Reviewed by Susan65
Title: Reckless Behavior
Authors: L.A. Witt and Cari Z.
Series: Bad Behavior #3
Heroes: Andreas/Darren
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 264 Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: January 1, 2018
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: After too many years of putting his job first, Detective Andreas Ruffner is getting his priorities straight. He’s ready to spend some quality time with his adult kids, not to mention come clean about some things he should’ve told them a long time ago. And introduce them to his partner and boyfriend, Darren Corliss.
But in a heartbeat, a family dinner turns into Andreas’s worst nightmare. When the dust settles, one of his kids is hurt, and the other three have been abducted.
Andreas is going to find his kids, and nothing, not even a broken ankle, is going to stop him. Thank God for his sharp, level-headed partner . . . who has a crisis of his own pulling him away when Andreas needs him the most. As both men try to support—and lean on—each other, they get no closer to finding the kids. And the longer the children are missing, the less likely it is they’ll ever be found.
Review: Wow, what more could possibly go wrong for Darren and Andreas in this installment? It takes the old adage of “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”, to the extreme. They knew there were hurdles to overcome and they knew it was going to get worse before it got better…they just didn’t see it happening all at the same time. I was in a daze just trying to keep up.
Darren, in my humble opinion, got it much worse than Andreas. Not trying to compare their pain, but Darren had to be a supportive lover and a top notch cop at the same time that he was in the grieving process. It was so “ouch” that I felt like curling up into a ball and crying with him. He was simply running on fumes and when he was finally able to take a breath and deal with his loss, my heart broke wide open for him.
Andreas is finally planning to tell his kids the truth, about his HIV status and his sexuality, when tragedy strikes and three of his four kids are kidnapped right under his nose. I know I’d said earlier that Darren had it a bit worse, and this might seem like a parent’s worst nightmare, but at the end, Andreas was reunited with his family, and Darren was still in mourning. He was strong for everyone until it was over and then he broke. I am still heartbroken for him.
We know Darren’s brother is not going to make it, we knew up front that he was terminal, but it didn’t make it any easier when the worst happens, at the worst possible time. I will say, though, that I had my heart in my throat once Darren got tested for the gene that ruined his brother. Considering Andreas was already HIV positive, I wouldn’t put it past the authors to give the smack down to Darren, too.
Fortunately, this heartbreaker ends on a high note, and I am so looking forward to Romantic Behavior. From the blurb, it doesn’t appear to be the heartbreaker of this one, and I for one, could use a little levity for these boys. Highly recommended.
Overall Impression: I loved it!
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review.*
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