Guest Review: Trace of Fever by Lori Foster

Judith’s review of Trace of Fever  by Lori Foster.

Undercover mercenary Trace Rivers loves the adrenaline rush of a well-planned mission. First he’ll earn the trust of corrupt businessman Murray Coburn, then gather the proof he needs to shut down the man’s dirty smuggling operation. It’s a perfect scheme—until Coburn’s long-lost daughter saunters in with her own deadly plan for revenge.

With a smile like an angel and fire in her eyes, Priscilla Patterson isn’t who she seems to be. But neither is the gorgeous bodyguard who ignites all her senses. Joining forces to plot Coburn’s downfall, Priss and Trace must fight the undeniable heat between them. For one wrong move, one lingering embrace, will expose them to the wrath of a merciless opponent.

This is the second novel in the “Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor” series and is a worthy follow-up of the first book wherein Trace Rivers was introduced as the brother of Alani Rivers, the woman rescued from slavers in Mexico.  It is a novel that is filled with tension, edgy characters, compelling romance, and the high drama of an undercover operation.

Murray Coburn was a scumbag who had become incredibly wealthy from selling women into sexual slavery.  He was a sociopath–absolutely no conscience about what he was doing.  In fact, he enjoyed the exercise of criminal power he exercised over his “shipments” as well as those to whom he sold these women.  Trace Rivers was undercover as Trace Miller, his number one bodyguard, mean, heartless, ready to hurt, disable, kill or otherwise hurt without a moment’s hesitation.  That all these people were criminals who needed to be put out of commission made it easy for Trace.  What wasn’t easy was fulfilling his mission to destroy Murray when the so-called daughter, Priscilla Patterson, came on the scene.

Priscilla was an interesting heroine.  At times she seemed impossibly naive while at others she was brainy, sassy, wiley, and quite adept at portraying a clueless twit when dealing with Murray.  That her life and her ultimate welfare was seriously in danger didn’t seem to enter in.  She was there to kill Murray, a man who had abducted her mother 25 years earlier, and who had so terrorized the woman that she lived in fear and dread until the end of her life.  Now Priss was out for blood.  She had been forced, by her mother’s fear, to live in such a way that she really didn’t experience much of life growing up.  Now she wanted to feel the arms of a strong man around her, wanted to be wanted as a woman, even if it was only for this brief time.  She wanted Trace to be her first.  Priss was one of those “baby doll” kinds of women on the surface, but there was lots going on underneath all the seeming innocence and naivete.  I found her character quite compelling.

Trace was out for blood, too, as a professional mercenary who had set his heart on destroying the kinds of men who had abducted and almost sold his sister into sexual slavery.  Priss was an unexpected complication as he now not only had to find a way to accomplish his own objectives but he now had to protect Priss from herself as well as Murray.  Factor in Helene, Murray’s current squeeze, who was a chemist and a truly evil woman who wanted to destroy Priss as potential competition and to have her way with Trace who had rebuffed all her advances so far.  Trace was one of those guys that was beautiful to look at but you just didn’t want to have him as an enemy.  He was prepared, both mentally and physically, to meet incredible challenges, and he was the kind of guy we all want to have on our side in a fight.  Priss certainly couldn’t keep her heart from pounding when she was with him.  And Trace knew that his own attraction put both of them in danger.

This is a wonderful read, especially with the mix of romance and suspense.  It is the kind of book that kept me on the edge of my chair from the first page onward.  Each character was unique and played an important role in filling out the story.  Again, Matt and Chris added in the humor and together with Dare and Molly, filled in the back story.  While this is a stand alone novel, it is even better if the reader has read the first novel.  I was sorry when the book came to an end.  I know this will be a real “wow” for Lori Foster fans, and for those who have not read any of her previous work, you can’t go wrong with this book.

I give this novel a rating of 4.75 out of 5.

The Series

You can read more from Judith at Dr. J’s Book Place.

This book is available from HQN. You can buy it here in e-format.

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