Dark Ambitions {A Book Review}

**I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for consideration. All thoughts are 100% my own. 

Former Army Night Stalker Rick Jordan usually has his camp for foster children to himself during the winter months. But someone has visited recently--leaving a trail of blood. One of the two clues left behind tips Rick off to the identity of his visitor, who soon turns up dead. The police deem it an accident, but Rick isn't convinced. With the help of private investigator Heather Shields, he sets out to decipher the remaining clue. Except someone doesn't want them to succeed--and will stop at nothing to keep them from finding the truth.

With her trademark psychological suspense ratcheting up the tension on every page, bestselling and award-winning author Irene Hannon takes you on a search for a cold-blooded killer with an ambitious goal and deadly intent.

Irene Hannon is the best-selling author of more than 35 novels. Her books have been honored with the coveted RITA Award from Romance Writers of America, the HOLT Medallion, the Reviewer's Choice Award from Romantic Times BOOKreviews magazine and the Daphne du Maurier Award for mystery/suspense. Irene and her husband make their home in Missouri, USA. Irene invites you to visit her at her website, www.irenehannon.com

Irene Hannon is one of my top three favorite authors, so naturally any book she releases- be it romance or romantic suspense- goes right onto my TBR list! I had very much enjoyed the previous books in this series, so I especially looked forward to this one. Being the third book in the series, I would certainly recommend reading the others first, but if you haven't it can be read on it's own too. You'll miss a bit of the background on a few minor characters, but not to a point where the story doesn't make sense. 

Now, if I were to be completely honest, I must admit that whereas normally I find myself drawn in within the first few pages of her books, this one did take several chapters in to really connect to this one. There were a lot of key players in this story that needed introduced, and it wasn't completely clear in the beginning how it all would go together. This was rather confusing at first. Once I caught up on who was who and how it related, I was hooked!

As I said, we were introduced to a lot of key players in this particular story. We were given the knowledge that each one was keeping secrets, but were never fully given the full details. This cast suspicion in several different directions and really kept me guessing. It had a surprise ending that I thought was absolutely fantastic, and rather unique too. I will say I figured it out closer to the end, but truly it was only moments before the big reveal that it truly clicked. It's always fun when reading a suspense novel to- well, be left in suspense--- and this book certainly did that well.

Of course, if there is anything Irene Hannon does better than suspense, it is most certainly romance and I really enjoyed the love story between Rick and Heather. We had been introduced to Rick in the first books of this series, and it was great to revisit the Treehouse Gang and get to know his character even better and watch him fall in love. I loved the romance between them, and wanted to read more.

Overall, this was a fantastic read and well worth the wait since the previous Code of Honor novel. If you enjoy a good romantic suspense, this is certainly one I would recommend.