Rise & Fall (THIRDS, #4) by Charlie Cochet

After an attack by the Coalition leaves THIRDS Team Leader Sloane Brodie critically injured, agent Dexter J. Daley swears to make Beck Hogan pay for what he’s done. But Dex’s plans for retribution are short-lived. With Ash still on leave with his own injuries, Sloane in the hospital, and Destructive Delta in the Coalition’s crosshairs, Lieutenant Sparks isn’t taking any chances. Dex’s team is pulled from the case, with the investigation handed to Team Leader Sebastian Hobbs. Dex refuses to stand by while another team goes after Hogan, and decides to put his old HPF detective skills to work to find Hogan before Theta Destructive, no matter the cost.

With a lengthy and painful recovery ahead of him, the last thing Sloane needs is his partner out scouring the city, especially when the lies—however well intentioned—begin to spiral out of control. Sloane is all too familiar with the desire to retaliate, but some things are more important, like the man who’s pledged to stand beside him. As Dex starts down a dark path, it’s up to Sloane to show him what’s at stake, and finally put a name to what’s in his heart.

 

The team is back, even though the book tries to center around Dex and Sloan all the other characters play such an important and major roles it’s hard to say that this is just about them two. This story picks up right where we left the last one, with Sloan being blown up and Dex and Ash being shot at. And because of this, Sparks has decided to remove the team from any case work dealing with Hogan. This of course doesn’t sit well with Dex and he decides to start an investigation on his own. The team quickly gets involved ‘off the clock’ and mayhem ensues.  All the while, the other members are sorting their own lives and feelings out for each other.

So like the others its action packed and keeps you griped from beginning to end. What I enjoyed more about this one, is it’s chemistry, humor, companionship didn’t feel forced and not just between Sloan and Dex but between all of the team mates. It wasn’t full of one liner, cheesy remark to try and force a reader’s laugh. The humor when it appeared was more natural. This was a more serious book and the writing reflected that, unlike the previous books. We weren’t left with a cliffy as such but we defiantly left open enough that we should expect another one or at the very least a novella to wrap everything up.

So flipping fantastic! This is the first of the four books that had a healthy dose of angst. Anyone who knows me knows I hate angst. Thankfully, Ms. Cochet didn’t make it last long. This book goes so many places – and does it in such a short amount of time.

Love, war, bad guys getting away, bad guys turning themselves in, good guys killing bad guys, Destructive Delta on leave – what can I say? This book has it all. And a lot of bad guys popping up. But the main bad guy in charge of the coalition? Well, he’s got a plan and he watches our heroes until he can put that plan into motion. With all the drama, we’ve got Dex keeping secrets from Sloane who knows what secrets he’s keeping, and Ash who is getting closer to letting Cael in but can’t quite get past his own reservations.

So what does the main bad guy do? Kidnaps our favorite Cheetah Therian. Oh, no you don’t!

There is so much in this story that I’m sure will be explained in future books, but I so want to know about the ‘permanent mark’ that made all of Seb’s feral Therians growl. There has to be an even deeper meaning than what we’ve been told so far.

The next story, Against the Grain, will continue along the same timeline, but with Ash & Cael as the main characters and I can’t wait to read it. Except it’s not due out until July! *cries* I wonder if I got a super-duper-sized bag of Cheesy Doodles if Dex would help push the story forward quicker. Probably not. Maybe I’ll get them and then laugh when he can’t have any.

What can I say? I’m a THIRDS addict and I need my next fix.

And I REALLY wanna know what Dad said to Sloane and Ash and what the meaning is behind ‘Old Betsy’.

*hops up and down* please! Please! I need my next fix…

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