The Wild Road
A Dirk & Steele, Series 8
Marjorie M. Liu

Avon Books / HarperCollins Publishers
June 28, 2011 / ISBN: 978-0-06-202018-5
Paranormal Romance
Amazon

Reviewed by Linda Young

She wakes up choking on smoke, there are two dead men in the room, she has a gun in her hand, she’s covered in blood, and she’s in a motel room. Even worse, she has no idea who she is. She has no memories before she woke up. All she has is her instincts and a little voice she keeps hearing tells her to run. And run she does. She escapes the hotel and disappears into the streets of Chicago. As she was trying to steal a car, she gets caught by a man who apparently was the owner. She was bleeding from her feet due to the glass she had stepped in. As she tried to back away from him, she collapsed.

Lannes Hannelore. Those who look upon him see only an exceptionally handsome man. But that is only his magical disguise hiding his true identity and his tortured soul. He is one of a dying race of remarkable creatures. While walking to his car he sees someone trying to break into it.. As he gets closer he notices that it is a woman. He senses that she is desperate and needs help. She slowly starts to back away as he walks towards her. He tries to gain her trust as he talks softly to her. Suddenly she collapses. He takes her to his friend’s house nearby and tries to clean up her feet and bandage them. He makes up his mind that he is going to help her.

Once Lannes finds out that the woman has no memories as to who she is, they start looking for clues and find out that there are stronger forces at work here. He calls his brother who works for Dirk & Steele for help. What he finds out is more than he wants to know. To save her may cost him his life. To love her may cost him his soul.

Once again, Marjorie M. Liu has created a hero that has stolen my heart. Lannes is a gentle soul who hides his true identity for fear of what others would think and say of him. This is the eighth book in her Dirk & Steele series and like the others, it does not disappoint. It starts in Chicago and travels through the Midwest. It has action, mystery, secrets to be revealed, and great passion. You can’t go wrong with this book.

Reviews of other titles
In The Dark of Dreams, bk 1
Shadow Touch, bk 2
The Red Heart of Jade, bk 3
Eye of Heaven, bk 5
Soul Song, bk 6
The Last Twilight, bk 7
The Wild Road, bk 8
The Fire King, bk 9
Within the Flames, 12