NIGHT MOVES – Stephanie Tyler
Shadow Force Series – Book 4
Dell
ISBN-13:  978-0-440-42305-8
October 2011
Romantic Suspense

Mexico – Present Day

Two Shadow Force members, Kell Roberts and Reid, have been sanctioned by two governments to take care of two drug cartel leaders when they meet Teddie running alongside the road headed directly toward the objects of their assignment.  Trying to get a crazed woman out of their way so they can do their job is next to impossible, the woman is kicking and screaming and clawing.  But their job done, Kell and Reid discover Teddie has escaped from  U.S. Marshals in Texas and the Witness Protection Program.  A year ago, Teddie Lassiter's father and stepmother were killed, and she had taken a picture of the men who did it, and is now on a spree to kill each and every one of them, especially Samuel Crystal, a family friend of her father and mother since college.  Teddie met Samuel in a bar in Mexico and shot him, but didn't kill him.  Now her revenge is mixed up with something involving Kell and Reid, and there are double the number of people trying to kill all of them now.

Kell and Reid's relationship dates from a foster home at the age of sixteen.  Together they ran away, eventually joined the service, and Reid is still in, while Kell has joined Shadow Force.  Because of what happened during one assignment, Kell has spent months alone in the jungle, killing everyone responsible for hurting members of his group.  Now Kell's mental state is not good; he feels better alone in the jungle than even being around his best friend Reid.  But while Reid is still deciding whether he wants to join Shadow Force, too, they are now both involved with Teddie and trying to keep one step ahead of Chambers, who is trying to torment Shadow Force's leader, Dylan, by killing all the friends and members of his group.

Then, of course, Teddie is being chased by the U.S. Marshals, who were in charge of her Witness Protection.  Grier Vanderhall is a U.S. Marshall, and her job just may depend on her returning Teddie within seventy-two hours.  But after meeting Reid, they have a cat-and-mouse game as Reid tries to get Kell and Teddie back in the United States and away from Grier, and Grier must acknowledge that she can't believe a word he says, but yet is still strangely attracted to him.  Guns and knives and killings abound and everyone on both sides send in more and more people to kidnap Teddie and kill Kell and Reid, and they all get sort of tangled together.  Dylan is back east and after marrying Riley, his old mentor. Chambers calls and tells him he is going to hurt as many friends and members of his team as he can.  Darn it, but Dylan regrets not killing Chambers when he had a chance.

Once again Stephanie Tyler has ratcheted up the tension and excitement in NIGHT MOVES, a further installment in the Shadow Force Series .  Each of our characters has had terrible experiences in their youth that continue to determine their actions.  Told from each of their points of view, we learn of the terror and sadness each of them has lived with, and how each of them has coped with it.  There are many bad guys, some after Teddie, and some after Kell and Reid; well, not really after them; they are after Dylan, the head of Shadow Force, and are trying to get to him.  Kell and Reid must think ahead of everyone after them, and still try to figure out what direction Teddie will go because of her fear and determination to wrest vengeance against those who killed her parents and ruined her life.

Secondary characters are all the other members of Shadow Force, each one with a different skill to help the group.  Several members have recently let women into their lives, and this is definitely changing the dynamics of the group.  Samuel is full of evil and the man in charge of Teddie's parents' deaths.  Chambers was once Dylan's mentor, and has since gone over to the dark side, and blames Dylan for what happened to him in Albania ; and all because Dylan wouldn't finish the job and kill him.  Grier is the U.S. Marshal sent to bring Teddie back to Texas , and her actions trying to get her back in custody further confuse all the bad men trying to kill Teddie, Kell, Reid, and now her.  Dylan is disgusted with himself because of Chambers, and hates the thought of his friends being marked because of him.

NIGHT MOVES is the next installment in the Shadow Force Series and introduces Kell and Reid.  Each of them is devoted to the other, but nearing the limits of their sanity because of what they've gone through. They must try to deal with their differences before their opponents kill them.  Teddie just yearns for a normal life again, but can't go on knowing people are alive who killed her parents.  I believe Reid and Grier's story will be next, but there is no mention of the next chapter in the series.  Although part of a series, NIGHT MOVES is a standalone book, but you will certainly want to learn the back stories of the other member of the Shadow Force.  Tighten your belt and get ready for a thrill-a-minute ride as you read NIGHT MOVES.

Carolyn Crisher