Pivotal Decisions (Moonlight and Murder #2) by @reily_garrett #RomanticSuspense #FridayReads

Author: Reily Garrett

Kindle Edition

Category: Crime, Romantic Suspense, Book Review

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Sabine’s early morning hike ends with discovering her friend sitting in a chair by the canal and gazing at the sunrise. Peace and serenity pervade, except, he’s dead.

To discover the how and why of his death, she must first survive the shrewd killer intent on removing human collateral and regaining lost technology.

Pivotal Decisions, the second book in the Moonlight and Murder series, is set the Florida Everglades. A horrific murder brings back the characters from A Critical Tangent along with several new and engaging ones. Like the first book, the story revolves around current technology, this time the theme is virtual reality.

Coyote Waylin, a detective in Pennsylvania, left Florida several years ago after family problems and hasn’t been back since. Until now. A panicked call from his younger brother, Augie, saw him on a plane back to his home turf. Augie and Sabine, who works for Fish and Wildlife and preferred a bang stick to her service weapon, have been best friends for years, and there for each other through all their problems. After receiving a text from another friend, Jinx, to meet in the Everglades Sabine and Augie find a staged and shockingly gruesome murder scene.

Whoever killed Jinx wants the secret code he’d been working on and would go to any lengths to get it, including targeting his friends and family. Nolan, Keiki and Jenna follow Coyote down to Florida to help in the hunt for Jinx’s killers.

He remembered sitting at his desk in his home away from home. Then a noise. A flash of pain in his head. Someone laughed as they threatened him, demanding his precious work. They spoke with ruthless assurance as they penned a note and stuck it to his chest.

Yet he wasn’t dying, nor did he feel the impending doom of a gun to his head.

What he did feel was the briefest flicker of pain flashing through both lower legs before dissolving into thousands of pins-and-needles sensations. Warmth flooded his brain, followed by a tranquilizing calm soothing his anxiety.

Pivotal Decisions is billed as romantic suspense. The suspense is there from the word go and the romance takes second place so it doesn’t distract from the main storyline. It does, however, add welcome humour with some snappy dialogue, and serves to flesh out the characters that bit more. We learn much more about Coyote’s backstory. And I especially liked Sabine’s dog, Heath and his reactions to Coyote.

This is a fast paced, action packed story with danger everywhere and not only from humans—think alligators, snakes and other things found in the everglades—and with enough twists to keep the reader on their toes. Reily Garrett conveys a great sense of place and it’s a marked contrast to the cold and snow of Pennsylvania. I liked the way it ended and wonder what the group will get up to next.

Book links ~ Amazon UK | Amazon US

Image by Bernd Hildebrandt from Pixabay

About the Author

Reily Garrett is a writer, mother, and companion to three long coat German shepherds. When not working with her dogs, she’s sitting at her desk with her furkids by her side.
Author of chilling suspense and snarky romance, her stories span the distance of romantic thrillers, paranormal romance, and erotic romance. Regardless of genre, each book delves into a dark and twisted imagination yet is tempered with romance and a touch of humor.

Author links ~ Website | Facebook | Twitter