Thanks to Netgalley for providing the Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review; all opinions expressed in this review are my own.

In this seventh installment of the “Bree Taggert” series by Melinda Leigh, Sheriff Bree Taggert has to protect her family when they are threatened by the violent Atkin family after she arrests Travis Etkin for a vicious murder. The trials of the family is compounded when Bree’s best friend and live-in caregiver of her nephews, Dana Romano, walks in on the murder of her new boyfriend, Ian. Dana is also attacked by the intruder and is severely injured during her struggle to help Ian. 

As if things weren’t complicated enough, the evidence of the crime point to Dana as the culprit rather than the actual suspect. As Bree and her partner, Matt, focus their efforts in finding who is the one threatening her family, Matt’s brother, Nolan, helps Dana’s informal investigation into Ian’s murder. When another totally unrelated murder occurs, with almost the same kind of trace evidence as Ian’s case, the team turn their focus towards Dana’s past cases. 

With many leads turning up different suspects, this informal team race against time to catch the culprit who has been threatening the family, as well as Ian’s murderer. 

Leigh has proven again why she is a bestseller. She has the ability to take the reader into these peoples’ lives and bring them close to us. The reader is made to care about the people the main protagonists care for; when they are threatened, we are as furious as they are. 

As always, this book was an enjoyable reading experience. It had a lot going for it with the two pronged investigation into two culprits. The only problem I felt the book had is that the murderer’s motive didn’t seem strong enough for him to go to the lengths for revenge that he went on to. Nevertheless, this book is an excellent addition to the series and I can’t wait to read more of Sheriff Bree Taggert.

This book gets 5 out 5 stars.