Review: Beg for Mercy by Jami Alden

Beg for Mercy by Jami Alden
Grand Central Publishing (June 1, 2011)
Mass Market: $7.99
ISBN: 9780446572804

Favorite Lines: “Such a delicate balance. Every time he had to work harder to keep control, to force himself to savor every second of the pain, every molecule of their fear. This one’s fear was like a palpable force in the room, her mewls behind the gag high and hoarse. Acrid sweat bloomed on the surface of her smooth, flawless skin, displayed so beautifully by the scrap of silk she wore. So smooth, so perfect, so beautiful.” (p. 30)

Megan Flynn thought she was falling in love. Cole Williams wasn’t just handsome and passionate, he was one of the good guys. Or so she thought, until he arrested her brother-the only family she has left-for a murder she knows he couldn’t have possibly committed. Now, with her heart broken and her brother’s life hanging in the balance, Megan will risk everything to prove his innocence.

Seattle Detective Cole Williams had given up on making Megan see reason where her brother is concerned. But when she insinuates herself into the most shockingly brutal case Cole has ever worked, he can’t stand idly by. Plunged into a secret world where the city’s elite indulge their darkest desires, Cole will do whatever it takes to bring down a madman who has made Megan his most coveted prey.

I had never heard of Jami Alden before accepting a netgalley copy of her book, Beg for Mercy, to review. Her website lists nine books, all of which (I think) were published by Kensington Aphrodisia. The aphrodisia line is pretty spicy, so I went into reading this story with the assumption that there would be vivid and bold sex scenes. I was correct.

Beg for Mercy is a steamy, suspense driven romance with a forgiving heroine and a hero with an open mind. It doesn’t seem that way at first, but how else will the main characters have a happy ending together unless they are open to seeing things from the other’s point of view. I will admit I got a little angry with the heroine every time I felt she was betraying her brother with her lover. I have issues with family loyalty. Once I allowed the story to take me away, I was hooked.

The book is dark. Hello…suspense! It uses graphic emotional, physical and sexual torture to take the reader to uncomfortable places. Warning: There are explicit rape scenes. Some people may be bothered by the torture. I think the gruesomeness of the story makes up for the ease at which I discovered who the killer was. For a while I flip-flopped between two men, but it didn’t take much for me to choose the correct murderer.

Despite the ‘who is the murderer aspect,’ there is the whole ‘can old lovers forgive errors of the past to make a future together’ angle to the story. Alden does a good job bouncing her readers around as they try to compartmentalize the events of the past to build a future. When all of the story lines are wove together, you are left with the great story Beg for Mercy.

Ditch it or keep it?: Keep it. It’s book one in a new series. I won’t tell you who the main characters are in book two because that would be major spoilage.