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New Release Review! IN SAFE HANDS by Katie Ruggle (Search & Rescue #4)

In case you missed it, there’s an awesome excerpt and new release giveaway post for IN SAFE HANDS here.

9781492628262-pr

In Safe Hands
by Katie Ruggle

Synopsis:

In the remote Rocky Mountains, lives depend on the Search & Rescue brotherhood. But in a place this far off the map, trust is hard to come by and secrets can be murder…

It’s all come down to this…

Daisy Little has lived in agoraphobic terror for over eight years. Trapped within a prison of her own making, she watches time pass through her bedroom window. Daisy knows she’ll never be a part of the world…until the day she becomes the sole witness of a terrible crime that may finally tear the Search and Rescue brotherhood apart for good.

 

Review:

Fantastic end to the series!

We learned at the end of book 3 (Gone Too Deep) the surprising person behind much of what’s been going on in Simpson, and in case you’ve forgotten (or haven’t read it yet) it’s revealed really early on in this one too.

This tactic might seem counterproductive–where’s the “suspense” in a romantic suspense story when you know whodunit?–but holy schmoly, does knowing who the bad guy is ever ramp up the intensity! I spent a good 50% of the book mentally screaming at the characters–No! Don’t tell him! and Ahhh! You only think you know him! and Why can’t anyone else see it??? and the like.

I may also have screamed at them not-so-mentally. But I’ll never admit to it. 😉

Daisy Little’s past trauma (her mother was murdered during a robbery when she was 16, and Daisy saw the whole thing) has made her a prisoner of her own home ever since. Her dad, still grieving and upset at the time, turned their home into a fortress at her request. There’s a double-door, multiple-lock system to get into the house and none of the downstairs windows open. Daisy’s only true contact with the outside world in the past 8+ years has been her father (who tries–and succeeds–in being home as little as humanly possible) and Chris Jennings, the deputy sheriff who shot the man who killed her mother and has been her best friend ever since. He’s helped her to utilize the kick-butt training gym her dad put in in the basement, and he never, ever judges her about her inability to even look through an open door without passing out cold.

Really, he’s a dream guy. Except it takes him 75% of the book to even make a move…

Though there’s enough sparks given off by the two of them before that to start every single one of the fires that the mystery arsonist set off, causing Daisy’s new-found friends (the heroines from series books 1-3) to practically roll their eyes right out of their heads when Daisy brings up the “we’re just friends” excuse.

Because, please.

Nearly all of the book is from Daisy’s POV, except for a few short sections that are from the POVs of three of the series’ bad guys. I kept expecting to see some scenes from Chris’s viewpoint, but it just didn’t happen. Maybe because he seems loquacious after the strong-silent-type that was ITD‘s George? Maybe to keep us in suspense over Daisy’s seemingly-unrequited love? (Although, please. Of course he liked her. The mystery was what the heck he was waiting for, and I guess we needed to be kept guessing on that one…) I got all the way to the end before I stopped waiting for him to have a chapter… 😉

All the loose threads from books 1-3 were finally tied up at the end–at least, I’m pretty sure they were, because I’ve still only read this one and the one before. In Safe Hands would work okay as a standalone if you needed it to, because they do reiterate most of what you need to know from the other books as you go through this one. You get enough of a taste of the other couples, though (especially Lou–LOL, and OMG I love Callum with her) that chances are you’ll be chomping at the bit to find out everything about their stories ASAP.

Still not going to move to the Rocky Mountains, though boy do those search and rescue guys ever make it sound tempting…

Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A

I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

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