as the events they get embroiled in.

Gabe is confident, has a great professional track record as an FBI profiler, and is dedicated to stopping the supremacists at the edge of town. He does not normally work in the field, so there are lots of things he has to get used to as he figures out whether this “cult” might become a terrorist threat the FBI needs to pay more attention to. Dealing with the racist and homophobic attitudes of this nasty group is not easy, but Gabe is as determined as they come.

Matt is slightly awkward, but a successful businessman who knows what he wants – especially in the bedroom! He has promised his aunt to find her runaway son and bring him home to San Francisco, but it isn’t easy to find out where Tommy is and as for bringing him back? Matt faces the full resistance of a nasty cult-like organization and very real danger when someone turns their focus on preventing Matt from acting against their agenda.

As in book one, the romance is closely interwoven with the mystery, the pace is fast, and small-town attitudes stand in the characters’ way. The emotional connection between Gabe and Matt is instant but in the hostile environment of narrowmindedness that is Everness, they have to be very careful about showing their feelings.

If you like intense stories with more than one twist and turn, if small-town settings and the people who live there are your thing, and if you’re looking for an exciting read that combines suspense with an obstacle-ridden yet seemingly unavoidable romance, then you will probably like this novel. I am looking forward to the next installment!

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 231 pages/82980 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	15-October-2019
Price	$6.99 ebook, $14.99 paperback, $14.99 bundle
Buy Link	https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/locked-down-by-jess-anastasi-10828-b