Silent Truth [Mass Market Paperback]

I've been following the BAD Agency series for a while now, and I'll tell you that ever since Whispered Lies, I hated Hunter Wesley Thornton-Payne III. Hunter was a rotten rat.

But I'll be the first to stand up and say that Kenyon and Love have proven that even a rotten rat can be a hero. Hunter is the BEST BAD BOY IN THE SERIES SO FAR! And perhaps because he is so damaged, his story is the most poignant I've ever read in a Romantic Suspense.

I guess it's true that "the darker the character, the more powerful the redemption." This story had me from the first page, and didn't let go until The End.

In between those pages there's one brilliant, heart-stopping plot, one steamy, to-die-for hero, one awesome girl-next-door heroine, and I could not put it down. One of the best things about series like this is getting to know the team. I love every member of the BAD team and learning more about them with each story. There's no way to describe these villains without giving spoilers, and I won't do that, but I will say that whoever came up with these villains has one twisted mind. The assasin in this story is complex, deeply-developed and brilliantly drawn.

In particular, I like that there's a bigger threat--not just one situation per book, but a threat to the whole world that we can see coming and which gets more complex and twisted with each book. I love where this series is going, and that says something, because in a series like this, the suspense plot usually leaves me thinking, "meh--that's been done before"....but not this one. I usually see the end of a particular book a mile away. But not this ending. I did not see this one coming. They had me to the last moment of the book's climax. I can't find any holes in this story. More than any other in the series so far, this story made me laugh on one page and cry on the next, and hold my breath and then smile, and then sit up and go "OMG! OH NO!!!!!" right after that.

Kenyon and Love do not cheat the reader. They do not pull punches. The story gets better with every page you turn, and they don't fall back on the expected. No cliches in sight.

SILENT TRUTH is a masterpiece of a suspense and a masterpiece of a love story all in one. I don't know which BAD agent's story is next in line, and I don't know how the authors will top this book, but I really hope they'll be able to do it, because this is one helluva good read.

If you like thrillers or suspense, BUY THIS BOOK. If you like a fantastic love story, BUY THIS BOOK! If you like to see characters hurt and heal and grow and change and become something more than you thought they could be--than THEY thought they could be, BUY THIS BOOK! You will not be disappointed.

The BAD Agency series just keeps getting better. Not only are Kenyon and Love a winning combination in putting this series together, but SILENT TRUTH's Hunter and Abby are a great duo with strong and sympathetic motivations. I found myself rooting for Hunter right out of the gate, and felt his pain as his motivation became clear. I also enjoyed Abby. Her motivations were believable and she definitely avoided that fatal "too stupid to live" category that a lot of female characters fall into in this genre.

Surprisingly, I also really connected with a repeating secondary character, Linette, aka "the BAD agency mole" inside the Fratelli organization. Well, maybe that's not too surprising since Kenyon and Love have done such a good job with her story. I was flipping pages as fast as I could read to see what was going to ultimately happen to the Hunter, Abby, AND Linette. Just putting my two cents worth in here, but I really hope Linnete gets her own book eventually.

This series has progressed well, and has really found its footing with the further development of the Fratelli, the evil mastermind organization who wants to rule the world. Where the Fratelli were still a little shadowy in PHANTOM IN THE NIGHT and began to take on more substance and clearer motivations in WHISPERED LIES, they have really come into their own as a complex villainous organization in SILENT TRUTH. I found myself hating Fra Vespia, a sure sign that this writing team has got the story well in hand.

Bottom line: SILENT TRUTH is proof that Kenyon and Love are hitting their stride well in this series. SILENT TRUTH has built my enthusiasm for this series overall and I don't plan to miss any future installments.

Bureau of American Defense operative Hunter Thornton-Payne has been a dedicated warrior since he joined the black ops squad. However he also has a personal vendetta, which the karabiner he carries with him always reminds him of. For four years ever since his newly married friend Eliot died on a mission off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii, he has hunted the killer; at the same time he avoids Eliot's wife Cynthia and their son, unborn when he died.

Hunter attends a women's shelter in Chicago as apparently a terrorist group to include Eliot's killer plans to be there also. At the gala is investigative reporter Abbie Blanton who Hunter knew during his affluent social days. When her mother becomes critically ill following a visit to the women's center, Abbie investigates. However, neither she nor Hunter expected to run into each other and to be on the run from some bad dudes.

The latest BAD thriller (see Whispered Lies and Phantom in the Night) is a high octane romantic suspense starring two people who after each went rogue unites to elude danger. The story line is razor thin and takes abrupt leaps, but is fun to follow as Hunter fears love even before his best friend died, which accentuated his belief that operatives don't marry, but Abbie has him crazy with desire even with danger engulfing them.

Harriet Klausner

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