Reviewed by Caroline
TITLE: Kill Game
SERIES: Ace of Spades Book 1
AUTHOR: Cordelia Kingsbridge
PUBLISHER: Riptide Publishing
LENGTH: 297 Pages
RELEASE DATE: October 23, 2017
BLURB:
Homicide detective Levi Abrams is barely holding his life together. He’s reeling from the fallout of a fatal shooting, and his relationship with his boyfriend is crumbling. The last thing he’s prepared for is a serial killer stalking the streets of Las Vegas. Or how he keeps getting thrown into the path of annoyingly charming bounty hunter Dominic Russo.
Dominic likes his life free of complications. That means no tangling with cops—especially prickly, uptight detectives. But when he stumbles across one of the Seven of Spades’s horrifying crime scenes, he can’t let go, despite Levi’s warnings to stay away.
The Seven of Spades is ruthless and always two moves ahead. Worst of all, they’ve taken a dangerously personal interest in Levi and Dominic. Forced to trust each other, the two men race to discover the killer’s identity, revealing hidden truths along the way and sparking a bond neither man expected. But that may not be enough to protect them.
This killer likes to play games, and the deck is not stacked in Levi and Dominic’s favor.
REVIEW:
I have loved everything I have ever read by Cordelia Kingsbridge and Kill Game is no exception. It started out slowly for me but oh boy did it pick up pace and delivery. If you like grumpy characters with imperfect lives who don’t always bring out the best in each other then this is for you. There is very little romance, in fact there is nothing but a few heated thoughts until nearly the end, but it’s always on the cards and you know from the beginning it’s definitely going to be worth the wait.
Levi is a Detective who lives and breathes for his work. He gets in too deep and feels far too much. He lives with a wealthy boyfriend who cares for him deeply but he doesn’t like what Levi does and is constantly trying to change him – very early on it is clear that they are not an ideal match but Levi is slow to react perhaps fearful of what life on his own might mean.
Dominic is a bounty hunter and although he and Levi have met before they are definitely not on each other’s friends list – they have a love hate relationship without any of the love and their conversations are terse at best. Dominic is chasing a bounty when he inadvertently becomes embroiled in the Ace of Spades murders and he has a real problem walking away afterwards which drags him and Levi closer together.
This is a story full of suspense both for who the killer is and what will happen between Levi and Dominic. Nothing is straight forward or how it seems and by the end of the book there are still not a whole lot of answers required. There are a bunch of great secondary characters who really bring something to the story. This is a well written first book in a new series that doesn’t quite leave you hanging off a cliff for book 2 but it does leave you twitchy to see where the story goes next.
I think a great discussion between everyone who has read Kill Game would be to find out who they think the killer is….thoughts in the comments below 🙂
RATING: 
BUY LINKS: