Karen Rose back at her very best!

Back in New Orleans we catch up with some of her favourite characters and fan favourites, Burke Broussard and his Private Investigation Agency, but surprise surprise, it’s not for anything good!

After a fumbled kidnapping of Assistant District Attorney Kaj Cordozo’s son, Elijah, Burke assigns one of his best agents, Val Sorensen, to take on the job as the boy’s personal bodyguard until the threat has passed and the high profile court case Kaj has ended.

But there are people out there that will go to any lengths to stop the court case from taking place, starting with kidnapping the DA’s son to use as blackmail.

How far will these people go to get what they want and how far will Burke’s employees and friends have to go to keep not only Elijah safe, but Kaj and Val as well?

In this book Karen Rose has returned to her old formulation, steamy romance on top of heart racing adrenaline from the thrill of the chase, making it yet another one of her books that you just can’t put down so be prepared to loose some sleep reading this one! ( )

This entertaining romantic suspense title is the second in the New Orleans series and introduces us to more people in Broussard Investigations.

When Prosecutor Kaj Cardozo needs a bodyguard for his nearly kidnapped ten-year-old son Elijah, he goes to Broussard because he doesn't trust the New Orleans Police Department. Broussard assigns former Marine Val Sorenson to the case because she's good with kids and has a connection to the drug gang that was implicated in the attempted kidnapping.

Cardozo is working on two high profile cases. A man has beaten a doctor who specialized in childhood cancer to death because he blamed him for the death of his young son. The second case is that of a famous actress who has accused a film director of rape. It turns out that the cases have some connections that aren't obvious at first.

This was a twisty tale told in part by one of the major villains of the story who is a real evil character. I enjoyed the relationships in the story. Val and Kaj are two damaged people who are healing and find each other along the way. He is dealing with the loss of his wife to cancer and raising a very bright and diabetic son. She is overcoming the trauma of being raped by three of her fellow Marines and then not letting the Marine Corps cover it up.

Val is also dealing with the death of twin. Throughout this story, she learns more about her brother and learns that he wasn't the hero she thought he was which brings its own trauma to the situation.

So much happens in the 592 pages of the story that it is impossible to even hit the high points. But the story has people displaying courage in horrible situations and it is the story of a found family that is growing up around Broussard Investigations. I enjoyed it. ( )