Rhys Ford's "Dirty Deeds" Is Vengeance Best Served With A Side Of Murder – Reviewed by Jackie

“When the time comes, let loose a tiger and a devil.”― Charles Dickens

Title: Dirty Deeds (Cole McGinnis #4)

Author: Rhys Ford

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Pages/Word Count: 228 Pages

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb: Sheila Pinelli needed to be taken out.

Former cop turned private investigator Cole McGinnis never considered committing murder. But six months ago, when Jae-Min’s blood filled his hands and death came knocking at his lover’s door, killing Sheila Pinelli became a definite possibility.

While Sheila lurks in some hidden corner of Los Angeles, Jae and Cole share a bed, a home, and most of all, happiness. They’d survived Jae’s traditional Korean family disowning him and plan on building a new life—preferably one without the threat of Sheila’s return hanging over them.

Thanks to the Santa Monica police mistakenly releasing Sheila following a loitering arrest, Cole finally gets a lead on Sheila’s whereabouts. That is, until the trail goes crazy and he’s thrown into a tangle of drugs, exotic women, and more death. Regardless of the case going sideways, Cole is determined to find the woman he once loved as a sister and get her out of their lives once and for all.

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Review: I have been waiting for this book to come out since the moment I finished reading Dirty Laundry. While reading Dirty Laundry, I have to say that I was not the biggest fan of Jae. I firmly parked my loyalties in Cole’s camp and thought to myself that Jae was going to have a lot of making up to do. Then Rhys Ford went and got him shot. How could I stay mad at him? By the end of that book I had moved on to cautious acceptance. Like everyone else, I couldn’t help but wonder where the story would take me when we rejoined Cole and Jae in their next book.

Dirty Deeds was a little different from the other books in the series because I feel this story focuses more on Cole’s relationships. I feel the reason for this was because this case was much more personal. Cole didn’t technically have a huge mystery to solve this time around. Cole knew who the bad guy, or should I say, bad girl, was. After Sheila Pinelli committed her unforgivable act, the only thing Cole could focus on was exacting his own brand of justice.

As it usually happens, as soon as Cole gets a lead on Sheila he finds himself deeply imbedded in a larger mystery. He tries to leave this investigation to the police when Jae asks him to, but circumstances lead him down a familiar path of harrowing shootouts, more than the usual amount of trips to the police station, and a very painful trip down memory lane.

When the progression of the case begins to intersect with Cole’s past, we get a much more in depth view of Cole’s life before Jae. The trip down memory lane answered some lingering questions I know I had about Cole’s past and the events that shaped him into the man he is now.

As Cole and Jae grew closer, it seemed that Cole allowed himself to take stock of his life and begin to accept his family completely. He grew closer with Ichi and started to truly accept him into the fold, and he realized he was stronger for it. This made for an exceptionally emotional read, and I was drawn in from the very beginning, and the story never let me go.

Rhys Ford gave me everything I have come to expect from one of her books, and then some. With her exceptional flare for detail, I was taken on a roller coaster ride that I wished had never come to an end. I believe this story told me more about Cole and Jae than any of the other books ever did. But the best part is that we got an even closer look at his relationships with his family as well. In her usual style, Ms. Ford also left us something to look forward to with a VERY intriguing final sentence.

As with all of her other works, I would highly recommend this book and the entire series. You will most certainly not be disappointed.

You can buy Dirty Deeds (Cole McGinnis #4) here: