“The quick pain of the truth can pass away, but the slow, eating agony of a lie is never lost. That’s a running sore.” ― John Steinbeck
Title: Breaking Point (Turning Point #2)
Author: N.R. Walker
Publisher: Totally Bound
Pages/Word Count: 238
Rating: 5 Stars
Blurb: A fight for what’s right becomes a fight for his life.
As guilt plagues him, Matthew Elliott’s world begins to spiral out of control. The harder he holds on, the more it slips through his fingers, and he’s helpless to stop it.
Entering into the underground cage-fighting scene, he starts out fighting for what’s right. The deeper he gets, the more guilt consumes him – the more pain he takes for his penance, and he’s soon fighting for more than justice.
He’s fighting for love.
He’s fighting for his life.
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Review: N.R. Walker has quickly become a must-read author for me, having read the second books in both the Thomas Elkins and Turning Point series back to back, and falling in love with each of the characters all over again.
Breaking Point is a slow simmer that leads to a flash burn, a story that snuck up on me as the plot slowly unravels right along with Matt’s life, and his and Kira’s relationship. It’s a story of lies, both spoken aloud and those told by omission, and the consequences of doing the wrong things for what feels like the right reasons.
Matt is suffering the burden of guilt carried over from the events that happened in Point of No Return, things that were beyond his control and not his fault, but circumstances that feel as though they were his doing by association, and the author gets the emotional pitch of the conflict just right, drawing the reader into the heartache right along with her characters. Matt has seen Kira through his recovery while ignoring the glaring reality that he himself has never dealt with the guilt of his job putting Kira in harm’s way, and that’s the abyss Matt falls into as all we can do is watch helplessly as he stumbles again and again.
With that in mind, N.R. Walker maneuvers the reader through what we can so easily see coming but can’t turn the pages to get to quickly enough as the anticipation builds for the inevitable, then climaxes in a frightful way when Matt’s world crumbles around him and he loses everything under the burden of his lies. From the anticipation of it all coming to its inevitable conclusion, to watching it unfold with family and friends, both old and new, N.R. Walker effortlessly catches us up in the emotional shrapnel right along with Matt and Kira.
This is a great book and a great addition to the series, filled with intrigue and danger, all wrapped up in characters it’s all too easy to love.