Gone Too Deep (Search and Rescue)

Gone Too Deep
by Katie Ruggle
Release Date:  August 2, 2016
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Book #3 in the Search and Rescue series
Number of Pages: 428
paperback
Source:  Melcat
Romantic Suspense M/F
Rating:  R
Read 6/16/19 to 6/17/19

 

George Holloway has spent his life alone, exploring the treacherous beauty of the Colorado Rockies. He’s the best survival expert Search and Rescue has, which makes him the obvious choice to lead Ellie Price through deadly terrain to find her missing father. There’s just one problem-Ellie’s everything George isn’t. She’s a city girl, charming, gregarious, delicate, small. And when she looks up at him with those big, dark eyes, he swears he would tear the world apart to keep her safe.

With a killer on the loose, he may have no choice.

Ellie’s determined to find her father no matter the cost. But as she and her gorgeous mountain of a guide fight their way through an unforgiving wilderness, they find themselves in the crosshairs of a dangerous man in search of revenge. And they are now his prey.

Oh my, George is the sweetest thing ever! Sure, he’s rough and gruff and really doesn’t talk. But once you earn his trust enough that he does talk? Hoo boy.  He’s a keeper. If you aren’t already in love with George after his intervention on Rory’s behalf in Fan the Flames, you’ll fall in love with him in this story.

Ellie is a fantastic heroine.  At first, it seems like she’s going to be a bit of a city-girl priss.  But the girl has grit and determination.  It’s not that she doesn’t know she is dressed ridiculously for the environment she’s in, it’s that she doesn’t have the appropriate clothing and gear.  She may not have been quite prepared for what she was walking into when she flew to Colorado to help her dad, but once she got the lay of the land she did not hesitate to do what needed doing and get what needed getting.

George and Ellie together are wonderful…even before they even really talk.  It’s amazing to look back and realize how much of the beginning of the book George did not really talk.  He got his point across and that was what mattered.  And somehow, I felt as though I got to know him on a deeper level without all the talk.  Ellie was able to find peace in the quiet spaces instead of feeling those spaces needed to be filled.  She also seemed to understand George better because of their lack of words.

There’s a lot going on in this book.  It’s a continuation of the mystery of the headless corpse found in book one that is somehow tied into a lot of other weird events around town.  Katie Ruggle does a great job writing the suspense of the situation.  While I want the town to be safe and everyone to figure out who is good and who is not, I also don’t want things to end because I love these characters.  And the author really dropped some bombshells in this story!

There were a few things that bothered me, no matter how much I liked this story.  One was Lou whose story was told in Hold Your Breath.  She was just a bit over the top in this story.  I really needed her to take a chill pill.  Which leads to my discomfort of how the bit of storyline with Joseph played out.  I felt Lou was a bit dismissive of Ellie’s discomfort with Joseph, which led to Ellie somehow downplaying her reactions to him in her head.  Which was a very dangerous thing.  I really wish she would have told George about the incident, or at least confronted the hotel employee at the front desk.  I felt like an opportunity was lost by the author in this situation.

But…it was still an amazing story.  I’m really looking forward to the next book.  I was so mad at Chris for something that happens in this story.  I’m really hoping to get his side of things in the next book.  I know there was no ill intent.  But he’s such a smart and caring police office, it just seemed out of character for him.  So while I want to see Chris get his HEA, I also want to be “Team Chris” again after the bad taste left in my mouth after his part in this story.

4 stars