LOVER OF BOOKS

Return to Zero by Isobel Starling
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Book 3 of the Shatterproof Bond Series takes place almost immediately after Book 2, Illuminate the Shadows. 

This book was a little more challenging for me in a number of ways. The plot was fantastic and the continuity was really good but my issues had to do with one of the main characters, Declan, at least in the first half of the book.

In the first two books he'd been sort of large and in charge, not only that he'd stated numerous times that he didn't like how Sam's dad, his boss, treated Sam. He, in fact, called Sir James Aiken a manipulative bastart a number of times in the first two books and had, in fact, been tortured and interrogated by Sir James as his 'entrance exam' into the secret spy world that Sam lived in.

But in this book, Declan is quick to fall for James' manipulations of pitting him against Sam. It played well into the continuing plot of the book but I found it a little harder to swallow given Declan's own statements in past books. But Declan does eventually dig his head out of his arse midpoint through and that vastly improved the book. I just had to get past him acting like a wee stroppy child throwing a tempter tantrum first.

The tension and the action that the writer brings to the book is quite good. The threat from book 2 comes to fruition in this book and soon Sam and Declan are fighting for their lives in the Scottish Highlands against a ghost from Sam's past - someone with a serious grudge against Sir James and who is willing to make Sam suffer for his father's sins. The two men have to learn to work as a team in order to survive, and they have to be able to trust each other completely.

As I said, the first half was a bit of a challenge but I thoroughly enjoyed the 2nd half!

**A copy of this book was provided for an honest and unbiased review by Lescourt Author Services**



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