DON’T PLAY WITH ODIN (Trouble for Hire 2) by Cynthia Eden-a review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date July 13 ,2021

Big, bad, and currently out of his element…

Odin Shaw thought he’d spend his life on a battlefield. But fate had other plans, and now the ex-Special Forces operative has just landed a new job at his best friend’s PI office. It’s one hell of a life change, and the giant “Viking” is trying to adjust, fast, but then she walks into his life.

Delicate, beautiful, and hunting a killer…

Maisey Bright has been following the news. She knows that the small PI firm just helped track a killer and get the perp locked away—so Maisey figures that the towering man sitting behind the massive desk will be perfect solution for her current predicament. The cops don’t believe her story, so Maisey has no choice. She wants to hire Odin. The job in question? Well, she needs him to help her find proof—irrefutable evidence—that her next-door neighbor is a serial killer.

The gorgeous ones are always a little bit crazy…

Odin figures the case will be a snap. He’ll prove that Maisey’s neighbor is most definitely not a serial killer. He’ll do it in record time, and he’ll score some extra cash for the PI firm. Maybe he’ll even score some points with the lovely—but obviously way too crime-enthusiast-obsessed—Maisey. Piece of cake.

It’s not a piece of cake. It’s a freaking nightmare.

When Odin steps into Maisey’s world, things seem off from the very beginning. Her neighbor is suspicious as hell, and when Maisey is nearly kidnapped after leaving her job, Odin realizes there is much more to the case than meets the eye. A whole lot more. He moves into Maisey’s place to protect her—and to keep an eye on her neighbor. But the close proximity to the maddening Maisey stirs a fierce desire inside of Odin. Maisey is smart, off-beat, sexy…and when he kisses her, Odin is a goner.

But first, the killer…

Odin and Maisey set off to uncover the truth about her neighbor, and as they dig deeper into the disappearances that have plagued the town for the last year, Odin begins to suspect that Maisey may be dead right. He also realizes that he is falling for a woman who now seems be the target of a killer. Looks like it might be time for Odin to go to battle once more. Because there is no way—no way—that anyone will hurt Maisey.

•••••••

REVIEW: DON’T PLAY WITH ODIN is the second instalment in Cynthia Eden’s contemporary,adult TROUBLE FOR HIRE romantic, suspense series focusing on the men and women who work for, or are connected to Trouble For Hire private investigators. This is former ex-Special Forces solider Odin Shaw, and college history teacher/ crime podcaster Maisey Bright’s story line. DON’T PLAY WITH ODIN can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary.

Told from several third person perspectives including Odin and Maisey DON’T PLAY WITH ODIN follows the search for a possible killer. Maisey Bright believes her next door neighbor Clay Prescott is a serial killer, and one of the victims may be her friend from college, a young woman missing for over a month. Having amassed a large amount of information and clues including the identity of three missing women all connected to her neighbor Clay, Maisey seeks out private investigators Trouble For Hire, in an effort to locate her missing friend. Enter ex-Special Forces soldier turned PI Odin Shaw. What ensues is the search for a killer and the missing women, and the potential fall-out as Maisey becomes the target of a twisted mind.

Odin Shaw knows death and destruction first hand but Maisey Bright is not what he expected when he partnered with his friend Warren Channing. With War on his honeymoon, Odin is reluctant to take Maisey’s case as everything is currently circumstantial evidence from the mind of a wanna-be detective with her own crime podcast but the further Odin is pulled into Maisey’s web, the more he is convinced that there is definitely a ring of truth to Maisey’s story. Maisey Bright is certain her neighbor and psychology professor Clay Prescott is a killer but when all of her information and her laptop go missing, Maisey has no proof, and worries that Odin will drop the case, and never look back.

The relationship between Maisey and Odin beings as a contracted assignment but quickly turns into something more. Odin knows to get involved with a client may divert his attention from the job at hand but something about Maisey pulls Odin in the frenetic pace that is her life, a life that quickly spirals out of control. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

We are introduced to Maisey’s neighbor Professor Clay Prescott, bar owner Ramsey, as well as the return of ex-Special Forces soldier and Odin’s friend Jinx, and IT specialist Ali Carter. Ali and Jinx’s story is next in Jinx, You’re It.

DON’T PLAY WITH ODIN is a story of secrets, lies, betrayal and obsession. The premise is engaging and intriguing with a twist that comes out of left field- a little bit of a red herring. There are a few humorous moments that warrant a giggle or two. The romance is seductive; the characters are colorful and energetic but saying that Maisey Bright is often a little TSTL, placing herself in the direct line of fire, refusing to remain out of the direct line of fire.

Click HERE for Sandy’s review of book one NO ESCAPE FROM WAR

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy