Review: In the Shadows by Hailey Turner
SYNOPSIS:
Take a chance.
Staff Sergeant Alexei Dvorkin doesn’t trust easily, and he most certainly doesn’t trust spies. He’ll work with them if ordered to, but that doesn’t mean he has to like it. Except Agent Sean Delaney is proving to be the exception to the rule. There’s something about Sean that gets under Alexei’s skin and won’t let go. Alexei would be lying if he said he wasn’t interested in what lay beneath the agent’s mask. When they’re assigned together for a mission, Alexei vows to keep Sean safe all while trying to coax the hot agent into his bed.
Hold onto hope.
Agent Sean Delaney has spent his entire adult life living a lie for his country. When the MDF tasks him with finding evidence of criminal wrong-doing against the owner of a private military company, Sean knows exactly how to play the game to get what he wants. He just doesn’t know how to handle Alexei’s advances, nor his own attraction to the younger soldier. Being a spy is lonely work, and Sean knows he should keep his distance, but saying no to Alexei is impossible from the moment they first kiss.
In a world of lies, the truth can be deadly.
When the mission takes a turn for the worse, the only thing left to do is run. In the wake of betrayal, and in the path of danger, can their fragile trust survive the battle?
REVIEW:
I enjoyed this installment to the Metahuman Files series but it did take me a minute to sink into the story. I guess I felt that Jamie and Kyle still had a lot of lingering questions between them and I wanted complete closure from that couple before venturing into Alexei and Sean’s relationship. Once I realized I had to put pause on Jamie and Kyle I found it easier to dive back into the world because the plot is still action-packed and filled with endless questions.
Alexei and Sean were an interesting pairing. While the sexual tension is brewing between, they seem to be having communication breakdown after communication breakdown and it has nothing to do with English being Alexei’s second language. But what I liked was that Sean found a group of people who accepted him. Over the course of this story, he went from being a loner to being accepted and trusted by Alpha Team. Alexei was still his snarky, rude, blunt self and that really added a layer of humor that some tense moments needed.
But what I really loved about this story was how Sean’s metahuman ability shined and the underlying plot. There is so much hidden danger and surprise plot twists that by the end of the story I was flailing wondering what the heck was going to happen next. I liked how Sean’s background and history with the CIA furthered the narrative of the story and I am honestly filled with suspense wondering how this is all going to play out in the future books.
The secondary characters are the absolute best. I loved that at one point Alpha Team paired up with Strike Force and we got to meet Alexei and Kyle’s old captain, Matthew. And his subtle interest in Katie had me laughing out loud. Honestly, I hope he pops up more in future books. I just adore all the characters, it’s such a rich, complex world to escape into.
LINKS:
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
