Rating: 4.75 stars
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Length: Novel


Jackson Rivers and Ellery Cramer are barely recovered from their ordeal in November that left Jackson nearly dead and the two of them bringing down a serial killer. However, while Owens may be dead, there is still the question of who trained him — and how many others there might be out there like him.

When problems come to their door faster than they anticipated, Jackson and Ellery know it is time to head out of town and do some digging into who is behind creating these psychopathic men. This takes them to Ace and Sonny, two men they met on a case last year, men who had their own run in with another of the violent proteges.

Before they get to far, however, the bad guys get their hands on Ellery. While Jackson has been banged and bruised and nearly killed, there is nothing worse for him than knowing Ellery is in danger. Now Jackson and Ellery must rely on the help of their new friends and found family to stop the bad guys and get Ellery out alive.

A Few Good Fish is the third book in Amy Lane’s fabulous suspense series, Fish Out of Water, and it is my favorite installment so far. For me this book is the perfect combination of romance and suspense, and pulls together the storylines that have been building up over the past two books just perfectly. Given that this book continues story threads from earlier in the series, you will want to have read the first two books before reading this one. Like Red Fish, Dead Fish, this book also connects with Lane’s Racing for the Sun, and Sonny and Ace are significant side characters here. So its a definite bonus if you are familiar with their story as well.

This book focuses both on Jackson and Ellery and their growing relationship, as well as advancing the larger series suspense plot, and Lane does an excellent job really developing both here. From a relationship end, things are solid between these guys and I just love them together. Jackson is still prickly and worries he isn’t good enough for Ellery and requires so much managing to keep himself out of trouble it is insane. And yet, somehow being with Ellery soothes him like nothing else. Jackson has come to accept his need for Ellery and Ellery quite clearly needs him back. What I like here is that Jackson may be the more street smart, the one that is outwardly tougher, but Ellery is his champion, his “bear eater” as they say in the book. I love how Ellery can take care of Jackson and helps ease his demons. The love that these guys have for each other is palpable and it is quite clear neither could make it without the other.

From the suspense end, this story picks up on the threads we got in the previous book to look beyond Owens to the big picture — just who is out there creating these monsters? We know there is someone behind it, and we know there is a connection to Sonny and Ace, and here we get to explore it. The story is exciting and thrilling and suspenseful. Pieces all tie together nicely and I loved the way things interconnect. While I felt at times in the previous book it was hard to follow all the different threads coming from different stories, here I think Lane does a nice job connecting everything and I never had any trouble following along. I particularly love how Ace and Sonny sort of mirror Ellery and Jackson. Both Sonny and Jackson have horrible pasts; they have lived lives that scar them emotionally and from which they haven’t quite healed. But what holds each man together is the connection to the man he loves. I enjoyed seeing the four guys working together and the connections among them.

This story also involves Lee Burton, a military man turned assassin who we met in Racing for the Sun, and his not quite boyfriend yet, psychic Ernie Caulfield. The men are friends with Ace and Sonny and are also involved in the suspense end of things. Ernie and Burton will be the focus of the next book, which is a crossover between the two series. It appears to focus on how the guys met, though I am not sure if it will overlap timelines with this story at all. This is the only area that was a bit confusing, as this book opens with Ernie and Burton and we haven’t really met them yet in this context, so I found the start of the book a little hard to follow. But they are an intriguing couple and I am really looking forward to their upcoming book.

So this was a great installment to this series and A Few Good Fish really brings together the previous two books quite nicely. The romance is swoony and sexy and I just love Ellery and Jackson together. They have come so far and the the love they have for each other is clear. The suspense end is nicely developed and sets things up well for the next book, while still giving us a good conclusion here. So I loved the story and definitely recommend the book and this series.

A review copy of this book was provided by Dreamspinner Press.

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