"In From the Cold"

Review - "In From the Cold" by Mercy Celeste

Like a storm waiting to erupt

Highly Recommended

Tension. This book is all about tension.

Quinn is a country singer who has hit the big time. Since leaving his Tennessee hometown, he has battled drug and alcohol addiction, hard times, family fights and an attraction to his best friend that broke that friendship.

Nathan is a deputy in the same small town he and Quinn are from. Twice divorced, former Marine Corp, from a wealthy family, Nate is happy enough. As long as he can keep ignoring Quinn.

When a crisis involving Quinn's father, the sheriff of the town they both grew up in, forces Nate to call Quinn back home, the old pains and attractions boils back up. The tension between these two men is intense - can they find some common ground to get through this tragedy?

Ms. Celeste has created a tale that crackles with tension here. The tension between two old friends who became more than that. Between fathers and sons. Family. And when the worst happens, all that grief and old hurt and love and anger and lust and history spills out and over and consumes these two hurting men.

But the tension doesn't stop there. As the search for the man responsible for this crime intensifies, additional players come onto the scene and make Nate and Quinn even more tense. Because Quinn has been keeping secrets from everyone. Secrets that hurt Nate, bringing back all his hurts and wants. And when a TBI agent questions both men, they realize their secrets are anything but hidden.

And the tension builds.

What I appreciated most about this hot, intense and very very satisfying book was the tense interplay between Nate and Quinn, and how it relates to the reason why Quinn's father was shot. As the two lovers get closer to each other, the danger gets more real and closer to home. And when it overtakes them and one of the guys is in danger, we feel how close to the line both men are.

And just when we thought it couldn't get any harder to breathe, something even worse happens. I swear, I thought I was going to grind my teeth to powder, and the tension in my shoulders gave me a headache. Because I came to care about these two characters - their wasted years, the circumstances they let come between them, the stupid misunderstandings, the wasted pride. It is like when the air gets heavy and your lungs fill with humidity and something has to give right before a huge summer storm rolls in. All that potential and energy and you know it's going to erupt and you wait and you wait and you hope it will happen and it just keeps building and you need it to just BURST or you will.

Only when the lightening starts and the rains falls, it frees you up. Here, we just gasp and bleed and hope these two can put the pieces back together and that they will be alright again.

And hellfire, when I got to the last page, only then could I relax a little. But the tension is still there. And damn it, it's GOOD. And DAMN IT I WANT MORE.

So Ms. Celeste did her job. Left me wanting. And I really can't ask for more than that, can I?

Tom