Reviewed by Colette
TITLE: Bound For Trouble
AUTHOR: EM Lynley
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 260 pages
BLURB:
Daniel “Deke” Kane is a broken man, facing the end of his career in the FBI. He’s on desk duty after a botched drug raid left the suspects and two children dead. He’s got one chance to prove himself, or the only thing he’ll be investigating is the Help Wanted ads.
Ryan Monroe has been on the run for ten years. Forced onto the streets when his father kicked him out, Ryan earns his living in other men’s beds. Finding his john dead in a hotel room drives him under the radar until a favorite clients gives him a chance at a safe, clean life. But Ryan’s relatively stable new world shatters when Deke Kane catches up with him.
When Deke’s tasked to take down a drug dealer with terrorist ties and a taste for the dark side of BDSM, his only chance to get close is the suspect’s interest in Ryan, and he convinces Ryan to become a confidential informant. In return, Deke offers Ryan immunity from his past. As Ryan falls under the drug lord’s domination, Deke finds himself falling for Ryan
REVIEW:
This book has everything I love: a broken hero looking for redemption, a young man trying to escape his past, FBI agents, sex, action and romance. It’s no wonder Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious is a favorite movie of mine.
Deke’s life has pretty much fallen apart, he has been confined to a desk job in Cyber Crimes, his longtime partner has move out and pretty much moved on, he has nightmares about the botched raid and is not sleeping. In a word, he is a mess.
Bryan an interesting mix of jaded stripper/rent boy and innocence, he is really trying to put his past behind him and create a new life for himself. A former customer of his at the club where he used to work has given him a job and a chance to go back to school – he just has to give up his old life. He is working at an organic grocery store owned by Gregory, his old customer, with his friend Gina – who Gregory has also promised to help.
Deke and Ryan are brought together when some bank deposit data Deke uncovers while in the Cyber unit leads to a drug investigation lead by his FBI boss. Deke is given the opportunity to work the case; one he jumps at, it is his last chance to redeem himself.
The banking trail leads the FBI to Maksim Petrov a suspected drug dealer rumored to be funneling money to weapons dealers. Petrov is an elegant attractive man with a penchant for BDSM and pretty boys. The decision is made to get a CI – confidential informant – in with Petrov. The search for a CI leads Deke straight to Ryan. Brought in to the FBI, Ryan is blackmailed into becoming Deke’s confidential informant.
The attraction between the two is immediate and intense and continues to grow over the course of the book. Ryan gets a job at Dungeon 69, a BDSM club Petrov is known to visit. There he catches Petrov’s attention and starts a relationship as his sub in training. The dynamic between Ryan/Deke and Ryan/Petrov is fascinating, Ryan is falling in love with Deke, but is drawn to Petrov’s Domination; Deke has uncovered his own need to dominate at the club and is falling in love with Ryan. Petrov is a mystery; you never really get to know him.
Things come to a head after a waiter at Dungeon 69 is murdered and bugs are found at Petrov’s.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
Amazon