Reviewed by Valerie
TITLE: Collateral Damage
AUTHOR: Miski Harris
SERIES: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
LENGTH: 142 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 14, 2020
BLURB:
Life has a way of turning your world upside down. Just when you think you’re away from the eye of the storm you find you were never really the central target but instead, the aftermath of the physical and emotional destruction.
Jordan’s life was full of losses. He lost his friend EJ when he disappeared during a Don’t Ask Don’t Tell debacle. He lost his livelihood after career ending injuries during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He returned home to find he’s also lost his life partner Michael, and while traveling to receive intense treatment of his PTSD, he suffered yet another catastrophic loss. He’s angry and depressed. What else could life take from him?
Ron has led a solitary life in the Rocky Mountain foothills of Colorado. He trains service dogs to meet the needs of clients suffering extreme anxiety driven illnesses. For this reason, he has a stellar reputation and relationship with the military serving war torn veterans. He knows there is something missing and he’s sure it’s not love because, well, been there, done that…
As life brings Ron and Jordan together, will they each have what the other needs to weather the storms of life? Or, will each man continue to wander through the detritus of fate, nothing more than collateral damage.
REVIEW:
Jordan, I promise to catch you if you fall. Ron.
Collateral Damage is a novella that reads like a much longer novel. I wish it was a much longer novel. It didn’t suffer at all from its brevity, I just enjoyed it greatly and could’ve kept reading. This is the story of one man’s path of physical, mental, and emotional healing after a string of terrible traumas. Jordan is struggling to cope with enormous loss: the loss of his Air Force career to due to a medical discharge, the loss of stable mental health, and the loss of his life partner. He’s seeking treatment for his PTSD with the aid of a service dog being trained in Colorado. While relocating across the country, he suffers arguably the worst loss of all. Jordan’s situation epitomizes the adage “add insult to injury.”
What better way to bond than over a dog? Ron – Jordan’s love interest – owns Pawz for a Cause and trains dogs to be highly specialized assistants to PTSD sufferers. Jordan stays with Ron during the training of his dog, Deejay. Their romance is a slow burn. Ron also has a painful past he keeps hidden. They each need time to heel and trust each other before allowing themselves to become vulnerable in a relationship.
The plot is original with its premise of one man training a service dog for another who suffers from PTSD. Jordan and Ron are both interesting, multi-dimensional characters. Although I would’ve enjoyed more backstory on Ron aside from the account of the painful past he shares with Jordan. The secondary characters, especially Bishop, make good contributions to the book.
Even though this is the second book in Miski Harris’ Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell series, it can be read as a standalone book. However, I felt I was missing some backstory regarding several characters. This particularly applies to EJ who was referenced as disappearing from military serice with Jordan but it’s never explained sufficiently for readers like myself who are new to the series. Although EJ doesn’t impact the story in a significant way, I felt left out on the loop.
My only appreciable complaint about the book is how Harris switches from third person to first person and back to third person all in one sentence. It took me a bit to realize this is her method of delineating a character’s internal thoughts. It would’ve have been very helpful if those parts in first person were italicized to demarcate the thoughts. It’s very distracting as is.
I give Collateral Damage a solid recommendation. Jordan’s struggles felt real, and in the end, the men receive the hard-earned HEA they deserve.
RATING: 
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