Driven (Deep Ops 4) by Rebecca Zanetti-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date January 26, 2021

Unswerving: Angus Force is determined to hunt down the serial killer he’d once shot dead–or so he thought. But an anonymous source reports that Lassiter is alive. Force hasn’t slept since, knowing it’s only a matter of time before “the Surgeon” strikes again. And soon, a body is found, bearing Lassiter’s same maniacal MO. It’s just the beginning of a murderous trail blazing through DC and Virginia, right to Force’s backyard…

Unstoppable: Nari Zhang is the shrink for the ragtag Deep Ops Unit, though she isn’t Force’s shrink–which is a very good thing. Because once they’re thrown together on the case, their attraction is explosive and irresistible. They’ll just have to fight that much harder to keep the heat between them from flaming out of control. But things are about to become far more challenging, and deadly, than they could have imagined…

Unhinged: Once the killer catches a glimpse of Nari, she becomes his new obsession. She is now the focus point–for both Force and Lassiter–in a dangerous dance for survival.

••••••

REVIEW:DRIVEN is the fourth full length instalment in Rebecca Zanetti’s contemporary, adult DEEP OPS romantic suspense series focusing on the members of the Requisition Force, Deep Ops Team, a division of the Homeland Defense Department ( HDD) of the FBI. This is disgruntled and disgraced FBI and HDD agent Angus Force, and FBI psychologist Nari Zhang’s story. DRIVEN can be read as a stand alone but I recommend reading the series in order for back story and history, as the hunt for a serial killer, once thought dead and buried, has been developing throughout the series.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Nari and Angus) DRIVEN brings into focus Angus Force’s obsession with proving, the serial killer nicknamed “the Surgeon”, is alive and well, taunting our hero at every opportunity. Years earlier, Angus was credited with taking down and killing serial killer Henry Wayne Lassiter but a series of murders, with similarities to the murders of Henry Wayne Lassiter, have piqued the obsession of our story line hero. As the murders take on a familiar pattern, and the victims bear a striking resemblance to the members of the Deep Ops Team, Nari and Angus become targets of a pathological mind, pulling Angus into an investigation where he becomes the number one suspect.

The relationship between Nari and Angus is one of immediate attraction but an attraction predicated upon close proximity, and a thinly veiled line between hate and lust. When the Requisition Force Team is disbanded, our couple remain working together, pushing them closer to love and their own happily ever after. The $ex scenes are passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

Once, again, there is a large ensemble cast of colorful and energetic secondary and supporting characters including former police detective and undercover operative Malcolm West, and Pippa Smith, (Hidden #1), Special agent Raider Tanaka, and computer hacker Brigid Banaghan (Fallen 2) , US Navy SEAL Clarence Wolfe, and reporter Dana Mulberry (Broken 3); Angus’s quirky alcohol guzzling, lipstick eating German shepherd Roscoe, and Wolfe’s pocket sized kitten Kat: FBI administrator Opal Clemonte; Nari’s biological father Quan Zhang; former MI6 Agent Dr. Jethro Hanson; Special Agents Tom Rutherford, and Kurt Fields.

DRIVEN is a story of obsession, betrayal, treason and vengeance; family, friendships and relationships; power, infatuation, and murder. The premise is intriguing and enthralling; the romance is passionate; the characters are dynamic, compelling and tireless. DRIVEN is a wonderfully exciting addition to the Deep Ops series.

Reading Order and previous reviews

Hidden
Taken (1.5)
Fallen
Broken

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy