After Her Deceit by Steve Rush

This book heavily features revenge and justice. It touches on redemption. This is the second book in this series about Ridge Warner and Angel Meade. It’s well-crafted thriller with plenty of action and a couple of twists to keep the reader on their toes.

In the first book (see review here), Angel Meade discovered that the man she was about to marry, Ridge Warner, was actually her half-brother. This sent Angel into a psychological spiral. Both her and Ridge are specially trained operatives for a secret government organization. Ridge escapes the attempts to kill him by Angel. But these attempts of Angel’s continue in this book. And Angel doesn’t let anyone get in her way.

Ridge reminds me of Liam Neesom in Taken. He’s a man with incredible skills. Larger than life, but that makes the read fun. And with Mr. Rush’s law enforcement background the details are enlightening and enhance the story. Angel is a worthy adversary for Ridge as she is as skilled as he is, and in some areas even more so.

This is one of those books with two predominate and mixed points of view. Angel’s, which is written in third person and Ridge’s which is first person. It’s a technique I don’t use and one I sometimes find annoying, but in this book, Mr. Rush does it well. It adds to the suspense and gives us an insight into Angel’s twisted mind.

There is a lot of emotional inner dialog we get from Ridge. Maybe more feelings being at least thought about than I’d expect. Again, not a criticism, just pointing it out.

This book easily slides in at number one for the year. It was a fun and informative read. I look forward to reading more of Steve Rush’s books.

1. After Her Deceit by Steve Rush
2. Neon Prey by John Sandford
3. Perfect Daughter by Ion Esimai