Judith’s review of Risking Trust (Private Protectors #3) by Adrienne Giordano.
Roxann Thorgesson’s world is out of control. After her father suffers a fatal heart attack, she must take over as publisher of Chicago’s second-largest newspaper. Then her ex-boyfriend Michael Taylor, CEO of his own security company, shows up needing a favor. The last thing Roxann needs is Michael around causing trouble—and potential heartbreak—but he’s involved in a scandalous story she can’t pass up.
Twelve years ago, Michael walked out on Roxann without explanation. Now he needs her help. Michael’s estranged wife has been murdered and he is the prime suspect. He offers something no newspaperwoman could refuse: exclusive access to his headline-making murder accusation, in exchange for her help in uncovering the true killer. When their investigation leads them to a city hall conspiracy, both their lives and their newly reignited flame could be permanently extinguished.
This novel is the third in a series by this author but is, by her own admission, really a flashback of sorts. It is the novel she started when she conceived this series but which didn’t get written until the first two novels were already released. Those who have read the first two stories are well acquainted with Michael Taylor, a man who really started from nowhere with nothing except his military training and a few good friends who were willing to take a chance that they could use their skills in civilian life and as contract operatives for the government. Michael is also a man whose private life has slowly disintegrated with the departure of his ex-wife, a woman who revolted against the long hours he spent building his security firm, who somehow knew in her heart that she was not Michael’s first love, and a woman whose own insecurities and inner desires made fidelity in her marriage impossible. Now Michael is under suspicion for her murder as their separation and divorce have been difficult and adversarial. He knows that he has few friends “downtown” and his future as a free man is in serious jeopardy. Who can help?
Enter the “old girlfriend” but that isn’t all she is. She is really Michael’s first and true love, a woman whose father is an important and powerful publisher of one of Chicago’s premier newspapers and a woman Michael mysteriously left high and dry 12 years earlier with no explanation. (The reader isn’t made privy to the explanation for quite a distance into the book, either.) Roxanne has never married, has watched silently as Michael married and as his marriage came apart. She now has her own problems. As if that weren’t enough, Michael appears on her office threshold and makes his problems hers.
This is another really great novel for those who really love romance fiction but who enjoy the spice that a good mystery adds to the tale. This story has layers and the reader has the sense that getting to the ultimate explanation of each layer is like pealing an onion, except that all the layers interact with one another. There is, of course, Michael and Roxanne’s relationship–past and present. There is the matter of the wife’s murder and finding the killer. Add in the problems Roxanne has as she must assume the position of publisher because of her dad’s death–a man she loved and deeply respected. All these factors are complicated by added issues that slowly but surely become known as the investigation into the wife’s murder peals off more layers that compromise relationships that are on the one hand professional, and on the other personal.
It is a great read that is complicated, fascinating, and compelling. The characters will live in the reader’s thoughts after the final page because there’s so much going on and the richness of the story and plot won’t easily turn loose of the mind. I also had the sense that the HEA was in danger, that perhaps Michael and Roxanne weren’t going to be able to get past the barriers that difficulty, hard and little-known fact, and time had erected between them. They are both good people and they have continued to love each other. But how do even good people get past some of the issues that face these two?
I have been excited as each new addition to this series has been releaased. This is one very good author whose storytelling ability is never in doubt and whose concepts, storylines, and plots have grown into novels that will easily withstand the scrutiny of repeated readings. Even though this novel is sort of “out of order” as series novels go, it fills in blanks in Michael’s life as it is encountered in the first two stories. But aside from all that, it is just one of those books that is, in and of itself, a joy to read.
I happily give it a rating of 4.5 out of 5
You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.
This book is available from Carina Press. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
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