“For there to be betrayal, there would have to have been trust first.” ― Suzanne Collins
Title: Dirty Deeds (Dirty Deeds #1)
Author: SE Jakes
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Pages/Word Count: 94
Rating: 5 Stars
Blurb: Two seasoned operatives finally meet their match: each other.
Cillian works for the mysterious Special Branch 20: an organization that runs black ops commissioned by the British government. His specialty is deep undercover assignments with virtually no support. He’s been alone for so long that he no longer knows anything else.
Mal’s also used to being alone. Wanted in several states and even more countries, he’s not allowed in the vicinity of any of his former Navy SEAL teammates. And his current assignment is to track Cillian in order to discover the spook’s endgame. Except he’s no longer sure which one of them is getting played.
Cillian isn’t about to let the mission that’s consumed him for the past several years crumble because an outsider is poking around where he doesn’t belong. But Mal forces his way through Cillian’s defenses—and into his heart—exposing a devastating betrayal that could destroy them both.
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Review: I’ve read the Hell or High Water series by this author, so I was somewhat familiar with the two main characters, Cillian and Mal. I was really excited to read this story and maybe get to know them a little better. For those of you who haven’t read the Men of Honor or the Hell or High Water series, I strongly suggest you do before reading Dirty Deeds. It’s not especially necessary, but it’ll give you a better understanding of the characters and a lot of the background to what’s happening.
I love the author’s writing style. For this being such a short story, it read like a full length novel. Nothing felt rushed, it read very smooth. The plot has so many twists and turns, it definitely keeps the reader on their toes. Spies spying on each other is basically what it’s all about.
Knowing Cillian from the other books, I could never put my finger on him. Was he a good guy? A bad guy? We just never knew. While we learn more about him in this story, he’s still very mysterious. I’m loving how the author is keeping his entire story under lock and key. I don’t believe he’d be as interesting if we knew all there is to know about him at this stage of the story. I’d rather have whatever pieces are offered and put the puzzle together myself.
I loved seeing more of Mal too. He’s always been in the background in the other books, so I was very pleased to be properly introduced to him. I loved the added insight on his background, how he sustained the injury that left him unable to talk.
Through the whole story, Mal and Cillian are skating around each other. Talking via the internet, we get a sense of something deeper developing between them that neither expected, nor do they know what to do with it. How the author put these two together sexually was pure genius. The sex was so intense that I even felt it. It definitely fit right into the personalities of the two MC’s, hearts and flowers they are not.
I loved the whole premise of this story. I feel it’s a very small taste of something bigger to come. If this book is any indication of the direction this series is going, we are in for the ride of our lives.
Overall, it was a great read with a very suspenseful ending that I didn’t see coming. There is a cliffhanger, but I was okay with it. Just makes me more excited for the next book. Fans of SE Jakes, you definitely don’t want to miss this one.
You can buy Dirty Deeds (Dirty Deeds #1) here:
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