Woohoo! We're back on track after the interlude of book 4! I adored going back to Snow and Christopher as our main pairing for this book. It's fascinating to read how their relationship has grown in the five years they've been together now. Simon is now a teen and has a little more screentime in this book too. Much more fast-paced action as someone from Christopher's distant distant past shows up as our antagonist this time and kidnaps Chris and Simon, leaving Snow to work with everyone we've met throughout the series to get them back. I read this book all in one go and although it misses that final little nugget to turn it into a five-star, I still thoroughly enjoyed it!




Knowing what I know now about this book, would I still read it if I went back in time?
Definitely!


 See below for the four criteria I use to decide whether and when to read a book



CHARACTERS: We're already starting with a lot of character growth, because we're returning to our main duo five years later. This time Snow has a very active role because his husband and adopted son are kidnapped, so we really get to see him shine. He's a non-mobster who has lived within the mobster world for most of his life and I think that balance is brilliantly illustrated here. He leads when he needs to yet is smart enough to enlist the help he knows is best in the different areas where they have expertise. Snow feels wonderfully human in how he handles the situation. Meanwhile, Christopher has never truly been in this situation before, where he and his son are in danger in such a way. So watching him navigate and placing so much trust in his husband while he's doing what he needs to do to escape is just as much fun to read. We're gifted a whole host of characters we've come to know and love from the other books as well.



PLOT: This book is all high-stakes action and external angst. Snow and Christopher are incredibly solid in their relationship, so for this book we get to see the duo being tested in a way they haven't been tested yet. When Chris and Simon are kidnapped, Snow leads the charge to bring them both home, calling in all the resources he has. It's super fast-paced beginning to end. Although I do wish we had more of a climactic moment for our protagonists to fight through, this book is much more balanced in terms of showing 'one of the highest tests' a crime boss is embroiled in. However I do believe, based on where this book lands in the series, that the stakes and events need to be increasing in intensity as we near the end of the series, which is why this book isn't quite five stars for me.




EMOTIONAL INTENSITY: There is no good/bad here. Sometimes I just want a low-investment entertainment read whereas other times a high-stakes 'I need a therapist to recover' is what I need.

2:5/low. Super fast-paced, of course, with loads of action, though I believe that the stakes weren't high enough given the subject matter to give us anything super intense. A really entertaining read.



CATHARTIC FULFILLMENT: Is the emotional journey worth it? Do I finish this book feeling that I've crested the wave of the climactic moment and everything has been settled, leaving me settled and fulfilled? 


75%. Much happier with the ending of this book, although as always, I do wish for a more intense climactic moment and denouement, both because of this book's place in the series and because it felt the whole thing needed to be even bigger. But I finished it happy.