Casee‘s review of The Darkest Hour (KGI Series, Book 1) by Maya Banks.
It’s been a year since ex-Navy SEAL Ethan Kelly saw his wife Rachel alive. Now he’s received an anonymous phone call claiming Rachel is alive. To find her, Ethan will have to doge bullets, cross a jungle, and risk falling captive to a deadly drug cartel that threatens his own demise.
Is there anything better than Maya Banks writing a reunion story? If you’re shaking your head no, you are right. There isn’t. Maybe Banks already has that knack. You know the one. The one that draws you into the story; into the characters and their lives. Have you read Sweet Surrender? Colter’s Woman? Be With Me? She has got it down. So throw in a tortured hero (and I am talking completely and utterly here) and a heroine that comes back from the dead and you have a recipe for success. Right? ::nods::
In the last year, Ethan Kelly has often wished that he were dead. Instead, his wife and the love of his life is dead. A year before, when she left on a charity trip, she left under the worst of circumstances and never came home. Ethan always told himself that he would change everything if he could. Now he may get the chance that he never thought he would get. An anonymous package delivered to his door changes Ethan’s life and may give him what he had never hoped to have; Rachel back in his arms.
Rachel doesn’t know who she is. She only knows that she needs her medicine. Having been held captive for a year, the only relief Rachel knows is from the drugs her captors give her. When a rescue team arrives, Rachel sees the face of her angel and almost believes that she has been saved. A year of captivity has changed Rachel and she doesn’t believe so easily. While part of her knows Ethan, a part of her can’t trust him or anyone around him.
Ethan is devastated by Rachel’s condition. While he has wallowed in his grief for a year, Rachel has been imprisoned and treated like an animal. Ethan wants nothing more than to get revenge. He can’t do that when Rachel needs him. It’s obvious that she does, for he is the one she turns to. After the way they parted, Ethan is beyond relieved. Then he realizes that she doesn’t remember very much. Only snippets of the past and none of their last good-bye.
Although Rachel did have amnesia, I didn’t really consider this an amnesia storyline. It was amnesia due to trauma and didn’t really affect the outcome of the story. I thought Maya did a fantastic job of writing Rachel’s recovery. She didn’t just gloss over the drug addiction. Rachel didn’t get home after being hooked on drugs for a year and “get cured”. No, it was a battle everyday. Everyday Rachel had to get out of bed and face her demons. I liked how Maya didn’t sugarcoat that.
I felt really bad for Ethan because it was like he was holding a ticking time bomb that would go off at any moment. He wanted to believe in second chances, but he already knew what it was like to lose Rachel once; he didn’t want to go through losing her a second time.
I loved this book and I know you will too. I give it a 4.5 out of 5.
This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
The series:
I sooo loved this book!
Yes one of my faves of 2010. Awesome.
I also loved this book & am hoping that the rest of the series will be just as good. My only disappointment was the last chapter…things seemed tied up in a neat bow too easily.