Review: Sounds to Die By by Nikki Duncan

Sounds to Die By
(sensory Ops, #1)
By: Nikki Duncan
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Published: Oct. 13, 2009
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Rating:

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Between her eyes and his ears, there’s a world of sensory overload…

Rookie FBI Agent Kieralyn Beckett is in a delicate position. Her team refuses to buy into her theory that a string of kidnappings is connected. If she pushes too hard, they’ll discover the latest victim was her college roommate and boot her off the case. A garbled recording is the only evidence, and there’s only one man who can decipher it. The hard part will be convincing him to take the case.

Blinded as a child, NSA “listener” Ian Cabrera spends the majority of his time analyzing data while secretly searching for his father, a missing CIA operative. His plate is full, but Kieralyn’s passion and determination, as well as the erotic beat of her heart, spark his interest. So does the mention of his father’s code name on her recording.

There’s only one way to follow this new crumb-trail of clues without tipping her off about what he’s really after. Convince her she needs him to be her undercover partner, despite his handicap. Between her eyes and his ears, they make one beautifully orchestrated team. Every time they touch, though, the arousal they generate creates one red-hot element of distraction…

When Kieralyn brings in a recording to Ian with Ian’s father’s codename spoken in it, he knows that he’s getting close to figure out what happened to his father when he disappeared. He tries to do some recon on his own but is followed by Kieralyn and then end up teaming together to help find not only his father but her friend and the other women who were kidnapped.

Ian’s character was one that you don’t see all too much. He was blinded as a kid when his house caught on fire. He has since learned to rely on his hearing to help him navigate the world. He’s made a living with NSA by listening to recordings. He has the uncanny ability to pick up the littlest noises, like a heart beats or accelerated breathing. He doesn’t dwell on the life that fate has dealt him but he’s aware that not many people can get past his scars to the person he truly is beneath them.

Keiralyn was a little different though. She definitely has a chip on her shoulder. There was a lot of talk of no one giving her enough credit because she’s a female. Her team doesn’t respect her. Ian doesn’t trust her enough to tell her what he knows about the people behind the recording that she brought in. It isn’t until the end of the story that she realizes that her view on everyone’s perception of her was wrong the whole time.

I definitely liked how Ian’s character was portrayed. Most people would look at him as a victim because of his disability but he has an advantage that most people don’t. He’s learned to hone his hearing skills and in doing so is able to pick up so much more information than a person with sight can.

This is a great romantic suspense with some pretty steamy scenes in it. Nikki did a great job balancing the suspense and romance. Even though it was predictable, in the end I still really enjoyed the story and look forward to reading the next book in the series.

“Screw sight. A man didn’t have to see to appreciate the picture she presented. Her smell, her heat, and the tiny moans escaping her lips were more erotic than any vision.”