Review: Engrossing story, but not a stand alone
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 20, 2014
Dirty Deeds is a novella-length story with strong ties to the Hell or High Water series by SE Jakes. The book focuses on Cillian, the CIA spy neighbor of Prophet, and Mal, one of Prophet's former SEAL teammates. I really feel that this story should NOT be read as a stand alone, but rather as book #2.5 from Hell or High Water.Cillian is on a job in Amsterdam, and we find out from one of his informants, Karl, that Prophet's lover, Tom, is still tailing him, which is something we learned about in the previous book. Cillian is suspicious of Karl and in order to release some of his pent-up frustration with his case, he goes to the back room of the guys-only club expecting some fast, hard sex. He gets this and more from Mal, who is following Cillian to find out what he knows about presumed dead SEAL teammate, John Morse.The story continues to follow Mal and Cillian as they play their cat-and-mouse spy games, primarily on one another. I found the story hard to follow at times because the pair would talk (via IM) in what seemed like almost a code - each understanding the other, but I didn't have the key to unlock the hidden meanings.While I enjoyed the overall games the pair played, almost everything between he pair was a cover. At times they did get "real" and exposed more truth than lie, but it made it hard for me to become emotionally invested in the pair when everything was primarily based on lies. They did have some very intense and smoking hot sex scenes, and I have hope that in the future they will rely more on the truths to move forward, especially after the huge shocker at the ending of the book.The biggest issue I have with Dirty Deeds is the revelation that Mal, Prophet's trusted friend, knows a lot more hidden truth about John, a man that was Prophet's best friend, soul mate, and lover, yet he doesn't share what he knows (or even suspects) with Prophet. If you haven't read the first two books in the Hell or High Water series this really wouldn't mean anything to you, however, it frustrates me that such big revelations are made in a "spin off" book and not the primary series. In fact, the way it was all laid out so matter-of-factly, I thought maybe I'd missed the reveal of these facts in a previous book. This whole situation rubbed me the wrong way, unfortunately, but I am anxious to find out if or how the information will come out in the third Hell or High Water book.Overall I enjoyed Dirty Deeds , but it's not Proph and Tommy. In addition, the book is not a complete story, but rather a novella-length interlude in Proph and Tommy's tale. Dirty Deeds gives readers of the Hell or High Water series additional information that otherwise couldn't be exposed because of the limited POVs, which makes it a must read for fans of the series.My Rating: B- Liked It, but I had a few small issues