Review: Can a safe-cracker and undercover agent find common ground
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 31, 2014
Angel Ramirez is retired safe-cracker whose childhood friends and former partners have recruited to do one a job in order to ransom one of their loved ones. They pose as prostitutes to inflitrate the home of Walter Borgola, a perverted and cagey criminal kingpin whose diamond collection they are after. It is a very dangerous job, because Borgola is known to be paranoid about security and has surrounded himself with a violent and cruel crew. While doing the job, Angel attracts the attention of Cole Hawkins, one of the Association’s agents, who is undercover in Borgola’s organization and has risen to be one his top security men.“Have you spotted bad boyfriend material? White Jenny asked. “Imagine that. At a party like this!”Cole is a logistical expert, who specializes on putting together seemingly unconnected information together to take down criminal organizations. Cole needs information stored in one of Borgola’s safes to avert a tragedy and Angel’s heist is both a complication and opportunity. He tracks Angel down and use White Jenny & Macy as leverage to get her to agree to return to Borgola’s mansion posing as his girlfriend and help him locate and crack Borgola’s second secret safe.Angel knew he would be dangerous to her from the moment she spotted him at the party, not because he was on Borgola’s security team but because she was drawn to him and she had uncanny ability to find herself attracted to doomed men she can never save.Macy smiled. “So says the Jane Goodall of the self-destructive man.”Cole devoted to his job and mission has no problem blackmailing Angel into helping, and throwing her under the bus if it all goes wrong, until he doesn’t. He grows in admiration of her covert skills, and courage, getting to know her as person, figuring out her secrets, until he realizes he can’t sacrifice her, but keeps that information to himself because he can’t let himself get entangled with her and the best way to avoid it that is to push her away.He wanted to tell her that, suddenly. He wanted to be alone with her and hold her and tell her about how if you felt scared of a thing and did it anyway, it mean you were brave and strong.What I loved:  I am sucker for stories where people try to deny their attraction for each other, and fight their love tooth and nail. I loved how complex Angel and Cole’s relationship becomes as they both zig and zag to try to avoid revealing vulnerabilities to each other. They lie to themselves and to each other, while at same time learning to depend on each other.I loved being able compare and contrast Cole and Angel’s reasons for being drawn to dangerous covert work and the way the work has built up some relationships and damaged others. I particularly liked how you could see in their relationships with their associates the foundations of what Angel and Cole could give each other. Angel’s heist was daring and exciting, feeding her need for thrills and it revealed her friendship with White Jenny & Macy was genuine and believable. She never loses sight of them even as Angel is drawn into working with Cole. Cole’s associates enter the picture late in the book, but they are also shown to have bonds deeper and truer than they would ever acknowledge, but it shows in the little things they know about each other.4.5 out 5 Stars