He didn't want her help, but she's the one thing he can't deny…
Operative Liam Alexander is a tracker, used to working solo. He only agrees to partner with child psychologist Holly Jacobs to stop a deadly serial killer. When Liam's daughter is abducted by the twisted murderer, what begins as a working relationship turns into so much more. But can Liam rescue his baby girl without sacrificing the family he's grown to love?
Good book. It opens where the first book lets off. The escaped serial killer, Darcy, was rescued by a man who then kept her prisoner. The opening scenes show the grisly way that she escaped that captivity.
We then get to meet both Liam and Holly. Liam is a professional tracker who had to realign his priorities. With his daughter's mother deployed for a year, Liam now has full custody of his daughter, Sophie. That means he needs a position with regular hours to keep him close to home, so he accepts a job with Rocky Mountain Justice. His primary task is to attempt to track Darcy in the forest where she disappeared. On his first day, he runs late because of trying to get Sophie to her first day at school. There he meets the teacher and owner, Holly.
Holly is having a bad day. She is behind on the school's mortgage payments, and the bank is calling in their loan. They have a buyer for the school. She hopes to convince the bank to give her more time, which requires an evening meeting with the banker. She must be on time, but her newest student's father is late picking her up, so Holly misses her meeting. To say that she is angry at Liam would be putting it mildly. She doesn't care what the circumstances are.
I liked the development of the relationship between Holly and Liam. Both of them have traumatic events in their pasts that affect their views on relationships. Liam believes he is responsible for his cousin's death. That caused him to build walls around his heart so that he doesn't get that close to anyone again. He also prefers to work alone rather than risk someone else's life. Holly was involved in a tragic car accident as a teenager. She, too, feels responsible, but she copes by trying to take care of everyone. After their first meeting, neither of them can stop thinking about the other. There are sparks between them that continue to grow as Holly finds herself more involved in Liam's life. I liked how she bonded with little Sophie and how that bond brought her closer to Liam. As they work together to find Darcy, the attraction between them burns hotter, and their feelings for each other grow stronger. But both of them have trouble letting go of their pasts and believing that they deserve love. It takes a nearly tragic situation for them to face their fears and embrace a future together.
The suspense of the story was great. The previous book ended with Darcy's disappearance, and this one picks up where that left off. The intensity is high from the start, as the RMJ folks briefly have Darcy in their sights, but she gets away. They bring in Holly, who has some interesting insights about Darcy. When clues lead the team to believe that Darcy is hiding at a local resort, Liam and Holly go undercover to search for her. Having the point of view of both Darcy and the Liam and Holly team made the intensity so much stronger. I got chills following Darcy's activities as she tried to escape. There were several close calls as she and Liam or Holly encountered each other without recognition until the connection was finally made. I was glued to the pages as Darcy attacked Holly and kidnapped Sophie, desperate to escape. The final confrontation was a nail-biter as they hoped Holly's insights about Darcy would allow them to reach Sophie before it was too late. The last pages serve as a lead-in to the next book, as it's evident that Darcy is more devious than anyone expects.
