Every Deadly Kiss

Author: Steven James

Series: The Bowers FIles #2

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: July 4, 2017

Rating: 5 Stars

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

If you have never read a Steven James novel, I suggest you start now with this one. It will keep you up at night and have you looking twice and double locking the doors.

FBI Special Agent Patrick Bowers is back and ready to solve a series of murders taking place in Detroit. Not only are there murders to be solved, there is also a terrorist plot that is more than a century old making it one of the toughest cases Patrick has ever had to tackle.  When Patrick is called in by his old girlfriend to help on a case, he questions briefly if it will affect his current relationship but tries to convince himself it is just for work and can be kept professional.  When he arrives, he finds a connection between the murders and his former lover.  With the murders continuing and the threat of a bioweapon attack increasing, Patrick finds himself digging deep to solve all the clues before it is too late.

I have been telling people for several years that Steven James is the best there is. The way he can spin a story and keep you on the edge of your seat is better than anyone out there and he is at the top of his game with Every Deadly Kiss.  The amount of time and research he puts into these books shows as you read. This is not the kind of book you can skim and still get everything out of it you need to understand the story.  Every page, paragraph, and sentence is full of information that is vital to the story and the way James gets that information across will keep you on the edge of your seat and up way past bedtime.  With this book set as another prequel to the original Bowers files, it is interesting to see the relationships develop between Patrick and the other key characters that we have grown to love throughout the years.  Patrick still has his quirks and we see them develop more into what they eventually become.  For me, a Steven James novel is always going to be at my “Top of the Year” list.  There is just something about his writing that resonates with me more than almost any other author I read.  Unlike his earlier books, this one has a bit more language and adult content, not a lot compared to what many authors like to put in, but still a little more than I’m used to from him.  With that being said, it completely fit in with the characters and how they would react with something that they would actually say.  That’s what I want, the character to act as they naturally would and every character James writes in his novels fulfills their role. That is an incredible difficult task but one that he pulls off with ease.  I cannot recommend a Steven James novel highly enough and Every Deadly Kiss is no exception.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.