Explosive Forces by D.D. Ayres

Posted November 12, 2016 in review Tags: 3 stars, dogs

Explosive Forces by D.D. Ayres
Pages: 320

Series: K-9 Rescue #5
Genres: Romantic Suspense

Danger is heating up…
When Carly Reese’s beloved fashion boutique catches fire, she sees her dreams go up in smoke. The good news is that Carly was saved from the flames by a barking dog nearby. She soon discovers the heroic pooch is a trained K-9 who’s guarding his unconscious partner …a gorgeous firefighter who ends up in Carly’s arms.
Noah Glover and his K-9 are a fearless duo, and Noah has clearly met his match with the brave, beautiful Carly. Soon they team up to track down the arsonist behind the blast – a psychotic criminal who’s intent on framing Noah. Meanwhile, the sparks between Noah and and Carly could ignite a five-alarm fire. Should they smother their feelings in the name of justice…or fan the flames of passion?

Explosive Forces is my first D.D. Ayres book! What drew me to the book immediately is the dog. Yep, I am a total sucker for dogs in books. Unless the dog dies…yeah, that will result in an automatic 1 star rating from me (I’m looking at you Old Yeller!) Anyway, thats a totally different tangent for another day…

I’m not often a fan of 3rd person narratives, but Ayers uses one of my favorite techniques here: the mind of the bad guy! One thing I do love about 3rd person is when the author takes us into the world beyond the hero and heroine. Getting glimpses into the thoughts and plans of the bad guy without knowing who it is totally sucks me into a book.

I wasn’t a huge fan of Carly and Noah though. As lead characters, they felt static to me. The killer/arsonist was a much more dynamic and believable character. I thought his emotions and motives were more fleshed out than either main characters. This lead the romance to not work for me either. This certainly left me with the happily for now kind of feeling because I just couldn’t believe they would make it long term.

Bottom line? The story is good and the mystery/suspense aspect is very well done. The main characters didn’t work for me, but they might work for you! Maybe I am just being too harsh!