Smoke & Mirrors by Skye Jordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
An illusion delivers the real deal. It's easy to get lost in the suspense of Smoke & Mirrors. Logan and Isabel take emotions on an adventure that's shrouded in mystery and laced with desire. A maze of unpredictability becomes a temptingly, dangerous romance. Sizzling attraction, never-ending twists and explosive chemistry. A rapturous game of the heart that is a thriller with a capital T.
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Outbreak Task Force #1, I was offered the opportunity to read the second book and the ARC for the third book so I took it upon myself to buy and read the first book. I really enjoyed this one not only did it take place in Texas but my home town, El Paso. This one leans more to the suspense side but the romance was really good the attraction and the chemistry between them was palpable. I was new to Julie Rowe before this point and didn't know what to expect, after this one I was excited to read the next two. It was kind of like reading Outbreak (you know the 1995 movie) but with more explosions and a little more heavier on the romance. It was very fast-paced, very intense with great characters.
Sergeant Walter River, Special Forces combat medic, gets called in to help the CDC in medical emergency, when he arrives at one of the hospitals in El Paso he discovers chaos. A microorganism has been released and is spreading, River's job is to assist microbiologist Dr. Ava Lloyd in tracking down the source and help contain the spread of the outbreak before it spread outside the busy border town.
Overall, I loved this book. The only thing that kind of disappointed me was the lack of description when it came to the setting. It had very generic descriptions and it could have taken place anywhere nothing really stood out and said, "This is El Paso". But it's my hometown I'm gonna be picky.
Outbreak Task Force #2, Another great book. In this one the romance plays a more prodomainte part. The outbreak isn't in full force yet and the characters have sometime to build up their relationship before all hell breaks loose. Sergeant Lyle Smoke was just discharged from the Army, his buddy and fellow former Special Forces soldier offer him a job with the joint task force between Homeland Security and the CDC, the Outbreak Task Force, but before Smoke makes any decisions he needs to go home first. When he gets home he doesn't find a peaceful rest he finds a CDC nurse in need of help.
Kini Kerek was just supposed to do some field research for the CDC before they decide what to do, if the natural antibodies of the Hantavirus are capable of containing itself or if the CDC needs to step in a create a cure. But Kini is met with open hostility and rumors spreading that she's conducting experiments, death threats keyed into her car and physical attacks have her bosses send someone to help luckily he already calls the place home and with Smoke's knowledge of the area and the people it should make things easier. Until the Hantavirus starts affecting more and more people the next thing they know it's a full blown outbreak and the rest of the Task force is called in. But it's a little too convenient that this outbreak happened right when Kini showed up and now Kini and Smoke need to find out why before it's too late.
Overall, a great read. Fantastic writing and and ending I wasn't expecting. A little more descriptive setting than the last book and it really helped paint a nice picture when they were in the desert. The romance between Smoke and Kini was really nice, I loved that it was practically instantaneous Smoke had some emotional baggage but Kini was able to help him work through it and it was a real nice HEA.
Outbreak Task Force #3, The newest of the series and it is outstanding! Going from CDC home base in Atlanta and to New Orleans and back again this action packed romance is a great read. Former Doctor Without Borders doctor Gunner Anderson does not suffer fools gladly, and because of that he's already gone through 3 partners. This is his last chance to prove he can work with someone so his boss partners him up with the woman he's had a crush on since they met CDC nurse, former combat medic, Joy Oshiro.
For Joy it was hard not to notice Gunner, just around the office she noticed his surly attitude got slightly better after coffee and something to eat, usually anything pumpkin flavored so going into this partnership she used this knowledge to her advantage; her take no shit straightforward attitude helped too. Their first case together ends up quite a doozy, a frat house full of sick kids and one dead. Soon another house full of sick kids and more dead and another that only connection the keg. With the CDC stretched thin with a number of other outbreaks around the globe Joy and Gunner are left to track down and stop this outbreak before it gets any further but just when they think they have it figured out it gets much worse.
Overall, a great read. Joy and Gunner have to deal with not just the outbreak but for their feelings for each other and working together. They each have emotional baggage to deal with and they are both very aware what hurting the other will do and Joy especially has to realize it's worth the risk of loving each other. There is a continuing story arc in the series but each book can be read as a stand alone.
Rule usually starts off her volumes with a longer case up front, and shorter cases towards the end. I thought that this one read as filler honestly. She just seemed to find out stories concerning wives that she could write about. There are not a lot of satisfactory stories in this one.
The Deputy's Wife (5 stars)-Sad story of a woman who finally realizes her husband is not someone she wants to be with anymore after suffering verbal and physical abuse by him. Her husband, a former deputy seems hell-bent on getting the money he thinks he is owed. He sets up a hit-man plot when he goes to jail to take out her, their two children, and her sister. Terrible man from beginning to end.
The Antique Dealer's Wife (2 stars)-I don't like stories where people get away with their crimes. And the man in question, Raoul Guy Rockwell gets away with murdering his wife and her daughter by her first marriage. Rule includes some follow-up with her alluding to the fact that Rockwell continued on and got married twice after his first marriage. I don't know if it's true or not, but in the end I was not satisfied with the fact he went on without having to pay for his crimes.
The Truck Driver's Wife (1 star)-Rule actually puts forth a hypothesis that the woman in this story who is found dead on fire spontaneously combusted. It made no sense to me. This is also the second story in this volume where you don't get a true sense of ending since you don't know who did this or why.
The Convict's Wife (2 stars)- I ended up feeling for the convict's wife in this one. She marries one man who beats and abuses her on a daily basis. He forces them to move repeatedly. When his brother (who he dimed on) gets out of jail she can tell he is attracted to her. So one wonders how truthful the brother in this case was about the wife being involved with a plan to murder his brother. I didn't buy it myself.
The Chemist's Wife (2 stars)-I don't even get why they are calling a 16 year old girl who was dating a 20 something man a wife. I felt sorry for the family in this story since due to the actions of the younger woman when she finally tires of being abused by her long timer partner, tries to leave him, and he stabs her grandparents in front of her.
The Painter's Wife (2 stars)-True story of a woman abducted from her home when a convict escapes from the nearby jail.
The Minister's Wife (2 stars)-I hated this story at the time when it occurred. We get into the story of Mary Winkler who murdered her husband while he was sleeping. I still think it was a miscarriage of justice that she got barely any time and was free to go on with her life. I never bought the battered woman story that she and her defense team put out there.
I've read pretty much everything Ann Rule ever wrote but I was feeling the true crime reading itch recently so I picked this up again. My mom got me hooked on Ann Rule and true crime in general in the late 80s when I was in the 6th grade and we read every book as soon as the paperback came out.
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