Nine volumes. Done. The boys make their last stand. After the chaos of the wedding on the Scottish isle, Zane comes home to a promotion and Ty comes home to life sans badge and gun. But nothing’s changed, there’s still so many loose ends from all that happened and all that’s been happening–no rest for the weary. But getting to the bottom of things is going to take more than they alone can handle, so it’s all hands on deck as almost all of the players (who’re still alive) that we’ve met along the way make an encore appearance.
Running back and forth between Baltimore, DC, Miami, Philly, Austin, and more, the gang pops in and out of capture, stolen cars, safe houses, hospitals, and a yacht all to find out who’s really on their side and who’s really behind all of the mess that has become their lives–the FBI, the CIA, the NIA, the Vega cartel, or someone else entirely? So many close calls. So many boundaries tested, but most of the crew made it to the other side.
The boys had made a lot of progress and kind of settled into their rhythm by the end of book eight, so this volume didn’t focus on too much of the inner workings of the relationship, but it played out a number of scenarios where you could see their growth in action. Though, the larger focus was on the relationships between Ty and Zane and their friends, families, allies, and enemies. Zane interacting with his FBI crew, both of them getting cozy with Team Sidewinder and then there was the meeting of the families. With so many players, it’s easy for characters to get lost, but I think Roux did pretty well putting everyone where they needed to be when they needed to be there.
This was a good book and a good ending to the series. It was rough there for a while and I’m not too happy with one particular character’s story line (it was kind of unfair and almost seemed like a late in the game decision), but, overall, I really enjoyed it. With so much story having been told, at this point it could go either way: so invested and still wanting for more or thankful that it’s finally over. Usually. This time, though, I am happy with the end, and I don’t feel like I want it to go on. Partially because I’m anxious to jump into the Sidewinder spin-off and partially because I think the story came to a perfect and natural end. Though I’m only realizing it now, even with all of my griping, I never once felt that the story should have ended earlier. Sometimes series drag on even though there’s really nothing left to tell, but not this one. And that was probably one of the most frustrating things about how most of the Roux-solo books read to me. The story was there, the premise was there, but the delivery failed too often and it was a pain. But that’s all over with and I’ll just focus on the good as I run head long into Shock & Awe, book one of the spin-off!