Stevie‘s review of Vipers Run (Skulls Creek, Book 1) by Stephanie Tyler
Contemporary Romance published by Signet 01 Jul 14
This story starts off in proper dramatic fashion, with the heroine answering two potentially life-changing phone calls, although it’s not immediately apparent to the reader which will be the more important to the plot. Calla’s first call, received on her own cell phone, is from her billionaire father, informing her that her half-brother is threatening to cause trouble again. However, it’s the second call, which she answers on behalf of her absent private investigator boss, that immediately turns Calla’s life upside down. The man on the other end, Cage, tells Calla that he’s dying and it transpires that both she and her boss are now in danger from the same people who attacked him. And so the adventure begins.
Sent to stay with a friend of her boss for safety, Calla can’t forget the conversation she had with Cage, and keeps wondering if there’s any way that he could have survived, in spite of what had happened to him before he made that last phone call. When Cage reappears, miraculously recovered from his injuries, Calla sets off with him to Skulls Creek, home of the Vipers Motorcycle Club. At this point, I gave the story a little extra kudos for mentioning that most people’s impressions of motorcycle culture are now heavily influenced by what they’ve seen on Sons of Anarchy (and I still love that show in spite of being a series I’m behind on at present). However, the Vipers are a little watered down from what we’ve seen on that aforementioned show, and I feel once again that I’m not seeing in novels the tough women that I’ve come to love on the TV. Meanwhile, the bad guys – in the form of a rival gang to which some members of Cage’s family still belong – are far more involved in the full gamut of illegal activities that people associate with biker culture.
And as for that other phone call Calla received back at the start of the story? Well, her half-brother has got hold of material related to an incident in Calla’s past, the memories of which still haunt her, even though none of what happened was in any way her fault, and he’s trying to blackmail her and her father with the possibility of it gaining a wider audience. So Cage gets involved in sorting out Calla’s family issues as well in protecting her from the escalating war between the two clubs – and then the whole mess gets taken a little too outside the heroine’s control for my liking.
Cage does have a softer side, which I’d have liked to have seen explored more; and several potentially interesting side plots crop up without being resolved in this particular story, but I’m not grabbed hard enough by any of those to want to see what happens with them in later parts of the series.
Grade: C
Summary:
The Vipers Motorcycle Club has strict rules for their brotherhood and the women who enter it. Now one Viper is about to find out how much trouble one woman can be…
Former Army Ranger Christian Cage Owens joined the Vipers Motorcycle Club for its sense of brotherhood. In return, he pledged to live outside the law, protecting club members and their families, as well as keeping other MCs out of Skulls Creek. But when Cage discovers that a rival MC—one Cage has an all too familiar past with—plans to push meth into his town, he calls an old Army buddy turned private investigator who’s helped the Vipers in the past. By doing so, Cage endangers both his friend and Calla Benson, a woman who works in the PI’s office. Now he’s made it his mission to track Calla down and do whatever it takes to protect her.
Thanks to the phone call with Cage, Calla knows she’s formed a deep connection to a dangerous man. She quickly discovers that although he may live by a different set of rules, Cage is an honorable man who wants to be more than her protector—if only she can accept his dangerous lifestyle. But Calla comes to Skulls Creek with her own set of secrets…secrets that threaten to tear her and Cage—and the Vipers MC—apart. As they put their newfound love to the ultimate test, Cage will risk everything he cares about to save her…
Read an excerpt.
