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Review

“Eye for an eye, heart for a heart”

Holy hell, that was intense! But wow, what a story!

4.5 stars

Dark, intense, sexy and romantic this is a story of vengeance and redemption that absolutely captivated me. Set in a dark and grungy Detroit, Keri Lake paints a dangerous and bleak picture of a city seemingly lost to violence and crime and ruled by corruption. It’s the story of one man’s mission for retribution, and a woman’s desperate need to escape, and I loved it.

Monsters did exist. They didn’t hide under the bed, though. They stormed through the fucking door and stole away everything we loved.
To defeat a monster, I had to become one.

Nick Ryder is a broken man. Three years ago he was left for dead with a bullet to the head after watching his wife and son being brutally and viciously murdered. He survived the ordeal and has been left an emotionally shattered man, a desperate vigilante thriving on hatred and driven only to wreak vengeance upon the men that took everything from him. Key on his list is Michael Culling, Mayor of Detroit and the ruler and enabler of all of the bad things happening in the city – including the torture and murder of Nick’s family. In order to make Michael feel the pain and desolation that he is forced to live with, Nick kidnaps his wife, Aubree. But once he gets his hands on the beautiful young woman, he soon learns that not everything is as it seems.

Aubree has lived a nightmare married to Michael Culling. The man is a psychopath and has subjected Aubree to all kinds of abuse. Though her kidnapping terrifies her, it is nothing compared to what she has endured at the hands of her husband.

I’ve already said that this book is dark, but OMG, THIS. BOOK. IS DARK! Through Nick and Aubree’s memories, and through watching Nick take out his revenge on the men that destroyed his life, the reader is immersed in all kinds of evil goings on. It’s incredibly intense and descriptive, with a lot of potential triggers – violence, abuse (sexual and physical), trauma, self harm, rape, torture, murder, paedophilia… pretty much every despicable act you can think of is in there in some form – so make sure you’re prepared for it before you start reading.

It’s an important part of the story because we need to understand where the characters are coming from and what they have endured, but there is so much more to this story! From the moment that Nick and Aubree are together, you know what’s going to happen, and the devastation and tragedy that makes up their backstories just makes it all the more intense as we anticipate them finding a way to move forward together. And with the book written in dual POV we get to watch it all happen in great detail, and watching them fall for each other is totally enthralling.

“Why are you keeping me?”
… “Because I can’t let you go yet.”

Of course there is an attraction between them from the beginning, and there’s lots of angry lusting going on, but things really start to happen when they start to look beyond that. Nick and Aubree are both completely broken by all that they have been through, but they’re also incredibly strong, and that comes through over and over again. These two are not the victims that life has made them, but they recognise the darkness in each other, and that draws them together in a way that surprises them both.

“She’s the wife of my enemy … Her husband destroyed everything that meant something to me. He destroyed the man who might’ve been capable of loving a woman like her. There’s nothing left.”

“You must be a fucking masochist to want anything to do with me.”
Her hand slipped beneath my shirt, making my stomach muscles clench on contact, and her eyes locked with mine. “Or maybe I see something deeper than the darkness you wear on the surface.”

It takes a while for things to really get happening, but their connection is electric, and the sex is hot as all hell! Frequent, passionate and descriptive with lots of dirty talk, Nick and Aubree together are amazing! And their sexual connection forms the basis of a relationship that neither of them saw coming.

“When you come, Aubree, I want you to come apart,” he told me. “Explode into a million pieces. Scream my name so loud, this whole goddamn city will know who’s fucking you.”

In his bed, amid the darkness, the destruction, the ruin, he fixed me. His gentle hands delicately fastened together the pieces of me that’d become so broken and scattered with no hope for convergence. As I lay beside him, the soothing tap of rain against the window, I felt whole.

The emotion in this book is off the charts! From the depths of both Nick and Aubree’s torment to the desperation, confusion and eventual acceptance of what is happening between them, I felt everything!

He rolled over my body and cupped my face in his palms. “If ever a woman was capable of owning my heart again, you are. No matter what happens, Aubree, I will take care of you.”

Apart, we were nothing more than two broken halves, but together, our jagged edges fit perfectly, sealed into something whole again.

The love story blends really well with everything else that is going on. The story twists and turns, and you’re never quite sure what’s going to happen, and it all builds to an ending which is exciting, action packed and full of surprises. I was glued to my kindle the whole time and it felt like I didn’t take a breath until it was all over.

“I will obliterate any motherfucker who lays a hand on you again … I’d kill for you.”

This is one of those stories that you experience as you read. The writing is fantastic, it drags you right into another world, and into the heart of the characters’ devastation and desperation, and you feel that with them, as well as the shift that happens when they find and start to heal each other. Yes it’s intense, and it’s honestly hard to read sometimes, but ultimately this is a story of redemption, and it finishes in a really good place.

And if you’re wondering about a HEA?…

This is my first book by Keri Lake, and I loved it! I’m looking forward to checking out more of her work very soon, and can’t wait for more from this series.

4.5 stars.

Vigilantes (standalones)