Unexpected Partners by Michelle Larkin is an action packed adventure/romance that tells the story of two Boston police detectives who are being stalked by a serial killer. Dr. Chloe Maddox has a history with the killer since he murdered her fiancé two years ago and left Chloe for dead. Detective Dana Blake’s wife was assassinated by the same suspect four years ago, and now he has chosen Dana as his next victim. Both team up to first stay out of his clutches, which isn’t easy, and then to find the evidence they need to bring him to justice.
There is a lot of action in this story that will keep you interested and sometimes on the edge of your seat as you read, so those of you who like action and violence in a story should be well satisfied here. I liked the main characters and could see the chemistry between the two, and enjoyed the way the romance was treated throughout the story. The secondary characters were also well-developed and made the tale better. My absolute favorite character is Taz, Chloe’s German shepherd, who was trained to be an attack dog in the police K-9 unit but was flunked out by his trainer. It was a good thing Chloe took him before he could be euthanized, what they usually do to trainees that don’t make the cut. He turned out to be one of the most important characters in the book as far as I’m concerned. I fell in love with Taz.
I did have one problem with the story line. There were a couple of plot holes in the story, things that were mentioned and then just dropped. It kind of bugged me because I think it would have made the story stronger if those things had been resolved. I still enjoyed the book, but felt it could have been a stronger tale if all the loose ends had been tied up.
I’m giving a trigger alert here. There are discussions of rape and violence against women in this book. If that is going to make you uncomfortable, then you might want to miss this one. If, however, you like a good action-packed adventure and don’t mind some violence in a story, then this might just be the book for you.
I received an ARC from Net Galley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.
Rainbow Reflections 