Stevie‘s review of Hidden Truths (Cape Charade, Book 2.5) by Christina Dodd
Romantic Suspense published by HQN Books 01 Sep 19
Kellen de Luca, formerly Adams, has been having a lot of adventures and sustaining a whole bunch of injuries throughout this series, which is pretty good going considering she’s had a bullet lodged in her brain the whole time, threatening to dislodge itself at any minute and cause potentially catastrophic brain damage. That ticking time-bomb finally went off at the end of the previous book, just as Kellen seemed ready to settle down with her new husband Max, their daughter, and the rest of her mismatched family-by-choice. Now Kellen’s in a coma – again – and Max is left to investigate by himself whether Kellen really did spot an uninvited, and very unwelcome, extra guest at their wedding right before she blacked out for what may well be the last time.
Having pulled a few strings with his and Kellen’s contacts, including the shady Nils Brooks, who works for a mysterious government agency, a follow-on from WWII’s Monuments Men, Max sets off to a remote high-security prison where Kellen’s serial-killer arch-nemesis was incarcerated last time we heard about her – barring Kellen’s alleged sighting at the wedding, anyway. Meanwhile, Kellen lies in a hospital bed, close to death, but aware enough of her surroundings to know she has to try to hold onto life until Max returns with what everyone hopes will be good news.
Max’s task turns out to be far more difficult than expected. Someone in the town where he’s staying is determined to stop him accessing the prisoner he needs to see – in person, because he’s certain that if she can have pulled strings to swap places with someone on the outside, she will have done so -– and they might just be prepared to use deadly force, if it becomes necessary.
Back at the hospital, Kellen drifts in and out of a half-world in which she can move around the hospital in spirit form and have a very small degree of communication with those fully living, enabling her and the reader to see snippets of other people’s not-so-mundane lives.
I enjoyed this story a lot. It was good to see both Max and Kellen working alone against very difficult obstacles and finding ways to overcome seemingly insurmountable barriers. I also liked the glimpses we got of the rest of their family, especially their daughter, who never stopped believing that she and her parents would be reunited eventually. And the ending of this story sets us up very nicely for what looks like being an extremely thrilling showdown in the final book of the series.
Grade: A
Summary:
His new bride, Kellen, hovers between life and death.A convicted serial killer threatens their child.Max Di Luca goes on the hunt…What would you do to protect your family?
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
