Friday, June 11, 2021

Review: Deadly Secret by T.J. Logan

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Title: Deadly Secret
Series: O'Halleran Security International
Author: T.J. Logan
Read copy: eBook (Kindle)
Published: August 21, 2019
Publisher: TJL Creative Works, LLC
ASIN: B07S39PS41

He steps into the shadows to pursue a killer...

F.B.I. Special Agent Beckett O’Halleran values Family, Honor, and Loyalty. A botched undercover assignment results in the brutal murder of his partner. When the killer is set free by a Deputy Director on the take, Beck walks away from the Bureau. He vows to stop at nothing to avenge his partner’s death, including using an innocent woman.

She is dragged into the shadows by her mother’s past...

A deadly secret from the past threatens Gwendolyn Tamberley’s life. Thrust into the crosshairs of a merciless psychopath who will destroy anyone who threatens his empire, she becomes the center of a firestorm between the Russian mafia, the F.B.I. and a former agent hell-bent on retribution.

Will deadly secrets destroy them?

Gwen’s only hope is the man who’s been deceiving her. And Beck must choose between his obsession with vengeance and the woman who’s come to mean everything to him.

My rating:

***copy provided by author/publisher through BookSirens***

After losing a member of his team to a brutal Russian mobster, Beckett O'Halleran is determined to do anything necessary to bring the animal down. Even forsaking his career with the FBI and pretending to be a contractor to approach a woman with a yet-unknown connection to the man he's hunting. But as he gets closer to Gwendolyn Tamberley, the feelings he develops for her start overshadowing his personal vendetta.


Wow, gambles sometimes pay off. A new-to-me-author and her very first book might not be a good combo, but in this case, it's jackpot.

This was a perfect mix of romance and suspense. Though it had its calm-before-the-storm moments, there wasn't a dull or plodding passage. The story flowed nicely, the shifts between the scenes and "themes" were fluid and seamless, the narration painted pictures with words until it was like watching a movie and the action scenes riveting and gripping.

The characters, though the pool was rather small, were wonderful and multi-layered. The heroine, Gwendolyn, was a lovely, rather balanced combo of damsel and spunk (or Tasmanian devil, if you like), diminutive and dainty, but with a core of steel, resolved and determined when time called for it. I'm also glad she wasn't prone to holding grudges once she got the whole picture. It made the main romantic conflict brief and to the point without diminishing its intensity or making me dislike her.
The hero, Beck, was your typical RS hero. Alpha, but with a heart of gold, heaping guilt onto his shoulders even when it didn't really belong there. Sure, he made some questionable decisions (not telling Gwen the truth earlier, for example), but his heart was in the right place. He was protective, adored his family, and completely lost his bearing when he met Gwen. What more can one want? Granted, some of the stuff he thought of her was a bit flowery and sugary (he'd know in his heart if she died *cringe*), but it somehow worked in juxtaposition to his otherwise tough image.
Then there was his brother, Caleb, seemingly his brother's complete opposite—laid back ladies’ man with a sense of humor and without a care in the world, but when it came down to the wire, he was just as intense and protective, willing to do anything to help. I can't wait to read his story.

And then there was the villain, the centerpiece of the story, if you will. A stereotypical Russian mobster (at least in fiction and movies); ruthless, brutal, capable of anything. The little torch he's been carrying for twenty-five years might've made him sympathetic if it wasn't for all that he's done and planned to do. The connection between him and Gwen was rather transparent, yet the reveal of it still packed a punch. And the final showdown, with the knowledge of what they were to each other, was made even more chilling, creepier and scarier for it.

The story pulled me in from the start. The characters were wonderful, the suspense riveting, the romance sweet and well-paced and the action gripping and intense. Loved it.

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