Review: Suspicious Behavior (Bad Behavior, #2) by L.A. Witt & Cari Z.

Detective Darren Corliss is hanging by a thread. In between recovering from a near-fatal wound and returning to work at a hostile precinct, he’s struggling to help care for his ailing brother. His partner and boyfriend, Detective Andreas Ruffner, wants to help, but doesn’t know how. And with his own family crises brewing, Andreas is spread almost as thin as Darren.

For cops, though, life takes a backseat to the job. When a stack of unsolved homicides drops into their laps, Andreas and Darren think they’re unrelated cold cases. But when a connection surfaces, they find themselves on the tail of a prolific serial killer who’s about to strike again.

Except they’ve got nothing. No leads. No suspects. Just a pile of circumstantial evidence and a whole lot of hunches. Time is running out to stop the next murder—and to pull themselves back from their breaking points.

Suspicious Behavior picks up shortly after where Risky Behavior left off. Technically this could be read as a standalone but I would not recommend it since most of Darren and Andreas' relationship development and backstory took place in the first one. That's not to say they're at a standstill here but they are solidly a couple and while there are touching moments between the two the primary plotline is finding a serial killer who's been on the loose for an extended period of time.

This is in my wheelhouse. And I gobbled it up.

I affectionately refer to this kind of read as a popcorn read. It's heavy on the investigative side of finding a serial killer e.g. gathering evidence, finding patterns, following intuition, the two of them working together to piece together the evidence they were given from another precinct and trying to make it stick to their guy. The nitty gritty as it were. I thought the case was well crafted, it held my attention with some nice twists and turns and I found the pattern clever. It also highlighted each of their strengths and how much they compliment one another.

They are still persona non grata in this city due to the events of Risky Behavior. Another reason why I wouldn't recommend this as a standalone. Some of these asshats need lessons in how not to be a child masquerading around in an adult's body. Seriously? Busting taillights? *eye roll* As much as these antics annoyed me I have a feeling they're probably closer to reality than not.

The storyline involving Asher continues to be heartbreaking and takes up a significant part of the narrative. It shows the ripple effect of this illness and how it impacts not just Darren but Andreas too.

So with all of the above going on coupled with the fact that Darren is still recuperating from his injuries the sexy times are pretty much nil. What did happen, though, was a strengthening of their bond. There are several poignant quiet moments that showcased their connection. They spend every night together regardless of other obligations or the lateness of the hour and both are cuddlers which I found to be an unexpected dollop of cuteness from hardass Andreas.

There is no cliffhanger with the case though there is still a big looming question hanging over Darren and Andreas that hopefully will get answered in the next book and won't cause my face to leak.

I'm still loving this series and what these two authors are accomplishing with it. Both these characters are well developed and they've added some great secondary characters that helped push the narrative forward.

If you're a thriller fan you'll likely enjoy Suspicious Behavior too.

An ARC was provided by NetGalley.