MIDNIGHT REVENGE – Elle Kennedy
A Killer Instincts Novel, Book 7
Signet Eclipse
ISBN-13:  978-0-451-47443-8
February 2016
Romantic Suspense

Oaxaca and Isla del Rey, Mexico

Six months ago on a mission gone bad in Ireland, Sullivan, one of Jim Morgan's mercenaries, was abducted.  Derek “D” and another teammate, Liam Macgregor, have spent the majority of time since then looking for Sully.  Liam feels guilty because of a kiss they shared that he is afraid made Sully hate him; and D knows Sully was taken because he was using his name at the bar that night.  Whoever took him thought he was getting D, but since Sully has not reappeared, they are all sure he is undergoing who knows what type of torture to break him into telling where D can be found.  Unfortunately, Liam is growing increasingly erratic and got himself shot, and they are in Oaxaca at a clinic run by Sofia Amaro and supported by Jim Morgan and his team.  As D is waiting for Liam to wake up, he goes to Sofia's house nearby, and their carefully hidden but overwhelming lust overtakes them.  By the time Sofia wakes up, D and Liam are leaving in their helicopter, never to be seen again until someone else needs her medical attention.

Sofia has had the hots for D for a long time, and his clinical sex with her, although great, just showed her how little affection he truly has for her.  He was dressed and leaving almost before they were done, let alone letting a kiss for her come from his lips.  Fast forward two months and guess what?  Sofia is in Costa Rica at Jim Morgan's compound to find D.  Despite two methods of birth control, Sofia is pregnant!  Sofia's lack of any family makes her determined to keep the baby, but she believes D at least has a right to know and maybe set some of his requests for visitation.  Despite D being on a mission, he is a mercenary remember, Jim sends her and two other men to another part of Mexico where D is still looking for Sully.

Sully has endured torture unlike anything anyone can believe.  Days have turned into months and he doesn't even know where he is, but it is close to water because he can smell it.  Sully has survived seeing a supposedly innocent woman being raped in front of him because he refused to reveal D's location, and has been on several kinds of drugs, currently heroin, which they just stopped providing him.  Having withdrawals and hallucinating and feeling sick all the time, he takes advantage of a door not locked and sneaks away into the rain forest, looking for civilization, a foot at a time, dealing with the physical realities of withdrawal.  But Sully is pretty sure he never told them anything about where D is.

After D gets to the city where a source said Sully is being held, who has followed him but Liam? And then Sofia and two more team members.  That is not the way a mercenary operates!  But D finally has his answer; Sully is being held by Mendez, a leader of the drug cartel whose son D had killed nine years earlier.  D must pay, but Mendez is working for someone else, the leader of The Smith Group, someone D worked with years ago and who now wants him murdered.

Elle Kennedy sure knows how to ratchet up the excitement and tension during this mission.  Told from D's and Sofia's points of view, D is all work and not much play, a mercenary with total control of his mind and body, determined never to get mixed up with a woman.  Sofia is bold to a fault, knowing deep down that D doesn't want to be a father, but wanting to somehow break through his shell.

Secondary characters are the other members of Jim Morgan's group, and even some of their wives, who were assassins under the control of his new wife Noelle.  Mendez is evil personified, and ready to kill D for what he did to his son.  Sully and Liam are still working on their relationship; are they still buddies, even though Liam crossed the boundary by kissing Sully?  Liam couldn't stand to ruin their friendship because he can't control how he cares for Sully.

MIDNIGHT REVENGE is an awesome, anxiety inducing and scary story with a tight story line and action galore.  There's lots going on here, and most of it gruesome.  Other stories in the Killer Instincts serie s can be found on Elle Kennedy's website.  There is always a lot of combat and conflict in these stories. It is a must read to find out if Sofia can break open D's heart and give him something to look forward to in life.

Carolyn Crisher