He finally escaped his past…Then she appeared on his doorstep.Sheriff Jamison Wyatt has spent his life helping his loved ones elude his father’s ruthless gang of thugs, the Sons of the Badlands. But he’s never forgotten Liza Dean, the one who got away. Now Liza’s sister, a child, is caught in the gang’s most horrifying crime yet—and only Jamison can help her retrieve the little girl from her … the little girl from her captors. With only each other in the isolation of the unforgiving South Dakota landscape, can they infiltrate the crime syndicate before it’s too late?
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The clock is ticking for Sheriff Jamison Wyatt and Liza Dean in “South Dakota Showdown” by Nicole Helm, book one in the Badlands Cops series.
Jamison hasn’t seen Liza in fifteen years and he hasn’t forgotten her. Nor has he forgiven her for returning to the place he helped her escape from.
Liza needs Jamison’s help in finding her little sister, Gigi, hidden by the biker gang Liza returned to in the guise of protecting her sisters. Failing once, she knows Jamison will help since he’s done it before.
While on the hunt for Gigi, Jamison and Liza come to terms with regrets from their past, as they stake a claim for their future.
Ms. Helm writes a compelling suspense with deep characterization as well as leaving hints to upcoming books in the series.
South Dakota Showdown was action from beginning to end! I love Harlequin Intrigues because they are fast-paced and action-packed but also a quick read. South Dakota Showdown did not disappoint in any of those factors. When you first meet Jamison, a small-town cop, and Liza, you know instantly they’re old flames. They might hate each other now, but somewhere in their past, they were lovers. Within a few chapters you come to realize that Jamison doesn’t hate Liza, he regrets that he couldn’t keep her from the clutches of her father and his, the two men who run a South Dakota Gang called the Sons. Jamison rescued all of the Wyatt brothers and Liza, but Liza didn’t stay out, she went back, and he never knew why. Now, fifteen years later, he knows. She went back for her sisters. She went back to try and do the same thing he did for his brothers. She went back to save them, even if she died trying.
When a bullet comes out of nowhere, it’s obvious she might, but Liza has a 4-year-old sister being held somewhere by the Sons and she wants her back. She can’t find her and the only person she knows who can and WILL help her is Jamison. She’s desperate and even accepts his distrust of her, the one man she always loved, to get help for her little sister.
What ensues is a tense, high-pressure game of cat and mouse as they try to outwit Ace Wyatt and his band of not so merry men. Surprises crop up constantly for the two old flames, but the last thing they expect to surprise them is the love they’ve held onto for each other all these years. Faced with a tough choice, Jamison and Liza have to put aside their wants for the future and focus on the present, saving Gigi and other girls from a sex trafficking ring.
When all is said and done, Jamison and Liza know they still aren’t safe from the Sons but they’re willing to live their lives together despite that knowledge. I loved Jamison, Liza, Grandma Pauline, Gigi, Cody, and Dev (two of the six Wyatt brothers). I can’t wait for the next book in the series to find out about the mysterious Cody and Dev and what they get themselves involved in. If you’re looking for a fast-paced, well-written, quick intrigue read, then you’ll love South Dakota Showdown!
South Dakota Showdown by Nicole Helm is the first book in her new Harlequin Intrigue series, Badland Cops, and while I liked its premise, I didn’t love its execution for several reasons, and it gets 3 stars from this reader.
The first Badlands cop we meet is Jamison Wyatt, a sheriff’s deputy in the small town of Bonesteel, South Dakota. He’s the eldest son of the notorious Ace Wyatt, the leader of the ruthless, murderous biker gang, Sons of the Badlands. After his mother’s untimely death/disappearance/possible murder, Jamison manages to escape from the gang, and eventually manages to rescue his three younger brothers over the course of several years. He even rescues Liza Dean, his teenage girlfriend, but after 4 years away from the gang, Liza suddenly and without warning, returns to the them, mystifying Jamison and breaking his heart in the process. He doesn’t know why Liza left him, and he hasn’t seen or heard from her in 15 years.
While Jamison is on patrol in town one night, he notices someone trying to break into the sheriff’s office, and when he confronts the felon, it turns out to be Liza. Liza returned to Bonesteel to beg Jamison for his help. Her father, Tony Dean, is Ace Wyatt’s second in command in the biker gang. She has reason to believe that he’s already killed Callie Bright, her father’s wife, as well as one of her sisters, and her remaining sister, 4-year-old Gigi, saw and described her dead body. Liza has also overheard camp rumors about the gang becoming involved in human trafficking, and she desperately wants to rescue the one sister she has left. Gigi was already missing when Liza looked for her. After having witnessed the murder or its aftermath, will the gang let her live?
Liza knows that she can’t pull off a rescue by herself, and since Jamison has tried to keep close tabs on the gang and its activities over the years, he had no idea that they were now into human trafficking, and he finally agrees to help Liza after someone in a passing car shoots Liza in the leg. They both know it’s gang-related payback for her escape. It’s a pretty interesting premise for this novel, but what comes next is a bit of a letdown.
The middle third of this novel is about Jamison and Liza trying to get near enough to the nomadic gangs’ location without being seen, captured, tortured and killed, and the length of that trek drags on and on, and on, much of it with Liza and Jamison on foot, after the truck they were in was discovered and torched while they were busy scouting the area on foot. Then, two of her father’s scouts/henchmen get within killing range in the dark one night, and although they manage to overtake and hogtie them, they know that their presence in the area has been discovered. I think their long trek could have been shortened by half and still gotten the message across. I really didn’t need to know every time they stopped for a drink of water or a protein bar. What saved this part of the book from the utter boredom of the slow pace was that although 15 years had passed since they’d last seen each other, Liza and Jamison finally start to reveal the feelings they still have for one another, despite their 15 years apart, and Jamison’s mistrust of Liza.
The latter third of the novel is where the action really picks up, and it was fraught with danger for all concerned. It’s good, solid, romantic suspense, and has you on the edge of your seat with tension and concern for Liza, Jamison, and little Gigi. If the middle third of this novel had been shorter, the final third and its HEA ending would have earned it 4 stars instead of 3. All-in-all, a relatively good read, but not a great one.
I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.
Sheriff Jamison Wyatt is just finishing up his shift in his small hometown of Bonesteel, South Dakota when he notices someone by his office door. A breakin? Jamison will stop that. Turns out the person by Jamison’s door is Liza Dean. Both Jamison and Liza grew up in the camps of the Sons of the Badlands biker group, a murderous, cruel group of criminals. Jamison managed to get his five younger brothers out and then he and Liza escaped. But Liza ended up going back. What is she doing here?
Liza Dean needs Jamison’s help. Her four-year-old half-sister, Gigi is missing. Gigi told Liza that she saw the murder of her mother. The Sons never hesitate to brutalize and murder but surely they wouldn’t kill a four-year-old girl whose father is the very powerful second in command of the Sons. Jamison doesn’t trust Liza but fortunately he agrees to help her find and rescue Gigi. She knew he would. If only she could stifle her feelings for him. Could he still care about her as much as he did when they were younger? Will his mistrust snuff out his feelings? Doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is rescuing Gigi.
South Dakota Showdown by Nicole Helm begins this author’s new series, Badland Cops. This series is about six brothers who have escaped from their brutal life with their Sons of the Badlands biker group leader father. In this first book the eldest brother, Jamison, who got his five younger brothers out of the camp and to their grandmother in Bonesteel to raise, is the main character along with Liza Dean. Four of the six brothers ended up in law enforcement roles, quite the counterpoint to their brutal outlaw father. I found the premise of this series quite interesting. The characters are intriguing. I look forward to the stories of all the brothers.