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Author: Barbara Freethy
Publication Date: 1 August, 2017
Publisher: Fog City Publishing, LLC
Series: Off the Grid: FBI Series, book 1
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Age Recommendation: 17 and up
Rating: 4 Stars
~ I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ~
Book Description:
In PERILOUS TRUST, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Barbara Freethy brings you the first book in a new romantic suspense series! OFF THE GRID: An FBI Series offers five breath-stealing books filled with action-packed plot, heart-stopping romance, and page-turning suspense.
It was one dark night that brought Damon Wolfe and Sophie Parker together. They were two tortured souls, looking for escape, and they weren't supposed to see each other ever again… Four years later, Sophie's FBI father, who is also Damon's mentor, is killed in a suspicious car crash after leaving Sophie a cryptic message to trust no one from the agency. When Damon shows up looking for her, she isn't sure if he's friend or enemy, but she knows he could easily rip apart what is left of her heart. The last thing Damon wants is to get involved with Sophie again. It was hard enough to walk away the first time. But she's in trouble, her father's reputation is under attack, and the lives of his fellow agents are at stake if there's a traitor in their midst. When someone starts shooting at them, they have no choice but to go on the run and off the grid. Everyone in their world becomes a suspect. They want to uncover the truth, but will it turn out to be the last thing they expect? Proving her father's innocence might just cost them their hearts…and their lives…
My Review:
Perilous Trust gets us started off the right way on a great new series. This is an action packed, suspenseful, unbelievably sweet romance. What do you do when your entire world is shaken and turned upside down, when you have no where to run to and no one to trust. What do you do when all the signs are pointing to the fact that the only person you had in your life, the only person who truly held you heart, may have been the bad guy? What do you do when this man, your father turns up dead after leaving you a cryptic message? What do you do when your past, a past that broke you, walks back into your life and you have to place that life in his hands?
Perilous Trust is the story of Sophie Parker, a young NYU College professor just doing what she loves and spending time with her favorite man, her father, an FBI agent, when she can. Her simple world comes crashing down when two FBI agents walk into her class room peppering her with questions and telling her that her father is dead. If that news isn't bad enough when she pulls out her phone to start calling family she notices multiple calls from her father, calls telling her he's sorry and to trust no one and the final call that finishes with the sounds of a horrific crash and the end of her father's life. Fearing for her life, Sophie does the only thing she can, she trusts that her father is trying to save her and heads out to follow the cryptic directions he left in his voicemail messages.Damon Wolfe, an FBI agent brought up to NYC by his mentor finds himself in a precarious situation after the death of that mentor, Allan Parker, Sophie's father. He and Sophie have a history, one night that he's never been able to forget, and he may just know where she's disappeared to, but can he trust the FBI to save her or is someone inside the bureau out to make sure that she like her father never speaks again?
I really enjoyed the story of these two characters, their development through the book and most importantly to me that they stay true to themselves. This isn't a story about the heroine suddenly becoming some badarse super spy when until now she's been a meek college professor or a hero doing miraculous things to save the women he loves. This is a story about two people attempting to stay alive and find the truth. I loved that Sophie was scared, that she panicked, that she got anxious. I also love that she kept it together. That with Damon beside her she recognized that her time to breakdown would come, it just couldn't be until everything was over. I loved that Damon relied on his friends, that they have this network to help and protect each other, that they know they aren't on their own and that they always have people they can trust when it feels like they have no one. There is true character development. These two grow as you would expect any one to under these circumstances.
I also really loved that the romance while powerful and honest wasn't the sole purpose of this story. This is a romantic suspense and the suspense and action were all there. There weren't these unbelievable romantic trysts in the 'middle of a gun fight' we so often see these days. Don't get me wrong, I love the romance as much as the next reader, but there is a time and a place and I so appreciate that Barbara Freethy realized that. She gave us true and honest moments between these two characters so nothing feels out of place or contrived. The tension is there and it meshes wonderfully with the suspense and when the time comes for the couple to well...couple, it isn't rushed or unrealistic. It is an enhancement to the story instead of a distraction.
I am really excited about the possibilities for the secondary characters in the series, in particular our undercover agent who I won't tell you anything about, haha. Just know he has got a load of baggage and his book is going to be pretty darn intense I think. I hope that Barbara is able to give him the story and the companion that he needs because that person, I think, is going to have to be pretty darn strong.
This is a great start to a new series. I have never been a huge suspense fan but I really enjoyed this book and can't wait for more! I'll definitely be going back and checking out this new to me authors past work. If you are looking for an action packed, suspenseful story with a wonderful romance in the mix grab up this book, the ride has only just begun and I think it is going to just get better and better!
~ HAPPY READING ~
EXCERPT:
"Why did you run away from your apartment, your friends, your father's coworkers? Why did you just disappear, Sophie?" Damon asked.
"Because someone killed my dad."
"It's possible it was an accident."
"You don't believe that any more than I do."
"Maybe not, but I think something specific spooked you."
"You mean like the two men I saw going into my apartment building?"
"You saw the men who broke into your apartment?" he asked in surprise.
"I don't know if they were the ones, but they could have been."
"What did they look like?"
"Law enforcement, maybe—I don't know."
Damon stared back at her, and she could see him running through her words in his head. "Why would you be afraid of law enforcement when your father is FBI?"
"Gut instinct," she lied, knowing she wouldn't have been afraid at all if her father hadn't told her to be. "And it looks like I was right to run. If I'd gone to my apartment, who knows what would have happened?"
His lips drew into a hard line. "Look, Sophie, I want to help you."
"Why? Why on earth would you want to help me?"
His gaze darkened, and the air sizzled between them as they found themselves back in a place probably neither of them wanted to revisit, but they were there all the same.
"We're not friends," she said quickly, needing to break the tension. "We're not anything. We haven't seen each other in four years. Why do you care where I am, what I'm doing? Is it because of loyalty to my dad? That has to be it, right? Nothing else could have made you drive all the way up here."
"I should have called you after that night," he said.
"I'm not looking for an apology."
"Aren't you?"
"No. Maybe. No," she said, hating to sound so uncertain. "None of that is important now. I have bigger problems."
"Then let's talk about now," he said, relief in his eyes as he changed the subject. "I respected your father. He was a mentor to me. I owe him for that, and I know that he would want me to help you. He trusted me, and I hope you can trust me, too."
"I don't know if my father trusted you," she said, shaking her head.
Surprise and anger flared in his eyes. "Why would you say that?"
"Because he told me not to trust anyone from the bureau, and since you're an agent, that includes you. Please, just go. Just leave me alone," she pleaded, desperate to get him out of the cabin before she did something even more stupid—like start to trust him. "I'll disappear. I'll go somewhere no one else knows about. You don't have to worry about me. You've done your duty. You came after me. You did that for my dad. Now do something for me—leave me alone. You've managed it for four years. You can keep going."
His mouth tightened. "I'm not leaving you alone. You won't be safe. You can't get help from a friend, because you'll put them in danger, and even if you are very careful, you'll make a mistake. You don't know how to stay off the radar, but I do. You're going to have to trust someone at some point. You're going to have to put your anger aside and let it be me."
Before she could answer, she was suddenly hit with a shower of glass from the nearby window.
What the hell had just happened?
Another pane blew out, and something whizzed by her ear.
Damon grabbed her arm and pulled down as a third window exploded.
Someone was shooting at her!
Barbara Freethy is a #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of 60 novels ranging from contemporary romance to romantic suspense and women's fiction. Traditionally published for many years, Barbara opened Fog City Publishing in 2011 and has since sold over 7 million books! Twenty-three of her titles have appeared on the New York Times and USA Today Bestseller Lists, including one title, SUMMER SECRETS, which hit #1 on the NYT. In 2014 Barbara was named the Amazon KDP Bestselling Author of all time! She was also the first Indie writer to sell over a million books on Barnes and Noble.
Known for her emotional and compelling stories of love, family, romance and suspense, Barbara is a six-time finalist and two-time winner in the Romance Writers of America acclaimed RITA contest for her novels DANIEL'S GIFT and THE WAY BACK HOME. 
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