Shattered by their devastating breakup, Detective Levi Abrams and PI Dominic Russo find themselves at war right when they need each other most. While Dominic is trapped in a vicious cycle of addiction, Levi despairs of ever catching the Seven of Spades. The ruthless vigilante’s body count continues to climb, and it’s all Levi can do to keep up with the carnage.
When Levi’s and Dominic’s paths keep crossing in the investigation of a kidnapping ring with a taste for mutilation, it feels like history repeating itself. Thrown together by fate once again, they reluctantly join forces in their hunt for the mastermind behind the abductions.
But the Seven of Spades hates sharing the spotlight, and they have an ace in the hole: a new batch of victims with a special connection to Levi. Their murders send shockwaves through Las Vegas and change the rules of the game forever.
The Seven of Spades has upped the ante. If Levi and Dominic don’t play their cards right, they’ll end up losing everything.
SPOILERS FOR Kill Game, Trick Roller & Cash Plays!
This was a hard read in more ways than one. All of them up have been, by degrees, harrowing but with this one was particularly jarring in that I was immediately knocked off kilter by Levi's actions. I thought I had a good handle on these two characters.
I was wrong.
Levi... it's like he became someone else. Maybe I was wrong about him from the start or maybe the breakup brought forth a heretofore unknown and ugly side of him. I don't know but I was confused and dismayed by it.
So let's just rip the band-aid off quickly, shall we?
Levi is petty, cruel and he sleeps with someone else, so readers who are dogmatic about their couples being faithful irregardless of whether or not they're together, you've been warned. For me, him fucking someone else was the least of my issues. It was the cruelty and pettiness that I struggled with. I even found myself at one point thinking surely the Seven of Spades (SOS) was behind some of it.
Nope. All Levi.
I know he's heartbroken about their breakup and hurt by Dom's gambling addiction. The way he lied and manipulated Levi to continue to engage in his addiction must've cut deep considering Levi's never been in love with anyone before, but that doesn't justify cruelty in my mind. What's more, Dom's addiction is mutually exclusive from his feelings for Levi and Levi knew his addiction could be a problem in their future. Dom never lied to him about that.
Obviously, I've taken a side here. I tried not to and I do believe Levi has redeeming qualities despite his morphing into a vicious anger ball the minute he discovered Dom's gambling. But his transformation was deeply troubling to me. To see his personality change, this level of anger emerge towards someone he purports to love? If it's largely due to the breakup rather than a culmination of events then I think I'm even more troubled by that.
I am happy they're back together but an apology, some promises to get help and a whirlwind fuck via Dom's monster magic peen isn't enough to fix this and I hope more reparations are forthcoming in the finale.
The sex was phenomenal, as always. Biting fans are in for some quivering.
As far as the thriller aspects of this installment, I like the progression where the SOS is concerned. They seem to be grandstanding more and I think that grandiosity and need for attention will ultimately be their undoing.
I thought more would come of the Utopia plot line but instead a new high dollar kidnapping and ransom ring turns up. Las Vegas can't catch a break, I tell ya!
It gets pretty gruesome at points, so be advised but I like that there is a case within each book that gets resolved so we get some sort of closure rather than relentless cliffhanging. The details of this particular case didn't quite add up for me but I can't say I wasn't glued to my kindle from beginning to end.
What ultimately pushed this installment into 4 heart territory was the domino chain of events that occurred at the end. Well executed action sequences always earn points with me and both these guys kicked ass. It was awesome. Parts of it were bad wrong, but still... awesome. And fun. In a bad wrong way. What can I say? *shrugs*
Last thing I'll say is... Stanton. *sigh* I know nothing will come of his storyline and he'll likely never get his own book, but he deserves someone befitting his capacity for love.
In short, gird your loins. It's a bumpy ride but well worth it in the end.
An ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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