What price would you pay for your freedom?When young Ziggy meets a charismatic stranger online, he changes her world forever. Together, they map out a plan to free her from the cold, loveless home she’s trapped in.But when Ziggy arrives in Mallhaven, intent on marrying Andrew, he’s nowhere to be found.Desperate to stay in Mallhaven while she searches for her true love, Ziggy accepts work on a … Ziggy accepts work on a cannabis grow op hidden in the mountains where she’s taken captive and held against her will.
When a kind stranger tries to free her, they discover they’ve been enmeshed in a vile and twisted plan orchestrated by the very man she fell in love with.
Now, a terrible price has been set on her freedom, and Ziggy has precious little time to decide if she’s willing to pay it.
This darkly disturbing continuation of Dark Hunter is not for the faint of heart. Proceed with caution.
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Blown away, not what I was expecting, even though I have already read book 1. I get so used to books you can guess where it is going. Not with this one, so many twists & turns and outright dead ends/detours. But can this be a HEA or a something gone wrong. A must read
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Holy cow. This book was amazingly dark, twisted and a what did I just read kind of book by this talented author. Logan is fast becoming one of my go to authors.
Kane And Ziggie’s Dark Story
This is this second book in this series. Because it is almost entirely a flashback from five years earlier, it is possible to read this without first having read The Hunter’s Game (book one).
The last book leaves off with Hunter and Clover somewhat committing to a tenuous relationship, but Clover demands an explanation for what happened at the Church next door. Hunter explains that it is not his story to tell, but he reluctantly agrees to contact the person whose story is in question, and his old best friend Kane arrives along with a girl named Ziggie.
This book opens up with both couples settling down in the living room, where Kane’s story opens up. Although Hunter claims to be starting off the story, it is told entirely from Kane and Ziggie’s POVs. This is their story, but it also involves another couple – Hunter and MJ. It therefore allows the reader to glean parts of Hunter’s background, too (from book one).
Ziggie, supposedly nineteen, has been raised by Jehovah’s witnesses and feels stifled. She decides to run away to be with Andrew, whom she met on an app one year earlier. He has promised to marry her. When she arrives in his town at the bus stop, she is unable to reach him.
Kane is roughly thirty-ish and has a shady background, although he tries to do the right thing these days. It appears that he took more than his fair share of the blame for something in the past, and he needs to stay away from cops. He has been on a grow-op farm for a few years, where he has been welcomed in spite of his background. Hunter has been with him on the farm for about one year. Before working on the farm together, Hunter had bought his drugs from Kade, and their relationship goes back two years.
The first half of this book moves slowly – much more slowly than necesssry. Kane is tasked to recruit girls to help during the harvest, and Ziggie arrives in town looking for Andrew. Kane and Hunter recruit Kane’s friend MJ, who hits it off with Hunter. Ziggie joins them in the hopes that her Andrew is at their farm. After the girls arrive, Kane quickly becomes paranoid that there is an ulterior motive for recruiting the girls and tries but fails to return them to town. During this time, Hunter and MJ are openly into one another, while Kane and Ziggie build chemistry in spite of themselves. This is interlaced with lots of recreational drug use.
Midway through it becomes obvious that Kane was right to be worried. He and Hunter work to save the girls, while the girls try to survive, but even then there is a lot of drug use. There are scenes that include rape. Desperate for help, Kane revisits his past.
It feels unrealistic that Kane would put his friends Wes and Luke under the bus and in danger when they had been granted permission to leave the farm. This instance is never revisited, and given Colby’s strange behavior (discussed below), it is impossible to presume anything. Jealous or not, Kane’s head was focused on getting the girls out, so why wouldn’t he also be happy to see his innocent and unsuspecting friends leave?
Although there are certainly arguments that could be made that explain why Colby keeps letting Kane near the girls, those arguments aren’t effectively made. Given some of his actions, Kane shouldn’t be trusted. It would have felt more real if Colby did a better job of explaining all of this to Kane – and not just once, but each time Kane’s behavior is questionable.
Related to this, it seems impossible that most of the grow-op men aren’t aware of the situation with the girls given their disappearance and the extra activity. All those present and not in the know are a risk to Colby’s operation! It is stated later that if the cops arrive there wouldn’t be a problem, but then why are Wes and Luke brought back? Yet later Kane and Hunter let go! The reasoning feels fluid.
The Father’s character is difficult to understand and consequently feels slighlt two dimensional. His motivations and choices are confusing and sometimes feel contradictory. Why he allows Kane and Hunter to enter the Farm at all is unclear. As to Ziggie, he doesn’t want her touched, yet she is treated so badly.
Finally, like in The Hunter’s Game, Hunter’s timeline is very confusing. Rather than clearing up any questions from the last book, there are more unclear or contradictory statements made.
Overall, this is a very dark story. I would rate it 3.5 stars if possible. It could have been considerably shorter and tighter. Kane and Ziggie are both tortured souls and it is easy to root for them. They do not get a traditional happy ending, but the story continues so there is hope for that yet. Learning more about Hunter’s past is eye-opening and explains a great deal. The story ends with the expectation that the Father will be calling on them soon.
So much YES! I have no idea how to sum up how much my dark heart loved this book! If you enjoy dark romance and suspense then you’re going to love this, but proceed with caution… it’s not for the feint of heart!
If you’ve not read book one, Hunter’s Game, then you need to do that first. They’re two very different stories, but they’re connected, and both are fantastic reads.
It’s a pretty long book, but I was gripped throughout. Logan has such an incredible way with words, creating vivid characters. We know something dark and terrible is coming, but we’re kept on the edge of our seat the entire time.
Very excited to move on to book three!
The Binding Ties
Logan Fox
another AWESOME read from Ms Fox!
If you like dark romance, then snap this up! I’ve never been disappointed by this author, she is definitely a one click for me.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.