Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: The Dead Don’t Lie
SERIES: Dead Generations #1
AUTHOR: Anne Russo
PUBLISHER: JMS Books
LENGTH: 250 Pages
RELEASE DATE: March 13, 2021
BLURB:
While young doctor Adam Morrow resigns himself to an uninformed existence, world-weary assassin Ian Abbott struggles with a life he never asked for. When the two strangers meet by chance, the attraction is immediate. And deadly, as Adam walks in on Ian in the middle of a hit.
The situation spirals out of control once Ian discovers he and Adam share a connection far more profound than either imagined. Shocked by the discovery, Ian makes the hasty decision to kidnap him.
Overnight Adam is torn from his promising career and a family who believes him dead. Things go from bad to worse when he finds himself reunited with a mother he never knew who is now head of a covert and shadowy group of killers for hire. Forced into joining their ranks, with Ian as his reluctant trainer and handler, Adam is given a series of impossible tasks to complete.
To survive, he must fight with everything he has to keep his life, his sanity, and his very soul from being swept up in a violent and chaotic world even as he battles his unwanted and complicated feelings for Ian.
For his part Ian, a man with dark secrets of his own, has a past he isn’t ready to share with Adam even as the other man worms into his life in more ways than one. The two grow closer and lines blur — between good and evil, friend or foe, enemy or lover. But something, or someone, plots against them, determined to do everything in their power to keep them apart. Even if it means destroying them both.
REVIEW:
Raised to be merciless, Ian is the lead assassin in a team of equally ruthless people, organized by his hard-assed, callous stepmother. When taking care of a hospital job, Ian recognizes the surgeon who walks in mid-hit – Adam Morrow. Forced to either kill or kidnap Adam, he chooses the latter, plunging Adam into a world of death and destruction. At first, Adam has no idea who Ian is, just that he is a killer who gives Adam no other choice but to survive or die at the end of a gun.
The Dead Don’t Lie is the first book in the Dead Generations series and is NOT a standalone story. The tale is told in the third person from the viewpoints of Adam and Ian. Technically, it could be better, but the imagery is good, and from the first page, the storyline is gripping. However, the phrase ‘come for me’ and the eternal bitten lip comes into play, which firmly belongs in my room 101. They are overused in the m/m genre, and their use makes me cringe.
Ian and Adam have troubled pasts. Ian is…complicated. He must train Adam to be an assassin which is more complex than it looks. After all, how does one change the thinking of a rebellious person trained to save lives – not take them. Adam awakens passions in Ian that don’t belong in his world.
Nevertheless, amid the cold reality of his situation and expectations of his stepmother, Ian is a deeply emotional person who, for years, has locked everything away. On the outside, Ian is indifferent – inside, there is a raging storm. He is also the type of man who will raise heaven and earth to protect his team.
Adam too is conflicted. Adopted, he battles his religious upbringing with his bisexuality. He hates Ian for forcing him into a world of violence that he never wanted. But there is also something about Ian that draws him in. As such, their relationship is highly love/hate and primal. In the beginning, I found this aspect dramatic and page-turning. But throughout, it is a relentless case of one step forward – several backward. As the story progressed, the moments lost their dramatic edge in favor of frustration. I needed a few more forwards and less back, but as this is a series, who knows what will happen in the next installment.
The other cast members have their talents and range in their friendliness, with Mei being the most loyal and vocal of Ian’s team.
This is a series that has the potential to be excellent, and if you don’t mind the main story carry over, then hell yes, it’s a recommended read. But if you are not a fan of unfinished arcs, it may be best to put it on your watch list until the series end.
RATING: 
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