Title: King Slayer
Series: Fog City: Book Two
Author: Layla Reyne
Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited
Length: 195 Pages
Category: Romantic Suspense, Mystery
At a Glance: Definitely jump on this series if you haven’t yet. Reyne writes such fun romantic suspense, and King Slayer is fabulous summer entertainment.
Reviewed By: Jules
Blurb: Never fall for a mark. Mission fail.
Christopher Perri—a.k.a. Dante Perry—infiltrated the Madigan organization with one goal: vengeance for his murdered partner. Falling for the assassin at the head of the table wasn’t part of the plan, but Hawes Madigan is not the cold, untouchable Prince of Killers Chris expected. Everything about the newly crowned king is hot, and every inch of him eminently touchable… and off-limits once Chris’s cover is blown.
Exposure couldn’t come at a worse time. Hawes’s throne is threatened, and Chris suspects the same person who killed his partner is behind the coup. Working with Hawes benefits them both, but Chris’s employer has other ideas. Dismantling criminal organizations is what Chris does best, and his boss expects the King Slayer to deliver.
But Hawes is taking the Madigans in a new direction, one Chris can get behind, and the two men form a shaky alliance strengthened by the irresistible attraction between them… until Chris learns who killed his partner. Once he knows the truth, the King Slayer is unleashed, and Chris will stop at nothing to destroy those who betrayed him, including the king who stole his heart.
Review: Does Layla Reyne know how to make us need another book like it’s air, or what?!? Gahhh! Ok, in all fairness, I knew going in that this book was going to end in a cliffhanger, as did the first book in the series, but knowing it didn’t help. At. All. I’m totally still shaking my fist at her. 😊 I will also say, though, even though I ended up loving it, and am chomping at the bit for the next book, I also still felt like this story got a little sluggish in places. In my review of Prince of Killers, I mentioned that I felt like things were dragging at around the midway mark, and I felt that a bit here too. There were some slow moments, and some repetition—maybe a fewww too many mentions of fog—but, as in the last book, the final third more than made up for it. That ending was fan-tastic.
King Slayer jumps in right where Reyne left us in Prince of Killers, with Hawes Madigan cuffed to the bed, and Dante Perry, now known to us as Christopher Perri, revealing that he’s a federal agent. But, in this book, as the title would suggest, instead of the story being told from Hawes’s POV, we’re in the King Slayer’s head. Chris lets it be known that the ATF’s mission of tracking down the explosives, and taking down the Madigans, is secondary to his mission, which is finding Isabella Constantine’s killer and bringing them to justice. Hawes is, of course, shocked and devastated by the news that Chris is a fed, and that Isabelle, as she was known to him, was Chris’s partner. And, he’s also now even more determined that Chris can never find out who that killer is.
The story progresses with Chris working with Kane and the Madigans to find and keep their explosives out of the wrong hands, all the while getting closer and closer to finding out who shot Izzy three years ago. As this is Chris’s story this time around, we get to see where he came from, meet his family, and find out what his demons are. I loved learning more about Dante (Hawes still calls him Dante *sigh*) and getting a glimpse into his past and meeting his family. As he and Hawes try to work out if they can trust each other again—because they sure as hell can’t stay away from each other—Chris shares some surprising, personal things with Hawes. Through it all, they realize that they still have very strong feelings for each other, and Chris starts more and more to envision his future home in San Francisco, perhaps with Hawes at his side. After so long working undercover, Chris is definitely ready to settle down and figure out who he really is, and he can’t deny that he feels like himself when he’s with Hawes.
I enjoyed that Reyne gave us Chris’s POV for this one, but I did miss being in Hawes’s head. The voice seemed a little bit stronger in the first book, like maybe she’s more comfortable writing Hawes. It will be interesting to see if she goes back to him for the final installment, or if maybe she does a dual POV. I can’t wait to find out. I also can’t wait to see how it all plays out. I think I know who the final player is in the coup attempt on the Madigan empire, but Reyne could, of course, surprise us. And I’m so happy with how she left things at the end of this one in terms of who’s in on what secrets, and who’s working together, etc. Good, good stuff!
Definitely jump on this series if you haven’t yet. Reyne writes such fun romantic suspense. Some of the plot points maybe seemed a bit convoluted—there’s a LOT to follow—but, I’m so invested in the characters that I don’t even care. The relationship between Hawes and Dante is solid, they are so sexy and awesome together, and the action and suspense are really, really fun. King Slayer is fabulous summer entertainment.
You can buy King Slayer here:
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