AUTHORS:
L.A. WITT & ALEKSANDR VOINOV
Pages:
300
Date:
13/05/2014
Grade:
4.5
Details:
Received from Riptide Publishing
Through Love Romances and More
Own
/ Kindle
The
blurb:
After the deaths of
three undercover cops investigating a drug ring in a seedy strip club in
Seattle, Detective Mahir Hussain has been sent to finish the job. He joins the
club’s security team in the hopes of finding enough evidence to bust the
operation before the men in charge find a reason to put him in a shallow grave.
To protect the strippers, only gay
men can work the club. Ridley, the cold and intimidating head of security,
knows exactly how to test potential new hires—including Mahir. From the minute
they meet, Mahir and Ridley engage in a dangerous dance of sex and mind games.
Mahir needs to find his evidence before Ridley figures out he’s a cop—and
before they both grow too close to betray one another.
As the game goes on, Mahir burrows
deeper into the operation, where he learns there’s much more happening than
meets the eye . . . and why every cop who made it this far has been silenced
with a bullet.
---------------------------------------------------------------
My
thoughts:
Talk
about dropping your main character knee deep in shit. Mahir, a Seattle
Detective, goes undercover in a strip club in the full knowledge that the three
policemen who preceded him have been shot and killed. Because the owner of the
club doesn’t want his security staff to interfere with the girls working there,
Mahir’s first hurdle is the ‘gay-test’. Since Mahir is gay this isn’t a huge
issue but the head of security investigating his credentials, Ridley, is one
scary bastard. Which makes Mahir’s reaction to the test rather surprising.
Rather than repulsed he finds himself excited and drawn to the man.
Mahir’s
cover is well established and means he has to live away from his own house most
of the time which makes the arrival of his teenage nephew a problem. The boy
has left home after coming out to his mother and afraid of his father’s
reaction. Since Mahir has had a fraught relationship with his brother ever
since he came out, he understands the boy’s fears and allows him to stay even
thought it means leaving him alone most of the time.
As
a strange, potentially dangerous but compelling relationship with Ridley
develops, Mahir has to balance the various balls he’s trying to keep in the
air. If his cover is blown he’ll die, probably at the hand of the man he’s becoming
ever more attracted to. A man who seems incapable of staying away from his as
well.
With
it being unclear exactly what the owner of the club is up to the investigation
can’t be rushed while every single day undercover increases the risks for
Mahir. And it isn’t long before Mahir isn’t the only person in mortal danger.
This
was a fascinating book. It is both a thriller and a love story but it is so
much more. The authors deal with a host of issues while never giving the reader
the feeling that they’re being overwhelmed with them. Through Mahir’s nephew we
get a look at the problem of coming out to parents who neither understand nor ‘approve
of’ being gay. Mahir being a Muslim leads to the unavoidable issue of bullying
and discrimination. Both issues are woven into the story in a meaningful yet
unobtrusive way. Often, when an author wants to deal with an issue the reader
gets beaten over the head with it. Not in this book. The issues were there but
not only did they fit the story they were also dealt with in such a way that
they made the reader think without taking them out of the main story-line.
I
was fascinated by the transformation Mahir went through every time he had to
become Saeed and couldn’t look away when his cover was put to the ultimate
test.
I
love it when authors have respect for their readers’ intelligence. I won’t say
what, but I saw two plot developments coming quite early on in the story and
half feared it would be dragged out until the final pages, as seems to be the
standard these days. I’m very grateful it wasn’t and am convinced it made the
story much better than it would have been if they’d gone for the more standard
approach.
The
relationship between Mahir and Ridley was intriguing as well as incredibly hot.
I loved the smalls shifts in dominance between these two men and their
inability to stay away from each other even though being together posed huge
risks for both of them. Mahir falling for Ridley against his better judgment
despite the dangers involved was breathtaking.
“...dammit,
but that was a smile tugging at the man’s lips. Butterflies in his stomach?
More like a horde of red-assed apes
going berserk in there.”
I
don’t know enough about Islam or being a Muslim to say whether or not that
aspect of the story was dealt with in a realistic manner. What I can say is
that I never questioned Mahir’s thoughts or actions or felt the need to double
check something. All of it made sense and felt natural.
It
is a joy to have authors you can turn to, secure in the knowledge you’re
starting a well written story with fascinating characters and a captivating
narrative. Aleksandr Voinov and L.A. Witt have turned into must read authors
for me. I barely even glance at the blurbs for their books, because I know that
I’ll love their words regardless of the story content. And, Hostile
Ground only confirmed that idea for me. It was a thrilling page turner
with enough love and sex to give the reader a breather from all the tension while
the secondary characters all had a meaningful place in the story. In short this
was a well-plotted, intriguing, hot and fascinating story written by two
authors who have turned captivating their readers into an art form. This book
comes highly recommended.
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