Ruthless Game [Mass Market Paperback]

"Ruthless Game" is the 9th book in Christine Feehan's Ghostwalker series. This story features Kane, a member of the 3rd Ghostwalker unit, introduced in "Street Game (Ghostwalkers, No 8)." If you're not up to speed on the previous books: Ghostwalkers are soldiers, who volunteered for psychic enhancements. But they all got more than they bargained for when Dr Whitney (the mastermind behind the project) also altered their genes. To make matters more complicated, Whitney has started breeding programs, where he pairs his Ghostwalkers with enhanced women, in the hopes of creating super-babies.

Kane was a soldier at one of Whitney's breeding facilities and it was there he met Rose. In "Deadly Game (GhostWalkers, Book 5)," we learned that Kane had gotten Rose pregnant and helped her escape. In that book, the men involved with the breeding program were portrayed as nothing short of monstrous rapists, so I was curious to see how Kane would be redeemed. Well, it seems Rose chose him to be her partner. She had seen him at the compound and felt attracted to him; sensed his integrity, and asked Whitney to pair him with her. Because Kane didn't want her to have to be with one of the other men, who were hardly a step above rutting beasts, he agreed to the pairing. And they had one night together before she escaped.

***STORYLINE/PLOT POINTS AHEAD***

Eight months later, our couple is brought together when Kane is on a rescue mission in Mexico. Rose has tipped off the government about some hostages and he senses her nearby when he gets on the scene. After the Ghostwalker team saves the hostages, Kane goes on the run with Rose and hides out with her until she has the baby. The hideout is under surveillance by Whitney's men and they are quickly on the run again. It doesn't take long before they are back in the fold with Kane's team. But Kane is injured during their escape --and Rose saves his life with her secret healing ability.

They all make it back to San Francisco, but Whitney's men and members of a Mexican cartel are still on the hunt for Rose. Kane needs to ensure her safety and help her learn to trust the team that is essentially his family.

I liked this book. But it was different from the previous ones in the series. Primarily because our couple didn't have sex until about 200 pages into the book. (Most of these books have frequent and hot sex scenes.) And the scenes we do have here, just don't have the same spark that the other books had. (My guess is that the pregnancy/post-delivery issues are to blame. I could live without hearing about Rose's breast milk when they're getting hot and heavy.) That aside, the actual love story was nice. Kane's love and devotion to Rose and the baby are tangible. And it is nice to see her finally have someone in her life she can trust.

I missed our old Ghostwalker friends, especially the SEAL team, so it was nice to get a small glimpse of them and their families before the story's end. I am starting to like our new unit... at least more than I did in the last book. I hope we can find away to bring them more into the fold with our old familiar faces in the coming books. 4 stars.

I gave this book 3 stars because it was sooooo much better than the last book, but I still miss our old ghost walker team a lot and this book is scarily similar to one of Lora Leigh's books. In this book the hero and heroine knew each other from before, in addition it took them a while to actually fall into bed. I wish this was how Kaden's book was.... Anyway Feehan also threw a baby in to the mix.

Kane worked for Whitney, oddly enough it was actually Rose who requested to be paired with him, I mean I guess I would do the same if all I had in comparison were men who couldn't wait to rape the women willing or not. The point is that unlike the previous pairings the woman actually chose the man. On top of this Rose escaped and didn't seek out Kane for protection or assistance with the baby. It was Kane who found her after she tipped off the government to a hostage issue. This means that Rose is now being targeted by Whitneys' men and the Mexican Cartel (whom she pissed off in the tipping off). The thing is though that this whole story reminded me of Lora Leigh's book with..... I'm not kidding..... Kane and Sherra called Kiss of Heat. Yes the lead character in that book is Kane too, and yes he worked in the Breeds lab and `paired' up with Sherra like Feehan's Kane paired up with Rose. In addition Sherra escaped the lab, was pregnant (lost the baby though) and they meet back up later and both Kanes are completely devoted to their women.

The close similarities were obvious and Leigh published her book back in November of 2005. Besides the similarity and the odd sex talk (think pregnancy and baby plus hot and heavy) I liked the way this book is pushing the series compared to the last. Fingers crossed that we get to see more of the old team and we start loving the new team a big more.

Though I have yet to read a Feehan book I didn't like this one is great. I love that she moves through the different teams, this will prevent the problem she had with the Dark series where after the 12th book it was just the same story all the time. The alpha male persona is definitely there but its great the interaction between hero and heroine. The heroine is lovably vulnerable with her man, but hard as nails and always prepared to do what must be done. The hero is protective but learns to trust his woman with the care of them both and accepts her skills as a soldier.
I look forward to learning more about this Ghostwalker team and seeing more of the other teams and how they interact as well.
Now if only we got more than one of the series a yer I'd be much happier. :)

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 53 reviews  4.3 out of 5 stars