TEST
Rachel Grant is one of my favourite authors of romantic suspense (if not THE favourite) and I was thrilled when she announced she’d be continuing her long-running Evidence series following the winding up of her excellent Flashpoint trilogy. Tainted Evidence is the tenth Evidence book, and the author shows no sign of running out of steam, presenting just the sort of high-stakes, clever plot I’ve come to expect together with interesting, complex characters that are easy to root for, and a number of tense, edge-of-the-seat storylines. One of the things I always enjoy about Ms. Grant’s books is their topicality – I recall some of the scenarios in the Flashpoint books being all-too-scarily plausible for example – and that is definitely the case here, as the suspense plot deals with some sensitive and very current topics about things happening in America today. I know that not everyone is up for a dose of real-life politics in their romance novels, so I’ll say right now that while I do recommend the book, some readers may find certain aspects of it cut a little close to the bone.
Museologist Maddie Foster has been employed to examine over two hundred sets of remains housed at the mansion – formerly a private museum – of the Kocher family in Troutdale, Oregon. Almost a century earlier, Otto Kocher had looted hundreds of ancient and indigenous graves, stealing both funerary objects and human remains, and circumvented the law about displaying the remains by housing them in underground vaults. But now the state has finally ordered the museum’s closure and the disgruntled family can’t sell the house until all the remains have been catalogued prior to repatriation. When the book opens, Maddie is on her first day of at least ten in the musty basement of the house – and as if being cooped up for days underground weren’t bad enough, Otto’s grandson Toby, who is – ostensibly – acting as a security guard, is creeping her out. He stands too close, repeatedly draws attention to the gun and taser he wears, obviously in an attempt to intimidate her, and while she hates admitting it, even to herself, Maddie IS intimidated. On her lunch break, she calls her best friend, Trina Sorensen (Witholding Evidence), who is now happily married to Keith Hatcher, CEO of Raptor, a high-end private security and military training company. A few weeks earlier, Trina had mentioned that one of Keith’s best friends, Josh Warner, was moving to Portland and tried to set them up, but Maddie had just gone through a break-up and wasn’t interested in dating anyone. Now, however, she needs someone to get Kocher to back off, and she asks Trina if maybe Josh would be able to show up and pretend to be her boyfriend for an hour.
Josh Warner grew up in Oregon, and, following his stint in the Navy, has been working for Raptor out of their DC office for the past five years. When he received news that his brother was being sent to prison, Josh knew he needed to get home to look after his seventeen-year-old niece, Ava, a troubled young woman with anxiety and abandonment issues. He’s now Ava’s legal guardian and is determined to do his absolute best to provide the safe, loving environment she needs. But between his responsibilities to Ava, to Raptor and his friend and former comrade Owen, whom Josh has been helping to get back on his feet following injury and addiction, Josh has no time for a personal life – which is a real bummer, because the minute he sets eyes on Maddie he feels an instant pull of attraction… and knows it’s mutual.
Maddie and Josh have terrific chemistry and move very quickly from that initial attraction to heated making out, but both agree that the timing is bad and that they should put the idea of anything more than friendship onto the back burner. The trouble is that it’s hard to put the genie back in the bottle, and I rather liked what became their running gag about going on ‘not-dates’ and having a ‘not-relationship’, because it was clear as day to them and everyone around them that they were pretty far gone for each other even after just a few days. That’s not to say that everything is plain sailing for them; the conflict in the romance comes as the result of a bad judgment call and takes considerable effort to undo.
The suspense plot is, as I’ve said, fast-paced and complex, and the author tackles a number of issues that are hugely relevant all the time, but are perhaps even more so at the present moment. Maddie’s research leads her to uncover a plot by a group of white supremacists to debunk years of scientific exploration and theory as part of a larger scheme to … well, no spoilers, but it’s a doozie; and Josh comes up with a plan to train groups of volunteers to peaceably protect those wishing to protest the planned rallies by the neo-Nazi White Patriot group. The author packs a lot of hot topics into the story – political corruption, media perception, doxing, tribal rights, a woman’s right to choose, to name but a few – and weaves them in skilfully, but even though my personal views align pretty closely with hers, there is a degree of heavy-handedness here which I haven’t felt in her other books. I’m always impressed with the amount of fascinating information Ms. Grant imparts and love it when I can learn new things while I’m being solidly entertained, but some of the hammering home here lacks her usual subtlety.
Josh and Maddie are engaging characters in their thirties who are confident in their abilities and know who they are and what they want. Josh is one of those heroes with a protective streak a mile wide, something Maddie susses out right away, which prompts her to wonder who takes care of him while he’s so busy looking out for everyone else. Maddie is determined and resourceful, and I particularly enjoyed her interactions with Ava, being open with her but also setting clear boundaries. The attraction between Josh and Maddie comes to a boil quickly, but as the book progresses, it becomes clear they really are a very good fit and that they’re prepared put in the work needed to move forward together.
Tainted Evidence is a great addition to the excellent Evidence series, an enthralling, cleverly-plotted, hard-to-put-down novel with a satisfying balance of steamy moments and nail-biting tension. I enjoyed it, and the reservations I’ve expressed don’t prevent me from giving it a strong recommendation.
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Grade: B
Book Type: Romantic Suspense
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 26/06/20
Publication Date: 06/2020
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
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I enjoyed this book, both the Oregon setting, the archaeology background and the political intrigue (even if I would have preferred the villains to be less unidimensional and, as such, more interesting). The romance also works, although I have read better from Rachel Grant.
In all, a worth read, 4 in 5 stars, but not her best. (Very much in agreement with Caz’s grade.)
(I love her Flashpoint Series, but have found some of the Evidence Series’ books less interesting, both in the plot and in the romantic pairings.)
As a plus, this book led me to Toni Anderson’s new series (Cold Justice – Crossfire), since it mentions some events from Colder Than Sin (a very good read, imo).
I just reviewed Cold & Deadly here, and have recently listened to Cold Wicked Lies for AudioGals I thought it was even better.. I’m definitely going to listen to more of her books.
I read Colder Than Sin first (I’d give it a 4+) and then Cold Wicked Lies. The latter one is my fave so far (5-): the plot works very well and it has the best romantic paring so far.
In fact, I was kind of surprised when I read somewhere that Cold Wicked Lies was the less sexy of the three. I strongly disagree with it—I think Anderson did great with the “enemy-to-lovers” trope. Great sexual tension between Charlotte and Payne; the chemistry is all there. :)
As for the first in the series— Cold & Deadly—that you reviewed, I’m on it now. Not as good as the other two. I found the first half kind of boring, only speeding up with the hostage situation. I agree that Ava is a much stronger character (i.e. multilayered) than Dominic (who is quite was forgettable, so far… ZZZZzzzzz).
Looking forward for the next in the series.
And looking even more forward for the next in Flashpoint by Rachel Grant.
(Note: I rarely listen to male read audiobooks. They normally don’t work for me. I’m picky on the female voices too, but in general they work better for me.)
I really liked Cold Wicked Lies as well – the romance was really well done, a great slow burn with lots of UST and I would always take that over a couple who jump into bed early and then come out with ILYs that are not borne out by any relationship development. The hostage situation plotline was excellent as well.
i’m the opposite as regards narrators – I’ve always preferred male narrators and find very few females who work for me. I don’t read or listen to many m/f contemporaries anyway, but in those that I do I often find the female narrators sound too young and their voices lack tone colour. There are one or two exceptions but not many.
“The suspense plot is, as I’ve said, fast-paced and complex, and the author tackles a number of issues that are hugely relevant all the time, but are perhaps even more so at the present moment. Maddie’s research leads her to uncover a plot by a group of white supremacists to debunk years of scientific exploration and theory as part of a larger scheme to … well, no spoilers, but it’s a doozie; and Josh comes up with a plan to train groups of volunteers to peaceably protect those wishing to protest the planned rallies by the neo-Nazi White Patriot group. The author packs a lot of hot topics into the story – political corruption, media perception, doxing, tribal rights, a woman’s right to choose, to name but a few – and weaves them in skilfully, but even though my personal views align pretty closely with hers, there is a degree of heavy-handedness here which I haven’t felt in her other books.”
Not for me–I am woke enough. Don’t read romance for the lectures.
Clearly you’re not.
Nah’s reply is just a sarcastic snipe at Bunny Planet Babe, who was simply giving her opinion. It does not add to the discussion, IMO.
Feel free to “frowny” face me into oblivion for saying that I find this dig at another poster–simply because that poster does not want to read a book that sounds a little too SJW-ish for her tastes–to be unacceptable on the AAR forums.
Moderating is hard. It is my hope that Bunny Planet Babe can handle Nah’s response. I appreciate your wish that everyone would be kind!
I didn’t think I was being lectured at; just that it was a bit heavy handed.
Grant lives in the Pacific NW. Perhaps some of these issues are more immediate to her. I believe that White Patriot groups are active in that region of the country. And I also wonder how when many of these issues, such as media perception and political corruption, are on the minds of many people, might be on Grant’s mind as well. I understand your point about pushing social issues too much because I feel the same way when I read inspirational romance.
It’s tough–I spend my day reading about all the horrors of our world in the news. When I read for relaxation, I’m just not up for more of that. For me, the books I’ve designated as my pleasure reading occupy the one place that I don’t want to see the wrongs of the world.
I don’t feel that way about TV–I just finished watching Chernobyl. But if I pick up a romance to read at the end of a day, I want escapism.
This is exactly why I wanted to make the points I did.
I honestly wasn’t bothered by it, but I know – this came up in a recent Ask@AAR – that many prefer their romances to be complete escapism, which is why I mentioned the topical nature of the book.
In her author’s note, Ms. Grant explains that she completed her final edits on the day of George Floyd’s death, but decided not to make sweeping changes to the book at such a late stage. If you’re familiar with her work, you’ll know she always draws inspiration from current affairs and often develops scenarios that are, as I said in the review, eerily plausible. Clearly in this one, she got even closer to ‘real life’ than before.
I live here in Portland, OR, and tribal rights as well as neo-Nazis groups are part of our culture. In that respect I can see why the author would potentially incorporate them into a suspense novel set in this part of the country. I love the Pacific NW and feel pulled toward books set here, but there aren’t that many. Loreth Anne White is one of the few though she’s in Victoria, BC.
I think “heavy handed” is always a negative writing trait and not necessarily a politicized one in and of itself. I do want to read Rachel Grant at some point. She just keeps writing more and more books before I can get to any of them!
Her Flashpoint series is really good and is only 3 books (plus a novella), so isn’t a huge committment.
Thank you! That’s a good suggestion. The Evidence series is feeling quite daunting in size right now.
They (the Evidence books) do work as standalones, (although 6&7 are closely linked) – and most of the plotlines are self-contained so you can dip in and out. I actually started with book 4 and went through to 7 before going back to the first three!
I don’t know if you read MC romance, but Kati Wilde’s Hellfire Riders MC series is set mostly in and around the Bend, Oregon, area. In addition, Wilde’s GOING NOWHERE FAST (which is not an MC romance, although the hero does ride a motorcycle in one scene) is about a couple taking a hiking/camping trip through the PNW.
Thanks! I’ll take a look at them.