Customer Reviews

Into the Dark (The Bodyguards, Book 6)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dallas Garrett returned from Jolo as a changed man. Though he knew it was for the best, when Amy Walker disappeared from his life, he felt a big gaping hole inside himself. Fighting his own demons, Dallas is shocked when Amy turns up on his doorstep, soaking wet and exhausted. Though barely a day went by that he didn't think about her, Dallas feels a sense of impending doom that he can't brush aside.

Dallas saved Amy once. She goes to him knowing that he is the sole person that can keep her safe. On a mission of revenge, Amy is determined to find her grandfather, Edward Walker, and kill him. Using mind control experiments on Amy's mother, Edward had Amy kidnapped by the terrorist group that held her captive for over six months. While needing his support, Amy doesn't want Dallas anymore involved that he already is. She soon realizes that Dallas will be impossible to brush off, even if she wanted to.

The long awaited conclusion of Amy and Dallas finds the two in Argentina where Amy looks for the man responsible for ruining her mother's life and almost ruining her own and Dallas just tries to keep Amy safe. Introducing an intriguing new character, Gerard has surely kept the door open for this series even though it is an end to E.D.E.N. I was thoroughly satisfied to the conclusion of these two characters.

I may be a man, and not just a man, but a stay-at-home daddy man with quintuplets, but when I am not otherwise feeding, changing, bathing, comforting, watching over, or cleaning up after the quintuplets, I am squeezing in the latest thriller-romance by Cindy Gerard, the excitement of her writing the only thing keeping me conscious as my bone-weary body slowly shuts down in an effort to conserve the last dregs of energy barely keeping me alive.

"Into the Dark" concludes "The Bodyguards" hexology with all the excitement, intrigue and passion of the earlier books and more. The series chronicles the adventures of the members of E.D.E.N Inc., a West Palm Beach security firm run by three brothers, their sister, and two comrades in arms. Hmmm... four siblings, not all born at once. That must be heaven. All six E.D.E.N. members have military or intelligence backgrounds, and some carry personal histories that left scars deeper than any battle wound. My own history was relatively happy and carefree until my wife and I decided to start a family and her loins proved more fertile than a dachshund's.

Dallas Garrett, the fastidious brother who is always prepared, finds that his feelings cannot be made neat and orderly as he and Amy Walker, a strong yet vulnerable client, track the clues that will lead to the reasons behind her kidnapping and uncover surprising connections and even greater danger in "Into the Dark". All I ever uncover are dirty diaper after dirty diaper, each with a nice little surprise of its own. A nice, stinky surprise.

Although six months have passed by, Amy Walker can't shake the thoughts of her kidnapping or Dallas, who, along with E.D.E.N., rescued her from terrorists holding her on a remote Philippine island. I wish somebody would rescue me. No, I'm kidding. I love the quints. I love the quints. I just keep telling myself that. Dallas offers Amy his help, not promising any more, but even the best-laid plans are subject to the whims of Fate, Desire, and nefarious secret organizations that will use any means to control and manipulate men for their own, foul ends. Some of the quints also have very foul ends, if you know what I mean. Once the action gets going, Gerard matches the kinetic drive of the action with the kinetic drive of her prose, and the descriptions, dialogue and danger come in hard and fast.

"Into the Dark" moves with cinematic clarity and noir-edged intensity. The plot suspense will have you on your toes, but the romantic suspense will keep you on your pinkies. I have no idea what that means. I think my blood sugar is dangerously low. You will feel the very opposite of low, however, when you engage Gerard's latest romantic thriller, filled with uncontainable desire and dangerous enemies who must be overcome if our heroes are to avoid being pulled, dare I say it, into the dark.

When Dallas Garrett and his brothers embarked on a rescue mission to the Philippines, they never expected to liberate another prisoner. Tortured and violated, Amy Walker's strength and spirit touches something deep within Dallas. Both battle scarred, they share an unspoken bond. While Dallas wants to protect Amy, he can't promise her anything more. Amy has more pressing matters anyway. Even though she has her suspicions, she needs to learn for certain who masterminded her abduction...before they try again.

Once back in the States, Amy quietly vanishes out of Dallas' life. Now six months later, Amy is closer to finding her answers, but the closer she gets to the truth, the more dangerous her quest becomes. Running out of options, she turns to the only person she trusts, Dallas. In the months since Amy's disappearance, Dallas has not forgotten her. When she crashes back into his life, the urge to protect her is just as strong, yet Amy isn't the same woman he saved. The flare of attraction the two first felt is now a blaze that neither can control. Thrust into a conspiracy bigger than either imagined, can Amy and Dallas find a safe way out of their troubles? Can either deny the love and passion they both feel?

Ever since reading To the Brink and getting my first peek at Dallas and Amy, I have been dying to read their story. With Into the Dark, Cindy Gerard delivers a heart-pounding, sensuous thriller that's totally worth the wait! Amy has evolved since I first met her. She is a strong, capable woman who's ready for anything. Tortured by his past, Dallas isn't sure he has anything to offer Amy, but he proves time and time again what a good and worthy man he is. The simmering sensuality that builds between the pair boils over in the most captivating way. I'll admit that at first, I had a hard time buying the secret cabal plotting world domination, but then Dallas wasn't believing it at the start either. Quickly however, I was swept up in the adventure, and Ms. Gerard made the story work. I also loved the secondary characters that teamed up with Dallas and Amy. Although this is the last Bodyguards book, I hope those two get their own series.

Reading like a big-budget Hollywood action-adventure, Into the Dark offers all the thrills and chills any romance lover could want! While I highly recommend Into the Dark, I would suggest folks also read the third Bodyguards book, To the Brink first. To the Brink provides a good bit of back-story and makes Into the Dark that much better.

Cheryl reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

First of all let me say I love all the books in this series except for this one so far. I haven't read Manny's book yet. I was so looking forward to Dallas and Amy's story since their introduction. I wanted to feel their connection that they felt in that book but it was not meant to be. This book felt rushed to me. There's a lot of grammatical errors and plot holes. Just think Ms. Gerard didn't take her time. There really wasn't a build up to this one and the first time they re-meet it was so rushed and not wrote out. It was weird. I'm not going into the plot since so many on here already have but I just felt it was not as realistic as her other books. I just felt like it wasn't given the care that the others were. It's still a good book but it's not great. I loved that it gave you updates on the other family members.

This is the brilliant conclusion to Cindy Gerard's Bodyguards series, and is not to be missed.

We first met Amy when she was being held captive in the Philippines. She was rescued by Dallas, and their connection was immediate. When she returned to the States and got back on her feet she disappeared. Worried about her, Dallas digs a little into her past and discovers she's caught up in something huge. One night Amy turns up on his doorstep, and he's determined to help her out, and then help her put her past behind her and move on. Amy's evolution is believable. I'm so glad she didn't turn into one of those kick-arse women so many writers in this genre insist on writing these days. She's strong but stays the woman she was. And Dallas is just great!

As always Gerard writes realistic, believable characters, a talent she has that puts her above and beyond other writers in the genre. This is the series that got me into this genre, and is one everybody who likes reading military romance should read.

This was a fantastic conclusion to the Bodyguards.

Really enjoyed following the characters through these series. It's great that new one are added at the end of each book to give you something to look forward to.
Good characters, excellent plots and not too sappy in the romance department.

I throughly enjoyed reading about Amy's story. She is introduced in "To The Brink" by Gerard. I would recommend reading it before "Into the Dark". Both are great reads, but you will get more from the book and the character chemistry if you read "Brink" first.

Great book, just read the first.

As a reader I have been looking for authors that I hadn't read yet. After finding one (Lora Leigh) that was no more than porn, I was hesitant to read this author; since I found her tagged on the same page. What a relief! This author writes true romantic suspense for those of us who like our romance without the explicit porn. This is my first book of this series that I've read, but it won't be the last. I liked the hero and the heroine. The story kept me interested and I look forward to learning more about the other characters who will apparently be getting their own stories. As a new reader of this author I say yahoo, thanks for the story. As for other authors who are writing porn these days...shouldn't it be on the cover? Or somewhere? Explicit material should say so, right on the cover. This book is exactly what I had been looking for. Great story, good romance without the porn.

It seemes like I waited forever to get Dallas&Amy's story and while Into The Dark did become an action-packed tale, I can't say the romance between Dallas and Amy moved me. There seemed to be much more between them when they were in the Philippines so that in the end, this romance ends like a shipboard one. Once they reach home ground, the magic fizzles out. This was how I felt about Amy and that's a shame because the book is fast-paced and would have made an excellent movie.

Somehow, the emotion was missing from this book and it shouldn't have been the case because Dallas is supposed to be one tortured soldier, suffering from PTSD but Ms Gerard has failed to pull the reader into his tortured world because she chose 'telling' rather than 'showing'. As a result, when she tells me Dallas can't see a future for him with Amy, I was wondering why not. Sure, his team members got killed or injured in a mission but all soldiers suffer that kind of loss in war time. I didn't get to share even a little bit of what those teammates had with Dallas so when Ms Gerard fast forwards the story, Dallas' reasons for his depression got lost.

As for Amy, I just could not buy into her reason for going after her grandfather. But I guess I don't understand this need for revenge, especially if in Amy's case it was just to ask him why he did what he did. IMO, that was such a dumbass thing to do. Totally TSTL, which makes me feel that Dallas and Amy's romance wouldn't survive in real life.

But I am SO intrigued by Gabriel Jones! He and Jenna truly stole the show from the depressed Dallas and the TSTL Amy. Okay, TSTL is too harsh a word for Amy because she is a very capable and self-sufficient woman. I liked that she had no qualms killing her would-be asassin. I liked that Jones told her she could watch his back anytime. But her reason for going after her grandfather was still stupid.

I won't get into the plot here, as many others have. I will just say that I was more excited to meet the men working with Dallas and Amy in Argentina, as they are sure to be featured in future books. Those guys had more charisma in their few pages than Dallas and Amy in all 300+ pages.

My largest pet peeve by far is how quickly Amy recovered from her trauma in the Philippines. Come on - six months later and she is suddenly an expert shot and good enough at an Israeli martial art to take down a Recon Marine? How much disbelief should I suspend here!?! I love to escape to someone else's world, but at least make it somewhat believable! And that is discounting the obvious mistake of using the term "revolver" to refer to a handgun with a clip!