Publisher:
Date of Publication: March 29th, 2021
Genre: Romance, Supsense, Mystery, Thriller
Series: Moonlight and Murder
Shifting Targets—Book 0.5
A Critical Tangent—Book 1 (review here)
Pivotal Decisions—Book 2
Seeds of Murder—Book 3
An Unlikely Grave—Book 4
Deadly Interception—Book 5
Purchase Links: Amazon
Format Read: Unedited ARC
Received: Author
Trigger Warnings: memories of kidnapping, memories of assault, memories of branding, moderate violence, moderate language
Goodreads Synopsis:
Harlyn bristled under the weight of unknown eyes dissecting her every move. Skin at her nape crawled from the mal intent focused in her direction. From behind the trunk of a spreading oak, she scanned the isolated meadow in search of the unknown threat.
Nothing stirred but shadow arms sprouting budding leaves. It’d been years since she’d turned the tables on the predator intent on breaking her.
Harlyn Colton has never run from a fight, not until her best friend’s murder sends her to the mountains of Pennsylvania. Shredding her ID and ditching electronics, she assumes she’s bought time to sort the mystery before federal officers knock on her door.
Brice Crenshaw works with the Ferndel foundation, a group organized to help returning military Veterans learn valuable skills and smooth out the rough edges before joining civilian life.
When a kickass, knife wielding female arrives with a target on her back, the group closes ranks to protect one of their own.
Accidents stack up while dead bodies reveal conflicting evidence. With the help of her K9 companion and the distraction of a well-intended protector, Harlyn must uncover the identity of the killer before he eliminates his final witness. Harlan.
First Line:
Harlyn bristled under the weight of unknown eyes dissecting her every move.
Deadly Interception by Reily Garrett
Review:
Deadly Interception is the fifth book in the Moonlight and Murder series. I was a little hesitant when I started reading it. Even though I had read the first book, I had skipped books 2-4. I was worried that I had missed something important (relationships, plotlines) that would come up in Deadly Interception. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. There were references to the previous books, and the main characters from the earlier books were secondary characters. But that was it. The author kept those storylines/characters in the background.
The flow of Deadly Interception was fast. This book hit the ground running from page one and didn’t stop until the end of the book. I couldn’t put the book down. I needed to know what was going to happen. There was a slight lag in the middle of the book but nothing to write home about. It didn’t affect the flow of the book at all.
There were two main storylines. The first one was Harlyn hiding from whoever killed her best friend and the investigation into it. There were several secondary storylines attached to it. The second storyline was Harlyn’s emerging relationship with Brice and her budding friendships with his friends. Both were brought together towards the middle/beginning of the book’s end and merged into one storyline. Both storylines were well written and had multidimensional characters.
I enjoyed Harlyn’s character. The author did a great job showing how severe trauma can affect a person years after the incident. She was severely damaged, suffering from PTSD. It didn’t help what her father did (and didn’t) do after she returned. I did find her sometimes too intense and super standoffish during certain scenes. And her hot/cold relationship with Brice drove me insane.
I had a love/hate relationship with Brice. I loved how he intuitively knew that Harlyn was damaged, and he was going to look out for her, whether she liked it or not. But, at the same time, I hated how immature and insecure he came across. He read Harlyn’s journal and used that information to get her to trust him. That left a bad taste in my mouth. Plus, he couldn’t believe that a woman could do the job that she did. I wanted to shake him and ask what century he lived in!! Oh, and let’s not forget a specific scene at the end of the book. I had smoke coming out of my ears (even though that person deserved it).
The story arc with the dogs was fantastic. I do wish that the author introduced the dogs earlier. On the other hand, I figured that if Hutch were there, some of the scenes would have been different.
The romance between Harlyn and Brice was a slow-burn. At times, I did wonder if it was going even to take off. Mainly because of how Harlyn and Brice got along. The minute they kissed, I knew that the sex scene was going to be hot, and oh boy, it was!!!
The end of the book was great. The author wrapped up Harlyn’s storyline in a way that made me cheer!! She also left the door open for another book. Now, I am wondering who the book will be about. My bets are on Dylan, but I don’t know. He stated that he had already lost his “forever person.” But, we’ll see. There are a couple of other people that I would like to see meet their match.
Deadly Interception was a fast-paced romantic suspense that hooked me from the first page. The storyline was fantastic, and the characters were memorable.
I would recommend Deadly Interception to anyone over the age of 21. There is violence, language, and sex. There are several flashbacks to when Harlyn was kidnapped and what they did to her. There were also flashbacks to what happened to her after she escaped.
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