Red Hot Books

I think if I would have had to wait any length of time between the end of Catch a Ghost and the beginning of this book, I would have been a very frustrated reader.  It was such a gnarly ending, with our heroes deciding to each go their own way. But as this installment begins, Tom is already regretting the decision.  He is desperate to find Prophet… to let him know that he still cares, that he made a mistake. But Prophet is nowhere to be found. What only the reader knows, is that he has thrown himself into his work, taking dangerous missions, and is nearing the point of no return.

Until he finally decides to read Tom’s emails.  Dozens and dozens of them, that talk about his life, his regrets, and his concern over his aunt who is refusing to evacuate her New Orleans home during an impending hurricane.  Tom’s boss won’t let him go to her, so Prophet takes it upon himself to do the job and keep her safe.

Tom, of course, has no idea. He decides to walk off the job and go to her, himself.  And that’s when the magic happens.

Their reunion is like a microcosm of their entire relationship. It’s explosive and sexual; angst ridden and emotional.  Yet, for all that they clearly pine for one another, they still can’t quite put all the pieces in place.  Prophet simply can’t open himself up.  Tom’s kind of hesitant too, but the circumstances force him to do it anyway.  Years of built up animosity in his old hometown are coming to a head.  Some of his old enemies are turning up dead and all of the blame is falling on Tom.  He finally opens up to Prophet, as all of his old hurts come back to bite him.

I’ll grant you that just about everything about Tom and Prophet are over the top: their histories riddled with abuse and torture; their extreme reactions to each other and the world around them; even their phenomenal sex.  Everything is big.  You just kind of have to take it all with a grain of salt and let go of the fact that it’s larger than life. Because it’s just so gripping. I was totally invested in their angst and passion, anger and love.  I want these two to make it work. I NEED these two to make it work.

I got frustrated a little at times, because they seem to go round and round with each other.  Then, I would try to remind myself that these are two royally screwed up people, and that would help some.  It was often a step forward and then another step back, but in the end, I feel like we made progress.  And in the interim, had a decent mystery and a lot of great sex.

Now, I am not only hungry to see how their story plays out, but how Mal and Cillian make a go of it.

Rating: B