Into the Crossfire
A Protectors Novel: Navy SEAL, No 1
Lisa Marie Rice

Avon Books
November 29, 2011/ ISBN 978-0062085795
Romantic Suspense
Amazon

Reviewed by Linda Morelli

Sam Reston is a former Navy SEAL who is currently investigating a smuggling ring headed by the Bucinski gang. Sam owns Reston Security, located in an office building in San Diego, just down the hall from a gorgeous new office tenant.

Nicole Pearce is a translator who has opened an office in San Diego so she can be near her cancer-ridden father. When she and Sam meet, she·s cool to Sam·s alpha male directness, but he convinces her to have dinner with him and their romance slowly develops. Then Nicole receives information on a terrorist plot in an encrypted email sent to her. Suddenly her life is in danger, and Sam will do anything to protect her.

Into the Crossfire has the typical alpha hero, a tough, sexy bad guy who is drawn to a beautiful, independent heroine with family and financial problems. The romance between Sam and Nicole, though slow to develop, results in fantastic, hot sex. That being said, it takes a great deal of suspension of disbelief for me to think an intelligent heroine would blindly walk into terrorists· hands, requiring Sam to rescue her and thus bring their relationship closer. However, the subplot with the terrorists was reminiscent of the events of 9/11, and brought a sense of reality and suspense to the story.

Lisa Marie Rice has a great talent for writing hot, erotic romantic suspense, as her previous releases show. The book has a high degree of sexual language that might be too sensitive for some readers. I enjoyed the author's writing, the manner in which she slowly revealed each character's emotions, and the plot held my interest. In short, I enjoyed the book and look forward to reading the next release in this series.

Reviewer's Note: Strong sexual and religious swearing.