This book establishes Cari Hunter as the queen of lesfic hurt-comfort thrillers. And I mean hurt in the physical sense. Her personal experience with injuries must come in handy as each of her books are liberally sprinkled with all kinds of abuses that can be heaped on a human body.

Tumbledown stars the same two ladies we met and fell in love with in [b:Desolation Point|15843250|Desolation Point|Cari Hunter|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348519628s/15843250.jpg|21585538]. (Don't miss that one if you haven't read it yet). After barely surviving that book's harrowing adventures, Alex and Sarah resurface under new identities and hide away in a small American town. (My first reaction to that was--bad, bad move--why didn't they go the other way--Sarah's side of the world! but then i realized, maybe thats for Book 3! :). Anyway, so we see our ladies adjusting to small town life that is rather laid back and boring. As a fan of the couple, and as much as I loved to read about the minutiae of their lives and hear Sarah's lovely curses, I kept wanting impatiently for the action to pick up. Fortunately, I didn't need to wait too long.

In between the formulaic plot, the author manages to explore a couple of interesting themes: the typical small-town mindset where for some people, tolerance is grudging at best. But when trouble comes up, it flies right out the window and people assume the worst--she's a lesbian so she must be guilty. The other one is how easy it is to dismiss people's lack of courage (like the woman stuck in an abusive relationship) when even a brave soul like Sarah, can easily succumb to physical threats.

This is a good read for fans of Desolation Point. Lots of love, action and mayhem. And a coupla things to ponder over. The only thing missing here is the anticipation that you get when the two ladies first meet.

4.4 stars
( )

We were first introduced to the characters of Alex and Sarah in Desolation Point, where they were in the wilderness and being chased down by a white supremacist group. This book starts a couple of years after those events, with Sarah and Alex living a relatively "normal" life in Maine. Alex is a police officer in a small town, and Sarah is a first responder who is training to be a paramedic. They've acquired a menagerie of animals, a cabin off the beaten bath, and a new last name. Unfortunately for them, their past catches up to them, throwing them into a world where they are, once again, fighting for their freedom and lives.

You don't have to read Desolation Point before reading Tumbledown, but I'd highly recommend it. I really enjoyed Desolation Point, which was pretty much a non-stop adrenaline rush. Tumbledown starts out slower - there's a lot of domestic scenes, and although I don't necessarily have a problem with that, I expect more action from Cari Hunter's books. She does deliver; the last half of the book is a roller coaster ride of emotions, which resulted in me staying up half the night flipping through the pages, having to KNOW what comes next right away. Sleep? What's sleep when Cari Hunter is on a roll?

She also kept me guessing over who the "bad guy" is it, and she tricked me a few times. That doesn't happen very often, so I was quite pleased with that. I am also a big hurt/comfort fan, and there's plenty of hurt to be found here, especially in the last half of the book. Cari Hunter is NOT afraid to hurt her characters, and I have to say that I like it. ;)

I also like how the ending isn't wrapped up tightly in a neat bow. The town where Alex and Sarah had lived for a few years in peace suddenly turns on them when Sarah is accused of murdering a paramedic, and there isn't really any resolution there. They both know that, once something like that happens, there's no real going back - and they don't. Instead, they decide to move to England, far away from the white supremacist clan and all of the bad memories.

I really like the new characters introduced, particularly Lyssa (she almost has my name) and Leah. In fact, I would love to read more about Leah in the future (as well as Alex and Sarah, of course, although maybe they need a break after the events Desolation Point and Tumbledown ;) ). Cari Hunter is one of my few "pick up and every book this author writes" authors. ( )