Stevie‘s review of Snitch (Shea Stevens, Book 2) by Dharma Kelleher
Lesbian Thriller published by Alibi 31 Jan 17
Following Shea Stevens’ adventures is a bit – a lot – like watching a slow-moving train wreck. The impact is inevitable; you just don’t know exactly when it will happen or how damaging it’s going to be. The first book in the series ended with Shea gaining a new young member of her household and making a bargain to avoid jail time. This second book in the series explores what happens when Shea has to fulfill her side of the deal.
Three months have passed since Shea lost her younger sister to violence caused by the bike gang in which they grew up. The physical wounds she sustained have mostly healed, and her niece is settling into the normalities of life with Shea and her girlfriend, although all of them are carrying mental scars from what happened. Meanwhile, Shea’s business customising motorbikes mostly aimed at women riders is continuing to grow, and a rich prospective customer offers her a chance to make more new contacts. Then Shea receives a call from the detective she worked with to bring down her sister’s killers.
Someone – and the detective has a good idea who that might be – has been selling drugs to clubbers, which have been cut with strychnine. Several young women have already died, and there will be more if Shea can’t help to catch the criminals by infiltrating the local chapter of the all-female motorcycle club who are believed to be harbouring the culprits. Shea wants to walk away – she’s had more than enough of gangs and the MC lifestyle – especially since the president of the club is her ex-girlfriend, a university professor and hard-line feminist with separatist leanings.
Unfortunately for Shea, she’s issued an ultimatum: do this job or lose everything, since her actions three months earlier violated multiple terms of her parole, and the detective is holding onto evidence to those illegal activities. Shea reluctantly agrees to the undercover role and sets about joining the club, much to the irritation of her girlfriend.
I like Shea in spite of her multiple flaws and host of issues. We don’t learn much more about her childhood traumas in this story, but we do see a lot of events from her more recent past that have shaped who she is today. We also see her trying to juggle her various families inside and outside the motorcycle clubs she associates with, as well as with the little family she has created amongst her co-workers and employees at the bike shop. This isn’t a pretty romance – Shea doesn’t treat her girlfriend particularly well, but she’s willing to learn from her mistakes and atone for them, even if she can’t entirely promise not to repeat some of them. I’m very keen to see where this series takes her – and us readers – next.
Grade: A
Summary:
Shea Stevens thought she was finished with outlaws. After a terrifying brush with death in Arizona’s criminal underworld, Shea rededicates her energy to her girlfriend, her ragtag family, and her custom motorcycle shop, Iron Goddess—until the CI agreement she signed to dodge a weapons charge comes back to haunt her.
People are dying from a club drug laced with strychnine. A witness tells the lead detective that the bad pills are coming from a dealer in an all-female motorcycle club: the Athena Sisterhood. Under threat of jail time, Shea is tasked with sniffing out the truth—by infiltrating the Sisterhood. Though they claim to be a bunch of fun-loving feminists, they’re packing some serious firepower. Worse, they’re led by Shea’s former old lady, Debbie Raymond.
The awkward reunion is just the start of Shea’s troubles. As a prospect in the Sisterhood, there’s a target on her back from day one. Biker culture breeds paranoia and violence, which is the whole reason Shea quit in the first place. But she’ll do anything to keep her family safe—even if it means snitching on one of her own.
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Other books in this series:
