Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Doubling Down

SERIES:  Double Trouble

AUTHORS:  Cari Z and LA Witt

NARRATOR:  Nick J. Russo

PUBLISHER:   Author’s Republic

LENGTH:  7 hours and 16 minute

RELEASE DATE:  June 15, 2021

BLURB:

Hacker Leotrim Nicolosi and Deputy Marshal Rich Cody may have escaped a vengeful crime boss by the skin of their teeth, but they’re not out of danger yet. With the mob’s tentacles embedded in everything from local law enforcement to federal agencies, the guys are running low on allies.

Rich has one ace up his sleeve – the men who had his back in warzones during his time in the Marines. When he sends out a distress call, the cavalry comes running. Heavily armed, highly trained, and fully provisioned, they hunker down in a buddy’s missile silo, ready to make a stand against whatever the Grimaldi family sends after Rich and Leo.

Leo isn’t so sure about the Marines, though. He trusts Rich, but something isn’t right, and he’s not a gambling man when his life is on the line. The Marines aren’t so sure they trust him, either, and Rich suddenly finds himself in a standoff between the men he’s bled with and the man he’s quickly falling for.

Now they’re running out of time to either find the turncoat among them or get on the same side.

Because the Grimaldi family is coming, and this time they’re bringing out the big guns.

Doubling Down is the sequel to Double or Nothing, and is the conclusion to the Double Trouble duology.

REVIEW:

Note:  This is the second half of the Double Trouble duology.  As such, it’s not recommended as a standalone.

This sequel starts up right where Double or Nothing ends.  Leo and Rich have managed to free the hostages that Mateo Rinaldi was using the lure them in, but they are still on the run now that the Grimaldi family have hits out on Leo and the Marshals are still compromised.  So it’s back to Smitty’s missile silo in the Colorado mountains for them.  But this time it’ll be more than just Rich, Leo and Smitty.  Rich is literally calling in the Marines 😛  His old buddies are on their way to meet up at the silo as well.

Rich and Leo arrive and two of the other guys are already there.  Leo isn’t too excited about all these guys that he doesn’t know at all. He’s also really worried about Gianna – the Grimaldi sibling who has stayed out of the family business but who has tipped Leo off to the hits on Tony and him and also what has happened with Mateo.  Leo wants to make sure she knows what’s happening – without giving away their location.  But it seems Grimaldi soldiers have been disappearing and it’s pretty obvious that they are headed after Rich and Leo since Mateo is already in custody.  Rich doesn’t want Leo to be in contact with anyone, but Leo doesn’t feel right not giving Gianna a heads up.

More Marines arrive but other weird stuff happens too.  Smitty’s neighbor starts poking around.  Grimaldi soldiers show up.  And then Leo sneaks out for some air and discovers that somebody on the inside is selling him out.  Leo tells Rich, but he doesn’t want to believe that one of his guys would do that.  The team seems skeptical and tries to convince Rich that Leo must be the liar.  It’s a race against time to try to figure out who the traitor is, because the time is ticking and there aren’t many hours left before it’ll be an all out battle.

Whew!  What an action-packed sequel! Not that I expected anything less after the first book.  There are a LOT of characters in this one as well – mostly Rich’s Marine unit who is called in as backup.  There are also the random Marshal contacts and some friend/foe’s from the Grimaldi contingent.  Rich is still dealing with his PTSD and is seems Leo is the only one who can calm him, but it’s brutal and the timing is bad.  Leo’s trust issues run deep and while there are two people in the silo that he trusts, there are a whole lot of guys that he doesn’t.  And truthfully his instincts are not wrong 🙂  Again, it’s not paranoia if they ARE out to get you 😉  Things really do go down to the wire and people get hurt.  I just kept hoping that something would break their way so that Rich and Leo could be together without someone coming after them to kill them every 5 minutes.  The case hinging on Leo and him being moved on in WITSEC make that unlikely.  But Rich is going some contemplating of his own about a future after this is over 😀   The ending of this story was just perfect.  Rich and Leo deserve a happy ending after everything they’ve been through.  Hopefully they will both get to address the issues they still have.

As usual, Nick Russo’s narration was fantastic.  There are a LOT of different characters in this one – and the opportunity for some accent work.  Irish mob soldiers, southern Marines, Chicago mobsters, it’s all in there.  The revved up suspense and the pain – both physical and emotional – are so well acted in this book.  I really enjoyed every single minute of this book.  Kudos!  Highly recommended for fans over action/suspense and hard fought HEAs.

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

Amazon

Audible