At a Stranger's Mercy: Badge and Bullets Book 1, Brittany Cournoyer

With a lot of acerbic interactions interspersed with disturbing and grizzly murders, this book was intriguing and dramatic from the word go.  I enjoyed that the main characters weren't caustic and antagonistic out of spite and that when there was fear, it was a real fear expressed in a real way.  There were no unbelievable or unlikely moments of sudden heroism, adrenaline-filled bravery, or blinding passion.  Starting the series strong with a case straight from hell and a tentative bond between two men who have a whole lot of baggage, I was invested right from the start.

Bradley is first introduced as somewhat of a fuddy-duddy with a strict and regimented life that is suddenly thrown into chaos because of one departure from his routine.  I wasn't sure I would like him with all his rigidity, but he grew on me.  He took his safety seriously and aside from one error, he made the best of the situation with intelligence and caution.  I respected that far more than someone who tries to shout their independence from the rooftops in an ill-fated attempt to assert their character "strength".  He's also not a pushover, no matter how fearful he is of his situation.  That's not to say there aren't moments of pouting or sulking, he's only human, but on the whole, he's someone to be admired.  My favorite moment is when he takes Max to task for the situation he ended up in and his utterly fantastic challenge that paves the way for something more between them as the series continues.

Max is more conflicted as a character and we get pretty much nothing about his past.  A past that clearly haunts him, but it's not something we're privy to at this point.  His baggage is hinted at and I'm guessing there's a whole lot of angst that we'll get to experience with him as he strives to meet Bradley's challenge.  All throughout the book he was a paragon of prickish behavior.  He was rude, condescending, brusque, short-tempered, non-communicative, and closed off.  But despite all those negative traits, there's something more to him; something damaged and vulnerable and desensitized to the evil he fights and hunts every day on the job that draws me to him.  There's so much promise for a man who will grow, soften, and find strength in what he might have with Bradley.  I'm really eager to see how he'll achieve that.

I absolutely knew this was going to end with a romantic cliffhanger so I kept that in mind when each page, each chapter held zero passionate moments between the men and I have to say I loved that.  It makes their entire dynamic believable and then as we see them grow in the subsequent books their development will progress organically.  And the notion that the evil wasn't just one person?  There's something big that's going to come and I'm really looking forward to see how that works out too.  Overall, there's so much to enjoy about this story that had a good flow, enjoyable characters, and a suitably suspenseful plot.  I'm definitely in for the next book in the series.

*$3.99 on Amazon!

Making eye contact with a killer wasn’t exactly how Bradley Danforth had planned to start his day. As an accountant, he craved structure and routine. What he hadn’t anticipated was being part of a real-life murder mystery with him cast in the starring role. 

Death and sorrow were part of Max Donohue’s job description, leaving the detective hardened after years on the job. On his latest case, he’s the one stuck protecting the only witness in a sadistic homicide.

One death becomes two… then three. And soon Max and Bradley find themselves playing a deadly game of cat and mouse. Can Max save Bradley from the clutches of a serial killer? Or will the killer finish what he started?