They can only solve the perfect murderIf they work together. After a shot rings out in the night, park ranger Blaire Afton knows her hard-won serenity is in jeopardy. But when she’s faced with a murder with no motive and no clues, US forest ranger Gus Maddox agrees with her suspicion that this is no random crime. With their shared military past, Blaire and Gus become close. But will their need … their need for each other hinder their quest for justice?
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Good book. It opens in the past with the murderer(s) before they have started killing. The premise behind it is more than a little disturbing, especially the way it evolved. After the prologue, the book moves to the present day, when Blaire hears a gunshot in the night. As a park ranger, it is her job to investigate. At the same time, Gus was out for a late-night ride, brought on by an uneasy feeling. He was partway to Blaire’s cabin when he, too, heard the shot, so he joined Blaire. What they found was deeply disturbing. A man was murdered inside his tent while he was sleeping, with his young son in the tent with him.
I liked both Blaire and Gus. Both of them are veterans, and each struggles with PTSD. Their work as rangers suits them perfectly, as it keeps them mostly out of crowds, and lets them spend time in the outdoors. Both have good relationships with their coworkers.
I liked the development of the relationship between Blaire and Gus. They’ve known each other for a couple of years, as their park jurisdictions are adjacent. They bonded over their time in the military, often meeting for coffee. On occasion, one or the other will share something that happened in the past or something that is bothering them. Sometimes they just talk about their day, or sit and enjoy the quiet. What neither mentions to the other is the growing attraction they feel, fearing that giving voice to it will affect their friendship. But with the murder, Gus can no longer deny the protectiveness he feels toward Blaire. What I really liked about him was that, even though he felt protective, he never doubted Blaire’s ability to take care of herself. Though Blaire was confident in herself, she couldn’t deny that it was comforting to have Gus nearby. The more time that they spent together investigating the murder, the stronger that the attraction between them grew. I loved that first kiss and seeing the passion between them explode. One of my favorite things is that they both knew the value of communication and honesty between them. They were also aware of each other’s problems and knew how to support each other. I loved the ending, as nearly losing each other made them realize what they wanted from the future. The last scene was sweet as they discovered they had friends and found love and a new way of life.
Both Blaire and Gus suspected that the murder was more than a random event. Thanks to their time in the military, they saw the potential that it was a highly planned event. Those feelings deepened when they heard rumors that there had been other seemingly random murders over the last several years, all at parks. At the same time they tried to put the pieces together, the reader also got the point of view from the other side. Two of the men were clearly psychopaths, and their words and actions were definitely creepy. As for the third man, I wouldn’t go so far as to call him a victim of circumstances, but he got caught up in something he didn’t know how to get out of. His redeeming feature was the heavy dose of guilt that he felt, which I thought affected his later actions.