Rowena’s review of Midnight Action (Killer Instincts #5) by Elle Kennedy.
She’s got a broken heart…
and a fully loaded arsenal….
Ex–army ranger Jim Morgan leads a team of elite mercenaries, but eighteen years ago in Paris, he was part of a black ops unit whose mission was to hunt down a rogue operative. In order to trap the criminal, Jim seduced Noelle, the man’s daughter—a ruthless act that cost him the love of his life and turned her into a mortal enemy. Now he can’t trust her, but he still desires her. He also needs her help….
Older, wiser, and unwilling to play the fool again, Noelle runs a group of highly skilled assassins. And she’s just been offered the hit of the century: Eliminate Jim Morgan. History gives them no reason to trust each other, but with their lives in jeopardy at the hands of a common enemy, the lines between love and hate are soon blurred. Now Noelle and Jim must face the past if they want to have a future—let alone a future together.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when jumping into this book because I’m going to be honest and say that I found it hard to like Noelle in the other books. She’s tough, she’s strong but she’s also annoying as shit. Then there’s Jim. It frustrated me when he would take off without a word to anyone on his team. So they’re being blown up and having to defend themselves and their family against enemies that they think are Jim’s and he’s off having clandestine meetings with who knows who, doing who knows what. But even with all of that, I wanted their story. I wanted their backgrounds and their history. I wanted to know what happened between these two that led them to where they were today.
And boy did Elle Kennedy write them one helluva story.
So this story starts off with Noelle being offered the job of killing James Morgan. She should be elated to take on the job, considering she hates his guts but she doesn’t take the job. She joins Jim in trying to find out who is trying to kill him, putting herself in danger in the process. It’s nothing that Noelle hasn’t been through before but she’s surprised that she’s going through all of this for Jim Morgan. The same Jim Morgan that broke her heart eighteen years ago.
Dude, this book was filled to the brim with action and drama and surprisingly, romance. I wasn’t prepared for how much I was going to enjoy this book. I’ve been mighty interested in Jim and Noelle ever since she showed up at the compound in Book 1 and Jim was pissed to high heaven. I’ve been wanting more Jim since I met him, too. I wanted to know who he really was under all of that seriousness. Where did he go when he was off without a word to his team? Why did he screw Noelle over? How did he screw Noelle over? I came into this book with so many questions where this guy was concerned and when I closed the book, Elle Kennedy had answered all of those questions and so much more.
I was prepared to like Jim because hello? He’s sexy as hell and has that mysterious edge to him but as the story was unraveling and we got the history I was searching for, added to the present drama of Jim’s life, I fell hard for him. He really gets put through the wringer in this book and I loved him a little more with each passing page. I thought I blurted, “PLOT TWIST” a lot in the other books but there were so many twists and turns in this book alone that I should have had whiplash but holy cow did I love this book.
Noelle really came around in this book for me. At first, I wasn’t a huge fan of how cold she was and how hard she was to like. I thought the way she threw her weight around and the way she was with everyone around her turned me off but as we dug into her past and found out her story, it explained why she was the way that she was. It made me understand where she was coming from. With all of the shit that she was dealt, she came out on top. You have to admire someone with that kind of grit. She picked up the pieces of her shitty life and went out and got the life she wanted. She worked hard to become strong…and she was hella strong. But what really surprised me was how she stepped up and was there for Jim when he needed her most.
Seeing these two circle each other for multiple books made their coming together in this book that much more enjoyable. I enjoyed seeing them get over their hatred of the other and truly forgive each other. I enjoyed pretty much everything in this book, even Noelle’s know it all, I’m tough woman, hear me roar act in the beginning. This book is highly entertaining, action packed and the cast is one that will stay with you long after you finished the book.
Elle Kennedy is really knocking it out of the park with this series for me. I have enjoyed each and every single book in this series and I’m looking forward to Sean and Bailey’s book next. I definitely recommend this book.
Grade: 4.25 out of 5
This book is available from Signet. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Interesting to hear the perspective of someone who’d read the rest of the series first! I came to the series fresh with this book, so I had no preconceived notions about Noelle or Jim. I liked Noelle right from the start because she takes no crap. I actually wasn’t quite sure about Jim because it seemed like he was being so cold for no good reason at first, but obviously as I found out more I came around to him. So good!
Do you plan on reading the other books? You should because they were good. 🙂 Noelle is introduced in the first book and she comes off as this ice bitch who would do anything for her girls. She’s all tough and macho and she hates Jim. Over the course of the series, I switched back and forth between liking her and being frustrated by her. Same in this book. I loved Jim. Even when he was being dumb.