Unstuck Pages

He broke her heart.

Graysen’s betrayal nearly destroyed Isa a year ago. Now that she’s working for Red Stone Security, she’s managed to piece her life back together after a rough year and a broken heart. Then he appears back in her life and makes it clear he’s not going anywhere until she gives them a second chance. A chance she refuses to take.

Now he’s back to claim what’s his.

Graysen’s never gotten over Isa and he knows he never will. It’s his fault she walked away, but he can’t seem to let her go. He quit his job with the CIA and called in every favor he had to get hired by Red Stone Security just to be near her again. But Isa doesn’t care that he’s desperate to make things right between them—she wants nothing to do with him. He doesn’t blame her, but he’s not willing to give her up. When they’re cornered by lethal terrorists, everything changes. Graysen and Isa will have to find a way to work together if they want to survive. Only then will he be able to convince her to claim the chance at happiness the past stole from them.

Isa Johnson’s barely recovered from the shock of betrayal that Graysen West dealt her in what seemed like a honey trap case for the CIA when she runs into him at Red Stone a year later—only to find out that he has called in every favour he’s owed in an attempt to win her back. But peripherally, there’s also a quick wrap-up for Carlito, who’s ready to cast aside his easy ways with women after meeting “the one” in Red Stone.

The last novella of Katie Reus’s Red Stone Security series is very much like the last few installments: a stepped-up game with multiple pairing (ambitious but very possible) and some kind of action that comes with the romantic suspense label, all wrapped up in half the size of a book. ‘Lethal Game’ is by and large a quick, enjoyable read, although its brevity does mean there’s a bit more of telling instead of showing, with personal histories that are glossed over and instant quick connections that bear repetitive—and somewhat cheesy—phrases such as “she was it for him”, “claiming her as his”. It doesn’t quite live up to more exciting last few books, but it’s nonetheless a good roundup of everyone’s HEA.

It’s a shame that this is really the last of the series—I think Reus could have easily continued this indefinitely.