Veena’s review of Midnight Fire (Men of Midnight, Book 4) by Lisa Marie Rice
Romantic Suspense published by Carina Press 21 Sep 15

If you’ve been feeling that Lisa Marie Rice might have lost her edge, I assure you, this book will put all your doubts to rest.  The story picks up seamlessly from where Midnight Secrets ends and plunges the reader right away into a world of greed and corruption that’s spread its tentacles all the way to the top of Washington’s power structure. Summer Redding  immediately recognizes Jack, even though he’s supposed to be dead and she hasn’t seen him for quite some time. Despite their not-so-stellar past history, she teams up with him, lending him her expertise as the top political analyst in Washington, as they race against time to foil a plot the magnitude of which will blow your mind.

Jack and Summer are well-fleshed-out solid characters. Ms. Rise does a great job of giving her characters tremendous historical depth by taking us back in time to when Jack and Summer first met.  They have clearly gone in different directions, but circumstances have given them a second chance, which they definitely seize as they try to stay one step ahead of the bad guys.

I really admire Summer’s character. She is forthright and confident, and even through she’s definitely worked her way past her teenage infatuation with Jack and his treatment of her, she has no qualms about putting her life on the line to right the injustice that’s been done to the Delvaux family.

Jack already wormed his way into my heart in the earlier book, even though I could have kicked his ass with regard to the way he tasted his way through all the young nubile females who threw themselves at his handsome head in college. He definitely has learned and it bodes really well for his second chance with Summer.

The story moves at a rapid clip, keeping the reader engaged as Jack and Summer work to get to the bottom of the plot that threatens to change life as we know it.  Along the way the characters from earlier books in the series pop in and support Jack and Summer as necessary in their quest. I would suggest reading the earlier books in this series, but at a minimum the one immediately preceding this one which features Jack’s sister and introduces Jack and the Delvaux story.

This is a great story and I highly recommend it.

Grade: A

Summary:

Jack Delvaux is alive

Summer Redding thought the blindingly handsome jock who’d loved and left her years ago had died in the Washington Massacre. She grieved for her lost golden boy as the rest of the country mourned their dead—until she comes home to find a very alive Jack Delvaux waiting for her with a devastating secret that turns her life upside down.

No longer the carefree man he was in his youth, this Jack is dark, hard and dangerous; a fifteen-year veteran of the CIA hungry for answers…and hungry for her. The rich, good-looking charmer who broke her heart once before would have been easy to resist, but this man, this powerful man? Summer needs him, and he knows it.

When Jack’s mission uncovers evidence of government involvement in the Massacre—and plans for another attack—he’s primed for revenge. But he has more than vengeance to live for now, and when Summer’s life is threatened, it’s nearly Jack’s undoing. Someone taking shots at his woman? That’s a dead man walking.

No excerpt available.

Other books in this series: