LAST LIGHT – M. PIERCE
The Night Owl Trilogy , Book 2
St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN-13: 978-1-250-05835-2
November 2014
Erotic Suspense

Denver, Colorado – Present Day

Matt Sky is an author, writing as M. Pierce, who has just had his latest book published to great acclaim, along with being revealed as the author.  The one thing Matt craves is solitude, and after a book signing arranged by his editor, he is almost comatose over the loss of his privacy.  Two months later Matt has decided to fake his own death and is on ice mountain climbing alone when he falls in an accident.  He's bleeding and must depend on himself to get to safety and to go through with his ruse.

Hannah Catalano can't stand the lies she is telling to everyone in her lover Matt Sky's family.  She is back in New Jersey for his memorial service, and the telling of lies, especially to his brother Nate, is nerve wracking.  Then she meets his other brother, Seth, and must keep up the lies despite his abrasive personality.  Calls from a phone booth to Matt don't help her much as she tries to live with her fake suffering while longing to be back with Matt.

Everything comes to a head when Night Owl, the story of Matt and Hannah's meeting and subsequent affair for the past year, is released on the internet.  Who would do such a thing?  Aaron Snow, a reporter, shows up in the cemetery for a picture of the grieving girlfriend, and Nate, Matt's brother, is determined to sue whoever released Night Owl, despite everyone believing Hannah wrote the story.  Matt posted the story on the website where he originally met Hannah, and he is soon contacted by computer at the cabin he's hiding out in by Melanie, the person who took the posting and turned it into an e-book that is earning money hand over fist.  This leads to Melanie moving into the cabin with Matt as his “chauffeur”…and tempting him.

Hannah is devastated over every intimate detail of her affair with Matt being sold on the internet, and she's also left wondering how it could have been released by someone else on the very website he met her on.  His lies to her don't even sound real, but that is one thing Matt is known for, his lies.  Lies about everything constantly come out of his mouth and involve Hannah, even though she doesn't know about them.

M. Pierce has gifted us with another bizarre story about Matt Sky, who writes under the name M. Pierce, and is a dedicated loner, except for letting Hannah into his life the past year.  Matt appears to be emotionless, yet his craving for Hannah seems never to be satisfied.  Hannah must live with Matt's wishes to be alone, yet when he wants her to just leave Colorado and fall off the edge of the world, she just can't do it, despite her cravings for him, too.  Sexually they never seem to get enough of each other, and passion that intense is hard to leave, hence her secretive trips to Matt's hideout in the mountains.  How long can Hannah live two lives, and will Matt soon demand that they escape and just disappear somewhere?

The secondary characters add much richness to this story.  Nate is Matt's brother, trusted and always has his back.  Seth is also Matt's brother, but Hannah gets definite signs of an attraction from him that disturb her, along with her fascination for him.  Pam is Matt's publisher and also Hannah's boss, and is clueless as to what is going on.  Then enters Melanie, the unknown seller of Matt's story of his affair with Hannah; will Hannah find out about her?

LAST LIGHT continues The Night Owl Trilogy, which started with NIGHT OWL (February 2014).  The last in the Trilogy is AFTER DARK (March 2015).  An intense story full of lies and insane lust between Hannah and Matt will have you wondering about the sanity of Matt, and why she puts up with him despite their strong sexual connection.  At times powerful and full of Matt's lies, LAST LIGHT turns a rock over on the story of a perverted relationship that at its heart is sexual obsession.  Can you handle LAST LIGHT?  See if you can…

Cece Johns