Midnight Action
(Killer Instincts #5)
By: Elle Kennedy
Publisher: Signet
Published: Nov. 4, 2014
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Rating:
She’s got a broken heart…
and a fully loaded arsenal….Ex–army ranger Jim Morgan leads a team of elite mercenaries, but eighteen years ago in Paris, he was part of a black ops unit whose mission was to hunt down a rogue operative. In order to trap the criminal, Jim seduced Noelle, the man’s daughter—a ruthless act that cost him the love of his life and turned her into a mortal enemy. Now he can’t trust her, but he still desires her. He also needs her help….
Older, wiser, and unwilling to play the fool again, Noelle runs a group of highly skilled assassins. And she’s just been offered the hit of the century: Eliminate Jim Morgan. History gives them no reason to trust each other, but with their lives in jeopardy at the hands of a common enemy, the lines between love and hate are soon blurred. Now Noelle and Jim must face the past if they want to have a future—let alone a future together.
My thoughts…
Jim is the leader of his mercenary team. He’s always had this hate-hate relationship with Noelle who is the leader of the female assassins. Any time we’ve seen these two interact with each other, sparks fly, and it’s not the good kind. We never knew exactly what their history was, just that something happened in the past that made them hate each other. However, we learn over time what their history is in this book. The story starts off with Noelle being contacted to take out Jim. Instead of doing the deed, she warns him. As the two of them team up to figure out who’s behind the hit contract, we are taken back in time to when these two originally met and what transpired to make them hate each other so much. I have to say, it’s quite a doozy.
I will be honest and say that I was sort of losing steam with this series. I was even contemplating whether or not to read this one. For some reason Noelle and Jim just didn’t interest me and I was getting a bit bored with the story arc of the series as a whole. I wish I had read this sooner. It is by far the best book in this series. I mean, Jim is this surly boss who is short with everyone. Noelle is the female equivalent of Jim except given the fact that she’s an assassin, she’ll actually kill you if you irritate her too much. So, it stands to reason that with their not so great history with each other, that when they are around the other, they tend to be even more hostile. I thought this would just be a sexual tension filled book but it wasn’t. These two immediately bump uglies in the hopes of just getting their sexual frustration out of the way. However, that doesn’t seem to work so they continue to do the deed while still continuing to loathe the other person. Instead of focusing on the sexual tension, we get glimpses of the past when Jim was a secret operative and Noelle was just a young girl in her late teens. However, that’s not all this story has to offer, we also get a bombshell dropped in our laps that pretty much revamps the story right in the middle. There was just a lot going on that kept me entertained. I just can’t believe it took me so long to read this. *totally kicking myself right now*
One thing I would like to mention is that we don’t just get the past and present POV of Noelle and Jim. We get the “bad guys”, the new character that pops into play halfway through, and a couple of the secondary characters get their own chapters. I have to say, I am DYING to get a couple of their stories. First up is Sully and Liam. I’ve been hoping that they secretly have a thing going since the moment I met them. While it’s not official in this book, there are hints and moments that lead to there something potentially happening there. Then there’s the rookie Ash and the new character that comes into play in this story. I really hope they become something and get their own book.
Midnight Action rejuvenated my interest in this series. It had the perfect mix of action, suspense, sexual tension, a good mix of characters, and a twist to make the story more complex. I enjoyed every minute of this book and finished it within 24 hours. I look forward to reading more of this series.
Favorite quote…
Mainly because this is the only movie of Keanu’s that I like.
“You know how the bus was rigged to explode if the speedometer dipped below fifty? Well, it’s the same thing with the plane, only it’s altitude instead of speed. And fuck what everyone else says—Keanu Reeves rocked in that film. Dude’s a legend.”
Previous reviews from Killer Instinct
Midnight Rescue
Midnight Alias
Midnight Games
Love when a book in the series makes you love the series all over again 🙂
Love Keanu in Speed. Glad this book got back into the series. I have the first book in my kindle.
I’m happy you got this one read and it renewed your interest in the series. I like the sound of this one enough to start the series! *ha* I love grumpy heroes and giggled over the heroine being a female version of the hero. 🙂