Malcolm Khalaji is an older homicide detective in the Baltimore PD. When he's called to a case, his Captain surprises him with a new partner. Seong-Jae Yoon is ex-FBI and a LA transplant. Even though they are complete opposites and work better alone, they have to put it all aside to find the killer as they escalate and put more people in danger.  

This series is set up a little differently than usual. It's similar to a TV series where this first "season" has 13 "episodes", aka this first series has 13 books, with one overarching series theme and one case per book (the case per episode thing is more of a guess, but I'm assuming that's how it works). The books are on the shorter side, so I'm not too worried about the amount of books. I think it's a really cool setup and I'm curious to see how it'll all work with the story! Every book probably won't get a full review, but to start I had stuffs to say. 

This first book was more of an introduction to the characters and definitely built some intrigue. I love the writing in this book, I think it really brings the characters to life. Malcolm being described as the grizzled wolf in elegant clothing, but with a soft side, then Yoon having the poise and mystique of a sleek bird of prey. It really shows off how different they are, but damn their tension and chemistry is there. One kiss and I'm sold. They also have opposite work styles, but their determination and logic work perfectly off one another. 

The mystery was a bit of a bummer and surprisingly kind of dark and gory. McCade did mention in the authors note/afterword that not all of them will be like this because he does want the character relationship to shine. So I'm really hoping that's true for this series at least because it was a bit rough. It was written really well, and I actually loved the chapter at the end that gave some closure on the victim. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this book. I know it's going to be a long ride but I'm in it and ready to see what all happens. We have two complicated characters and there are many more murders to solve! 

Read if you like:

• romantic suspense 

• slow burn  

• opposites attract  

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