Crossfire by JoAnn Ross

Here’s something different: Instead of giving you the synopsis, just watch it.



So anyway... Here are my thoughts. I’m really a JoAnn Ross fangirl. I am. Crossfire is the 2nd in this High Risk series of Special Ops guys, several from different branches of the military – Freefall was the first.

What did I like? I liked the SpecOps angst. Ross writes it very Brockmannesque, yet it’s not quite as in your face. These guys are a little more personal with their angst, but it’s no less there. Quinn is now an author. I like that he is in a quiet profession now – one prone to introspection. And that makes him appear, at least on the surface, more at peace with the ‘incident’ that has brought all these warriors back home from Afghanistan. Quinn comes across as very human, which is a real treat.

I liked the procedural, when Cait was interacting with all the other law enforcement officers. She comes across as gutsy, strong, knowledgeable, intelligent. Yet not afraid to accept help when she needs it, even when it comes from a source she really doesn’t want to accept.

Ross gives the 'shooter' his own POV, something she excels at. I always enjoy reading her killer's perspectives.

We get to revisit Father Mike Gannon, from the Stewart Sisters trilogy (which I loved, BTW). I laughed my ass off to see that Ross calls him Father What-a-Waste on her website. Were truer words ever spoken? LMAO!! Mike is no longer a priest, BTW, which opens up a whole lotta doors. Yipee-kiyay. I hear he gets his own HEA in the next book, even though he is not the main hero. Rock on! There are also a lot of other connections to Out of the Storm, as Cait is Joe Gannon’s former partner. There are a couple scenes with Joe, and it was lovely getting to see him as well.

What didn’t I like? Well, it took a while for me to enjoy the interactions between Quinn and Cait. They were stilted, and not in the way that I suspect Ross intended. Once Cait stopped being a total bitch, the interactions were smoother, and even though she still fought the relationship, I welcomed them.

I didn’t quite get a feel for the setting, either. Although I read the previous book, and she did a beautiful job describing it, and making you feel as though you could close your eyes and step on the island, for a reader just picking up this book, I couldn’t feel the setting, which is actually unusual. In all her books, Ross does a fantastic job of placing the reader right there – whether it’s in the heart of New Orleans, in a snowy Wyoming town, or a sleepy Southern island off the coast. So it’s something that I noticed missing.

All things equal, I did enjoy this, and the flaws didn’t diminish my position as a fangirl. I truly can’t wait to read Shattered, which is the next in this series.