Review: Unforgivable

Unforgivable
Laura Griffin
Romantic Suspense
Tracers/Book 3
Pocket/December 1, 2010

From the back cover ~

TRACING KILLERS IS MIA VOSS’S BUSINESS. AND HER WORK JUST GOT PERSONAL.

At first, Mia Voss thinks it’s just bad luck when her already lousy day ends with a carjacking, but what seems like a random incident is followed by another sinister episode. A DNA expert, Mia has made it her mission to put away vicious criminals. Suddenly, she’s become the target of one. And the only way to protect the people she loves most is to deliberately destroy her reputation and risk letting a killer walk free.

Once, Mia trusted Detective Ric Santos, but that was before Ric let his turbulent past ruin his chances with Mia, the sexiest, most intriguing woman he’s ever met. But he can tell when she’s lying—and when she’s scared. The key to catching a sadistic madman lies within a long-buried cold case that has haunted Mia for years. Only she can uncover the truth, but first, Ric will have to get her to entrust him with her secrets . . . and her life.

With the third book in this series, two previous secondary characters take center stage. I was happy to see both Mia and Ric again. I was curious because in the previous book, Unspeakable, there was a hint of a romance brewing between these two but I didn't feel any sexual tension. Attraction, yes, but both are such workaholics that neither gave the impression they had time for romance. So I wanted to see how Griffin would pull that off.

Mia Voss is brilliant in her chosen field and spends much of her time at her lab at the Delphi Center. She career driven but a part of her still holds the dream of marrying and having a family. I liked her but I didn't find her easy to connect with. I did find the DNA knowledge fascinating and as I got to know Mia, mainly through her work, I began to get her and understand what drove her.

Ric Santos is not the settling down kind of guy. Been there, done that. He's of the belief that cops make bad husbands. And that a cops life is too hard on a marriage. Which is why he backed off from Mia months ago when things started getting serious. Now they're working together and Ric's feeling for Mia are growing stronger than ever. It's kind of funny how scared Ric is of commitment. I get why, he had a messy divorce and has sworn off serious relationships. But it's like he's got the devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. Devil telling him to stay far away from Mia. The angel telling him to stay close and protect her not just because he's a cop but because he cares for her. A lot. This guy is so conflicted when it comes to Mia.

Mia and Ric together are not a perfect couple by any means. At the beginning, I didn't get the sense they were right for each other. This relationship took a lot of hard work before I believed in it. And I think that's what made it much more valuable rather than a relationship based solely on physical attraction. Griffin made me believe that Mia and Ric really did care for each other.

The suspense is intense at times with Mia literally coming under fire, threatened and fearing for her loved ones. This woman is stressed out. Then she has to deal with her feelings for Ric, when she still doesn't know why he stopped seeing her months ago. Ric is kept busy trying to figure out who is trying to hurt Mia and why while wrestling with his feelings for her. There were a lot of tense scenes with little down time. It kept the pace moving and me guessing who was behind the plot. I will say Mia made some questionable decisions. This intelligent woman didn't always display that intelligence outside the lab. And Ric's stubbornness about sharing any part of himself with Mia and his anti-relationship stance got old. But in the end love conquered all.

Unforgivable has a good mix of both suspense and romance. The focus on DNA investigating makes for interesting reading if you like that type of stuff. The next book is Snapped, coming out August 30. It will feature two more secondary characters who had some interaction in Unforgivable. I like what I've seen of both characters and have hopes that this heroine will shake things up, keeping the hero on his toes.

Rating: B+

Books in this series ~

Untraceable
Unspeakable
Unforgivable
Snapped (August 30, 2011)