Thursday 25 February 2021

Shadow Men (Hunt&Cam4Ever Book 7) by Adira August



 

Blurb (taken from Amazon and Goodreads)

 

DARKNESS FALLS, EVEN IN PARADISE...


“I said, no.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t accept that.”

Hunter gave Ben Hart an incredulous look. “Accept it or don’t Hart, I’m not leaving Cam right now.”

The billionaire put his hands into his pockets and looked around Cam’s yard—an unimproved clearing to the edge of the woods. Above the jagged line of the canyon rim, a lone raptor circled lazily. “I don’t like calling in favors, but if that’s what it takes…”

“If you ‘call them in’ they aren’t favors. And before you explain exactly what happened, why do you need me? If it’s a police matter, Hawaii has police departments. The locals aren’t meeting your high expectations?”

Hart’s indigo eyes flashed fire. “Remember who you’re talking to, Detective.”

“Remember I don’t work for you, Hart.”

Benedict Hart and Hunter Dane faced-off. They were both big men, both men who had killed, and both motivated by the same thing.

“Don’t fight me on this, Hunter; I'm protecting my family.”

“So am I, Ben. Either tell me what the hell is going on or leave. Cam and I are still on our honeymoon.”

Something desperate flickered across Ben Hart’s face. “I’ve done a lot for you, Hunter. And for Cam. You think I can’t hurt you? And hi—”

WHAM!

One billionaire facedown on the redwood table.

“Hunter!” Cam was on the patio, in sweatpants and nothing else. He crossed swiftly to the table. “Let him go before one of his bodyguards takes you out from the woods.”

Hunter didn’t move. “He threatened you.”

“Then he’s scared s**tless about something money can’t fix."


 

A 72k word police procedural, the seventh in the Hunt&Cam4Ever BDSM-MYSTERY series. This is the book the author calls "The hardest book I ever wrote." This is an ending no one was expecting.

AN ASTONISHING TWIST IN THE EPIC LOVE STORY~ A HIGH SEAS DEATH ON A BILLIONAIRE'S YACHT


"No matter how hard you fight the darkness
every light casts a shadow;
The closer you get to the light
the darker that shadow becomes."
Plato

 

Review

Shadow Men is the 7th Hunt&Cam4Ever book in a series I have been in love with from the very first chapter in the very first book. And if I adore the stories, I’m even deeper in love with these two wonderful, strong, gorgeous, complicated, and incredibly sexy men. Right from the start the dynamic between Cameron and Hunter fascinated me. The way they developed both separately and together was at least as intriguing as the mysteries they solved together. Both murder and romance had and have me on the edge of my seat. As far as their relationship is concerned, I’m more on edge now than I’ve been at any point during their story.

 [If you’re curious about my thoughts about the earlier books in this series, you can find them all by following the links you’ll find here:

The Interrogation: https://helenasheat.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-interrogation-hunter-dane.html

Links to all earlier books: https://helenasheat.blogspot.com/2019/11/fractured-men-hunt-6-by-adira-august.html ]

This story then. It should have been their honeymoon and, five days into their marriage, everything is not all sweet and easy love. How could it be given who Cam and Hunter are? But, their honeymoon is supposed to give them the opportunity to learn about each other, to smooth out a few ruffles. Until billionaire Domenic Hart strong-arms them into investigating a mysterious death on board his luxury yacht.

The mystery, as always, was flawlessly plotted, full of twists and turns. The setting means this is a traditional mystery with a limited number of suspects almost with a locked room atmosphere. The possible motives appear and are dispelled until only one solution remains. So far so fabulous but also, more or less, straight forward.

Not so straight forward is the effect of the investigation on Cam, on Hunt, and on their relationship. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what about the way they were together bothered me, but I read their interactions with a growing sense of discomfort, hoping against hope I was wrong. Except that I wasn’t. I can’t say anything else, but the way this story ended scared and all but broke me, just as it all but broke Cam and Hunt. Both the plotting and pacing were just about perfectly executed, keeping me rooted in the story, pushing me from page to page with my heart in my mouth and tension coursing through my body.

Not that it was all heavy, ominous, and heart breaking. Far from it. In fact, there’s something about married Hunter and Cameron that reminds me of Eve and Roarke in the In Death books. And I mean that in the best possible way. It has to do with learning how to be together when it is forever or, in Eve’s terms’ learning the marriage rules’. And while neither of them has done it before, it appears to be Cam who’s finding their new way of being together harder than Hunter.

Of course, the (sex) scenes in this story are intense, hot, and just as unforgettable as the two main characters are. But, while I enjoy those scenes, they are not my main reason for reading this series. What has me hooked is the combination of intriguing mysteries and two equally intriguing characters. Over eight books, Cameron and Hunter have become a part of my life. I think of them as real people, two guys I might meet some day. They’ve gotten under my skin and I suspect and hope they’ll continue to live there.

Tomorrow Hunt&Cam4Ever book 8 releases. The author warns readers to NOT read book eight unless they’ve read #7. When I saw that I rolled my eyes. I mean, who would want to read a series of books out of order anyway? But, while breaking that rule may mean a reader gets less enjoyment out of a story than they would have done with knowledge of the full preceding story, situations in which a sequel should not be touched under any circumstances without familiarity of what happened before are few and far between. In this case however, I fully agree with Adira August. I strongly advice anybody who hasn’t read the Hunt & Cam stories yet to start with the first book and work their way through this series in the correct order. But, as the author says, whatever you do DO NOT READ FOREVER UNTIL YOU’VE FINISHED SHADOW MEN. I have no way of knowing what will happen in the next book, but the ending of this book indicates that it will be very emotional as well as the culmination of everything we think we know about these two men and everything we still need to learn. Needless to say, I’ve got my copy pre-ordered.

Is it tomorrow yet?