3.5 stars
Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for this ARC. This has not influenced my review in any way. This book is on sale now.
Eliza Hamilton (yup, that is her name; not sure if the author is a fan of the musical or if the name is a coincidence) is the heir apparent to the Death Council, a secret organisation full of hired killers. While her father is battling cancer, she is to lead in his place, but most of the other members of the Council are sexist old men (or their equally sexist sons), so she’s fighting an uphill battle.
In addition to having to fight with the bullheaded Council Members, someone is sabotaging her missions and stealing her kills. She briefly suspects her stepbrother James (her father is married to his mother), but he so vehemently denies it and is so determined to kill whoever’s doing it on her behalf that she quickly rules him out.
James has clearly been madly in love with Eliza for years. Since there are a bunch of references to things that happened in the first book in the series, and I don’t know how much of their backstory was established there, the opening of the book was rather abrupt and confusing to me. Trying to impress her and make her notice him has made James compete professionally with Eliza for about as long, and it seems like Eliza’s feelings towards him are finally changing.
As part of an underworld crime syndicate, it’s not like Eliza has a lot of people she can trust. It becomes clear that Eliza isn’t going to figure out who is targeting her by herself, and James is fiercely protective of her and insists on using all of his computer skills to help her track down whoever is plotting against her.
Full review on my blog.
