Veena’s review of Hunted, (FBI Heat, Book 1) by Marissa Garner
Romantic Suspense published by Forever Yours 08 Dec 15

Hunted is a fast-paced romantic thriller which will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.  Ben and Amber are excellent protagonists who sweep you into their story and keep your riveted. I picked this book because Sandy M challenged me to open up my horizons and explore different authors and publishers and the back blurb sounded interesting. I’m glad for the push, given that I’ve now found a new author to enjoy and a squee-worthy story to report on.

Amber is on the run, constantly looking over her shoulder. With her bags always packed, she’s ready to disappear at a moment’s notice, when she bumps into Ben. Actually, it’s a jerk at a pool party who’s hitting on Amber which catches his attention, but it’s the competent way she handles him that really snares Ben. They’re instantly attracted to each other, but they take it slow – sharing conversations over wine, walks on the beach, dinner, and the inevitable slide into bed. Alas, they are interrupted by his job and before long they’ll be working together as well when their personal lives cross over into his case.

Ben is an FBI agent who’s working on bringing down a human-trafficking, drug-running ring that operates between Mexico and San Diego. He gets a lucky break when a young man turns himself over to the border security force after he’s forcibly separated from his girlfriend by the smuggler whom they paid to get them across the border.  Agents are not supposed to get personally invested in their cases, but this young man and his love for his girlfriend Maria gets under Ben’s skin and he’s committed to helping Pedro save Maria in exchange for Pedro’s help in bringing down the smuggling ring.

In the meantime, Amber has troubles of her own. The fertility clinic she’s working at might be forced to shut down because of price competition. As she tries her hand at amateur detecting, she stumbles upon a doctor who’s a prison escapee and Hispanic surrogate mother, plus the excessive security at the place seems very fishy. Turns out that Ben might have caught a lucky break since one of the surrogates is Maria, which turns a simple act of helping a friend into a lucky break for the FBI.

The action heats up further when it seems like Amber’s psychotic ex-boyfriend might have located her. Ben is now working on multiple fronts: trying to keep Amber safe, rescue Maria, and take down the crime lords.  If your blood isn’t already pumping, then it surely will as the action heats up even further. At times the only thing that kept me sane is that it’s a romance and romances always have a happy ending, at least for the protagonists, don’t they?

I also enjoyed the psychic elements that are lightly woven into the story when Ben’s ex-girlfriend, with her gypsy intuition, gives him forewarnings. The brief excerpt into the next story sounds just as exciting as this one, and I can’t wait to read it.

Grade: A

Summary:

For San Diego’s elite FBI agents, risking their lives is standard procedure when it comes to capturing the city’s most dangerous criminals-but falling in love is the greatest risk of all.

Catching bad guys in San Diego’s underworld isn’t just FBI Special Agent Ben Alfren’s job, it’s his life. He doesn’t have time for a serious relationship, doesn’t want one either. So when he meets his sexy new neighbor, Amber Jollett, he has nothing more in mind than unwinding with a glass of wine, a romantic walk on the beach…and maybe a hot fling.

But Amber is more than he bargained for. Her job as a nurse has brought her face-to-face with women caught in a human trafficking ring, women she’s determined to help. As Ben and Amber plot to rescue the women, the attraction between them flares into passion. But they’ll learn that in this dangerous game of cat and mouse, real love can save – or doom – them . . .

Read an excerpt.