Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Shrapnel from an explosion tore up Jackson’s leg and ended his career as a Navy SEAL. Being forced into the civilian world was bad enough. Being told he’s crazy is intolerable. No matter what the doctors or anyone else tells him, he knows a supposed ally was responsible for his injury, and that same man is determined to shut Jackson up for good.

When Jackson sees a kayaker clinging to his boat from the balcony of his beach house, his instincts tell him something dire is about to happen. Jackson rescues the injured man and insists on hiding him until a former SEAL teammate arrives. As Jackson struggles with separating reality from soul-shattering flashbacks, the injured man’s compassion and growing trust tear down his barriers, and Jackson begins to wonder if his heart is as dead as he’d assumed.

 

Book Review

What if you know someone is after you, attempting to kill you for what you know, but nobody believes you because they all think you're suffering from PTSD-induced paranoia? The shrapnel that tore up Jackson's leg didn't just end his career as a Navy SEAL, it also took his friends' and teammates' support from him.  And, of course, the flashbacks and nightmares almost tear him apart. The situation would be intolerable for anyone who isn't a SEAL, and it pushes even Jackson close to the edge.

Just when he thinks he's successfully gone into hiding, he rescues a man from drowning, catapulting them both into more danger. Of course he sounds like a lunatic when he explains the situation to Addy, but he's not about to lie to him. In fact, as the hours pass while they wait to be rescued by one of Jackson's former team mates, Jackson tells the virtual stranger more about himself than he has told anyone else in – forever. That right there should tell him something, but he stubbornly ignores his instincts. And when Addy clearly tells him he wants to see him, Jackson only withdraws further. Half because he's afraid to mess this up, half because he doesn’t believe he's good enough for Addy.

Addy is an amazing man. Scared out of his mind when he gets shot at while kayaking, then kidnapped by a stranger who tells him the hospital is too dangerous a place for him, he still sees something in the guy and that means he cannot just leave. In fact, he feels compelled to save Jackson's life. And even after all the questioning by several law enforcement agencies, when he's finally safe, he is not willing to press charges against Jackson, and tries desperately to get in touch. Maybe he is addicted to danger, maybe he just sees something in Jackson that the man can no longer recognize in himself. Whatever the case may be, Addy is holding on with all his might.

The story is heart-poundingly tense from the first page and held me in its grip until the final sentence. Jackson's plight and increasing desperation felt very real, to the point of discomfort, and I loved that. If you like stories about wounded heroes who face danger even after they leave the military, if you enjoy reading about an ex-SEAL who desperately tries to fit into a civilian life he isn’t sure he even wants, and if you're looking for an intense, action-filled story that is as hot as it is suspenseful, then you will probably like this novella. Just be sure you're ready to have your heartbeat go faster than it normally would sitting down.

 

 

 

 

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Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novella, 146 pages/21000 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	02-November-2013
Price	$2.99 ebook, $7.99 paperback
Buy Link	http://amzn.to/2lICffA