I have read a few other Knightley books and always enjoyed the action and suspense and the characters always got to me. I’m not sure why I stopped reading them. I’m for sure going to going down a rabbit hole now to catch up because the only complaint I have about this book (and it’s a me thing, not a book thing) is not knowing who every single character is and their back story! Yes, I’m a serious FOMO reader and I hate not knowing everything I could have known when I read a book. This book totally stands on its own if you aren’t riding my OCD train though!

I figured since this was book one in a series I’d be ok but I should have remembered that most of the author’s works are loosely connected. Let me stress again, you DO NOT have to have read other books to enjoy his book. It’s just a “thing” for me, especially as I am for the most part a series reader. I like feeling like part of the family. So if you share that trait I’d say read through the author’s backlist before starting this book.

So having said all that, this is an eventful, suspense filled book about an assassin, Ice, who has what we’d normally say is a frightening and painful encounter with another assassin, Echo, but who instead is intrigued by him and wants to woo him. Echo is neither amused nor interested which he demonstrates in several sharp ways. But Ice is not to be deterred! Ice takes steps to try and find and get to know Echo but Echo has a very dark past and doesn’t see that possibility for himself.

The story is tense and emotional. There are several places that I just wanted to give these dangerous killers a hug! As usual with Knightley’s books these are “bad” guys fighting on the side of good. Shadowy organizations doing the work that the justice system seems incapable of. More and more these days I’m beginning to think our justice system is compromised so I’m on board with the goals here even though I know I shouldn’t be. There’s one scene in the book where there is doubt about an assignment but it’s never resolved what exactly the problem was and that bothered me. I didn’t quite get the point of the scene.

As the book heads towards its final showdown there are surprises, tense encounters with other assassins, and quite a bit of foreshadowing as to who the next couples may be. Looking forward to what comes next.

After reading Hawk I went straight into this and I was so invested I sat up to finish it . Fabulous plot and characters and I wasn’t even bothered there was hardly any spice because it was really good . Now I have to be patient and wait for Justice & Fishers book.