A striking beauty with a taste for diamonds and dangerous men, Drea Rousseau is more than content to be arm candy for Rafael Salinas, a notorious crime lord who deals with betrayal through quick and treacherous means: a bullet to the back of the head, a blade across the neck, an incendiary device beneath a car. Eager to break with Rafael, Drea makes a fateful decision and a desperate move, stealing a mountain of cash from the malicious killer. After all, an escape needs to be financed.
Though Drea runs, Salinas knows she can’t hide–and he dispatches a cold-blooded assassin in hot pursuit, resulting in a tragic turn of events. Or does it?
Left for dead, Drea miraculously returns to the realm of the living a changed woman. She’s no longer shallow and selfish, no longer steals or cheats or sells herself short. Both humbled and thrilled with this unexpected second chance, Drea embraces her new life. But in order to feel safe and sound–and stop nervously looking over her shoulder–she will need to take down those who marked her for death.
Joining forces with the FBI, supplying vital inside information that only she can provide, Drea finds herself working with the most dangerous man she’s ever known. Yet the closer they get to danger, the more intense their feelings for each other become, and the more Drea realizes that the cost of her new life may be her life itself–as well as her heart.
Only Linda Howard could pull something off that’s this edgy. Death Angel definitely varies from the more traditional romantic suspense. You’re either going to love this book or hate it. I really don’t think there’s going to be a lot of in between.
As a mistress to crime lord Rafael Salinas, Drea Rousseau is satisfied if not happy with her life. That all changes when Rafael uses her as payment for services rendered. Never would she have imagined that the possessive Rafael would allow her to be with another man. Yet that’s exactly what he has done and it’s with the most dangerous man that Drea has ever met.
Though she’s incredulous and in disbelief, what happens next is almost beyond Drea’s ability to comprehend. After years of keeping herself and her emotions contained, Drea begins to feel things that she’s ill prepared to feel. It’s that on top of the humiliation she feels that compels Drea to not only leave Rafael but to steal from him as well. The blurb can be misleading because Drea doesn’t make the decision to leave Rafael lightly. She knows exactly what she’s doing. More than anything, she’s determined to make Rafael pay for inadvertently bringing her long dead emotions back to life.
Of course Rafael doesn’t take betrayal lightly. Hiring the very assassin that he offered Drea to, Rafael orders her death. Simon is surprised, yet proud, that Drea managed to escape Rafael. Since he first started doing business with Rafael, he could tell that there was more to Drea than the dumb-blonde persona she showed to the world. Though he never intended to actually follow through with his demand for sex w/ Drea as payment, he found himself unable to resist her. Now he’s been hired to hunt her down and kill her, a job he’s not sure if he will take.
This is where it really departs from a customary romance. Not only has Simon been hired to kill Drea, he hasn’t decided if he will do it or not. Deciding that following her is the best way to go, Simon inner struggle is apparent. Kill her or not? That decision is taken out of his hands when Drea is killed in a car accident. This part was very emotional. Simon is with Drea as she takes her last breath.
Drea-now Andie-not only survived, she’s given a second chance to be the person she’s meant to be. To do that, she knows that she has to do whatever she can to bring Rafael Salinas down. What she doesn’t count on is Simon, the man that changed her so many months before. The man that ultimately set into motion the events that led her to where she is today.
Again, the blurb is misleading. She doesn’t work with Simon to bring Rafael down. Rather she approaches the FBI to see if she has any information that could be helpful. What happens next is absolutely brilliant.
Spoiler Alert Simon guns Rafael down on the street. He refuses to let the FBI use Andie as bait and does what is necessary to ensure she is not in danger. This is completely atypical in romance novels. Good guys do not kill people in cold blood, no matter how evil they are. Simon wasn’t a good guy, though. What he was, was a man in love./end spoiler
I loved this book. I haven’t loved a Linda Howard book this much since Cry No More. The ending couldn’t have been written any other way.
4.25 out of 5
This book is available from Ballantine. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
After a few shaky books by Linda in the past few years, I am glad Death Angel is getting such praise. I love how she decided to write a different angle to her story and not the goody goody hero and heroine we are so used to reading. Of course I had to read your blackened out spoiler. LOL
Also, Linda Howard will be at RWA!! WOOT.
Love this book more everyday. It broke so many rules and conventional expectations -I don’t think Simon even says “I love you” to Andie (I could be wrong..), it was clear in his action.
mph
I really enjoyed the twists and turns in this story, Casee. So glad to see more of the male POV back in a Howard! I miss those so much.