Reviewed by Jen
TITLE: Novak
SERIES: Redcars #5
AUTHOR: RJ Scott
PUBLISHER: Love Lane Books
LENGTH: 344 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2026
BLURB:
He’s a psychopath trained to destroy. Now he’s found someone he’ll break the world for.
Novak can’t do attachment. He calculates, controls, eliminates threats, and keeps everything exactly where it belongs.
Until Caleb.
With the hacker who hates him, every instinct tells him to protect, contain, and eliminate anything that gets too close. Novak knows exactly what that makes him. He doesn’t just want Caleb. He’s already decided Caleb is his.
Finding two children before a fire destroys the evidence is one thing—but when Caleb follows the data, they uncover a trafficking pipeline buried beneath religion—victims catalogued, collared, controlled, and sold through a network so clean it disappears across state lines.
Novak has seen this before. Lived it. Survived it.
With less than twenty-four hours before a shipment disappears into the network, Caleb and Novak have a choice—wait for backup, which will take too long, or go in alone, take down the compound, and get the kids out before the system resets. With no guarantee they make it out alive.
Novak is a dark MM romantic suspense featuring high-stakes survival, forced proximity, obsession, and a psychopath who doesn’t feel fear—but does feel ownership. Expect violence, razor-edged loyalty, “touch him and die” protection, and a love that doesn’t offer escape—only survival.
REVIEW:
I just knew this one would be interesting with Novak front and center. Even though he is a fairly recent character, we learn pretty quickly that he is different. He doesn’t hide it exactly, and is pretty up front about it actually, but to really understand it takes some time. He is one of Doc’s main guys who is called in when his services may be required. He kills with efficiency and without remorse or emotion. He is a functioning psychopath which makes him great at what he does, but not so good for any type of personal relationship.
Then we have Caleb, the Cave’s techy. He is put off at first by Novak but realizes they need him to accomplish their goals, most specifically the more difficult sex/human trafficking rescues, specifically the ones involving children.
Novak hones in on Caleb. He is drawn to him like he never has before. He evaluates and calculates the situation and determines that Caleb is his to watch and protect and maybe more. This obviously takes some time to convince Caleb of, however, although Caleb is drawn in a similar fashion (although in a more normal human response way) to Novak, even knowing he should run in the other direction.
Beyond that, the story is about rescuing some children from a trafficking ring disguised as a religious institution. This one is pretty evil beyond the trafficking aspect. They basically torture the kids with electronic collars to train them to be what the buyers want. Those that don’t fit that bill are trained to work in the organization. Coming full circle, Novak’s past comes to light wherein he experienced something similar, albeit a bit darker and more violent.
The interesting aspect was Novak’s psychopathy and how he deals with it, how he is willing to alter it to some degree to be enough for Caleb to want to be with him. We also have Caleb coming to understand it and being flexible enough to see the differences and not staying in the rigid box of everything having to be “normal” to mean the same things. It helps that all of the other guys in this series have similar “abnormal” relationships, but each one is still unique and works in their own way.
I have really enjoyed this series and where it has taken us. I’m not sure if this is the end for Redcars for now, as the past few stories have moved onto the Cave men, but there seems to be a small potential path to more. That said, if it ends here, things are pretty well wrapped up at the current time. Either way, a series worth picking up.
RATING: 
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