Review: Dirty? Yep. Dark? Secrets always are. Deadly? Trifecta. Sasha steals the show!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 20, 2014
COME BACK is the second book in the Dirty, Dark, & Deadly series. COME is the first book, which first was published in the (now banned) BEND Anthology by The Erotica Consortium. You can buy COME for 99cents at amazon: http://bit.ly/ComeJAHuss.Okay, so here's the thing. You can read this series completely on its own. But for full enjoyment, I recommend reading the OTHER Huss series. It has little strings that dangle into this series. Are they completely necessary? No, not really. Will you feel like an awesome insider because you have the knowledge of what James is talking about from his past? You betcha!So, here's a quick recap of recommended reading, but know that you CAN just read this series without the others.Rook & Ronin seriesTragicManicPanicFord AstonSlack (Get a peek at Sasha and Merc)TautSpencer Shrike (Oh, hello, James!)BombGunsAnd now onto COME BACK: much like the twisty plot we saw in Guns, there are little mysteries all wrapped up in our characters. James leaves Harper to go pick up a package as a favor to Merc. It's not often that Merc asks for favors, so James is definitely happy to have a favor to dangle over Merc. He's a tad surprised however to discover that the package is in the form of a feisty thirteen year old girl who looks like she's been living in the wild. And that package immediately ticks him off by shooting an arrow at him.And we're off!Sasha Cherlin is sassy, feisty, smart-mouthed, and yet still has a bit of that innocent little girl about her. She's been dealt a rotten hand, has more knowledge than James and Harper do, and is a little lethal package, searching for revenge. Harper Tate is drawn to James Fenici, a little lost without her brother, lethal when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, useless when it comes to shooting a gun or even driving a car, and is desperate to get out of the Company to avoid being sold to a man for marriage. James is on leave from the Company, or so he thinks. After failing the psych evaluation after his latest hit, he's told to go to the beach and relax. But how can he when things keep popping up from his past, when people who are supposed to be dead are shooting at him?The heat between Harper and James is scorching. There are some sex scenes in here that will have you fanning your face. However, they are not the driving force behind this story and that's what I love about JA Huss books. It isn't written to get you from sex scene 1 to sex scene 2. Instead, there's this whole looming cloud of a story with little lightning flashes of revelation that keep the story moving forward.It's hard to categorize this story and slap a label on it. Is it a mystery? Not really a whodunit. Is it a thriller? It DOES have lots of thrills! Is it an erotic romance? Well, yeah there are some graphic sex scenes in it. Romantic suspense? Yeah, it does have those elements, too. New Adult? Well, Harper is 18 or so and James is 28, so sure? Is it all of the above and more? Yep.While I enjoyed reading the story unravel, I have to say that Sasha stole the show for me. She sounds so much older than she is, but then releases tiny bits of vulnerability and insecurity and absolute brattiness that just brings her back to being thirteen. She's killed. She's being chased down. She has a hit out on her. And she is forced to trust these two adult killers who are now her caretakers and partners. She knows the most, but she's not ready to let them know yet.I said briefly in my status update on goodreads that this is a cliffhanger. It's not REALLY a cliffhanger. It doesn't quite leave you dangling. It sets us up for the next and final phase of the story (coming November 2014), but it does leave off mid-action. And made me shriek NOOOOOOO. I wasn't ready for it to be over.Thank you to the author for the complimentary copy for review purposes.