Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: The Family Man
SERIES: The Mind Hacker
AUTHOR: AJ Rose
PUBLISHER: The Grim Writer Press
LENGTH: 376 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 8, 2024
BLURB:
AJ Rose is back and in full effect! If you’ve ever read anything by AJ you’ll be excited to know this book has that draw-you-in-and-hold-you-down effect we’ve all come to love in their stories. If AJ is new to you, strap in. This story takes you for the ride of your life! – Miski Harris, Author of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
Special Agent Jon “Ice Man” Anderson is one of the FBI’s best monster hunters, catching predators using their darkness against them. It’s his purpose, and he’s relentless.
Rookie Special Agent Tracey Smith is Jon’s opposite, shining light in the shadows and counteracting the dark with hope. Together, they may be the perfect combination to catch The Family Man, a sniper terrorizing St. Louis, dealing death through the scope of a high-powered rifle.
They can’t afford distractions.
Jon can’t ignore the feelings Tracey has evoked.
Feelings he hasn’t allowed himself in years.
Jon’s not the only one compelled by Tracey….
In a city held hostage, the FBI races to stop the killing.
Before the sniper finds them,
And they lose everything.
The Mind Hacker: The Family Man is the 107,000-word opening salvo of a gay romance/suspense series following a law enforcement/workplace pairing through a bisexual awakening all the way to their eventual happily-ever-after.
Content warning: The Mind Hacker series contains themes of dark violence, including off-page sexual assault, psychological manipulation, narcissism, and other disturbing themes. If you’d like specifics, the author will happily answer questions through their email: ajrosefiction@gmail.com.
Every word and cover of every book published by this author has been crafted by a human and always will be.
REVIEW:
Wow! After a five year hiatus, AJ Rose is back folks! For those who are fans of this writer’s previous series involving murder and mayhem, this is a grand return to this genre of romantic suspense following two FBI agents who get caught up in a serial killer case where they make a lot of unplanned discoveries that don’t involve the killer they are trying to identify.
Jon Anderson and Tracey Smith along with their team mates Sarena Mercado and Perry Vaughn are immediately thrown into a case that has them traveling to St. Louis from DC Tracey’s the second day of starting his new assignment. Tracey hasn’t even finished unpacking at his new house before he’s out the door headed to the airport. He and Jon seem to have some sort of connection/understanding that he can’t quite suss out.
Before they know it, they are in St. Louis, meeting with their liaison and buried in paperwork, tips, trying to find and video or other evidence of the 3 murders to discover anything they can about the killer to build the profile of the killer. So far the killer hasn’t revealed anything or called attention to himself or his motive. They also have to interview the families and the witnesses. Tracey proves himself to be extremely adept at putting witnesses at easy and helping them to remember any details that might help identify the man responsible for the death of their loved ones.
They don’t get so lucky with the 4th victim. The killer finally reveals his motive along with a disturbing video. The team is still building the profile, but they get lucky with some video that helps with potentially identifying at least the vehicle type the man is using. Still nothing identifiable though about the man or his whereabouts. The team is still plowing through all the information that has been coming in when they finally get the break they are looking for. They are pretty sure they know who the man is but his motivation and trigger still elude them until after they make a plea. And that sets off a series of events that put the team in harms way.
During all this work though, Jon and Tracey get closer. Tracey sees something in Jon that he wants to help. Jon has kept up walls and doesn’t indulge in personal relationships. Tracey has the realization that he’s not as straight as he thought he was. He shares this with Jon after a particularly bad scary day and social media firestorm around one of the victims. Jon helps Tracey settle and when Jon struggles, Tracey returns the favor. They know this is a bad idea. Their jobs would be jeopardized. Their ability to do their jobs could be compromised. But Jon feels better than he has in years. Is there a way forward?
This book was soooooo good! This took me back to the first book I ever read by this author, Power Exchange. The relationships, the characters, the mystery, the good versus evil dynamic and the law enforcement drive to solve the case are all here. Tracey and Jon are opposites in a lot of way. Jon is jaded not only by years on the job, but by his past – both his family tragedy and his relationship breakup. Tracey is new on the job after a long time in academia and some work with the local law enforcement in Illinois and a move halfway across the country to DC for this opportunity. He’s got a little bit of hero worship for Jon at first, but there is a frisson of something more. He’s realizing that he’s possibly attracted to men even though he’s always thought of himself as straight. Hmmm. Maybe not so much. Jon handles his little bit of a freak out well and when Jon demons resurface, Tracey can’t ignore them and he refuses to take no for an answer to help Jon too. But things are really complicated. And they don’t get any less complicated as the story goes on. They can maybe hide what they are doing, but they are trained in behavioral analysis and so are their colleagues. Can this really work? You’ll have to read it to find out. This is really a heart-stopping adventure that I could NOT stop reading Highly recommended. I sure hope book 2 is in the works.
RATING: 
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