Rating: 4.5 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
The Seven of Spades is a continuing series over five books. Cash Plays is book three and this review will contain potential spoilers for the series.
The Seven of Spades wasn’t going to stay quiet for long and now everyone knows that Levi was telling the truth all along. The FBI is now involved and Levi is more on edge than ever. His relationship with Dominic, however, is getting stronger by the day and the men have come to rely on each other and their feelings for each other are surprising even them. But, work is busy, because besides having a serial killer, Vegas is on the brink of a gang war.
Dominic is tough on the outside. His imposing size and good looks get him noticed, but Dominic is all smooth when it comes to Levi. But, Dominic is on the brink of a meltdown when his addiction and his first love, gambling, becomes a pull way too strong to ignore.
Levi is also spiraling out of control as years of pent up rage rush to the surface as the Seven of Spades makes contact with him again and again. Levi and Dominic are at the breaking point and if they can’t rely on and trust each other, it may be time to fold their hand.
This series is great. That’s about all you should need to know. While this series is romantic suspense, Kingsbridge does an amazing job of balancing out the relationship with the larger plot of the serial killer and crime in Las Vegas. In this book, the relationship may even take a step forward as Dominic and Levi remain front and center.
Their relationship is strong and the men are starting to realize how much they need each other and have come to rely on each other. Declarations are made and their relationship is becoming more secure by the day. We see the softer side of both men, as well as their interactions with family as Dominic charms Levi’s Jewish mother. But, these guys are flawed and that’s what also makes them both so great.
Kingsbridge doesn’t ease up on either of them as Dominic stumbles head first into his gambling addiction and Levi’s pent up rage and obsession with the Seven of Spades starts to take over their lives. The pacing of the series is great as well, as by this point there needed to be a lot of movement to the story and there was in both the personal, as well as professional areas.
The Seven of Spades is still at large and still contacting the men, especially Levi. Through profiling, a better understanding of the killer is presented, but MOs are certainly subject to change. There is a lot that goes on in each book, with a lot of supporting characters coming and going, and the author keeps that area clear to follow. At times, however, some of the plot became more difficult for me to discern what was everyday Las Vegas crime, as there was a large story line with a potential gang war, and what was related to the Seven of Spades. There is also overlap as the storylines come together and that’s the point as there are so many areas all feeding into each and coming together. It will then be amazing after the series concludes to look back at all the strings that Kingsbridge has been pulling all along.
The relationship between Levi and Dominic, as well as their personal demons, took more of the focus here and that was great for me as they are both strong, well written, layered characters that take incredible skill to write. The overall serial killer storyline got a little less focused and unclear for me at times, but the profiling of this particular killer made for interesting reading that tied the characters together in intriguing ways. This series, though, is unlike any other and what really impresses me most are the fully developed main characters in the midst of so much plot.
The ending, again, hits hard, and now we wait for book four—tic toc.
