Running the Risk by Lea Griffith Series: Endgame Ops #2
Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca
Publication Date: April 3rd 2018
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Pages: 352
Source: Publisher
Format: eARC
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Disclaimer: I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book. All opinions stated are solely mine.
Survival is crucial.
Trust is optional.
Love is unstoppable.Jude Dagan’s life as he knew it ended a year ago. On a mission gone wrong, he was forced to watch as Ella Banning, the only woman he’s ever loved, was killed. Or so he thought.
Jude wasn’t the only one who lost something on the day Ella was presumed dead. She sacrificed Endgame Ops, the love of her life, and parts of herself she can never get back. Now she’s determined to take down the world’s most dangerous terrorist–even if it means working for him.
When Jude and Ella are reunited, they’ll battle the lies Ella has been forced to tell…and struggle to save a love that knows no bounds.
Review
I thought the first book in this series was amazing, but RUNNING THE RISK just blew that assessment out of the water and in my opinion, has cemented Lea Griffith’s status as a rock-star in the romantic suspense genre! This is exactly what I want to read when I pick up a book in this genre: non-stop, explosive action, edge of your seat suspense and an undying love story all wrapped on in one.
Jude Dagan’s life ended the moment he watched the only woman he ever loved die in a mission gone wrong and for the past year he’s been going through the motions, only to discover that she not only lived, but willingly walked away. She’s always been his number one priority and he’s ready to blow up his mission, to keep her safe in spite of her lies and deception.
Ella Banning gave up her life and freedom for pain and torture in the service of love and country, but now that Jude knows she’s alive, she needs to stay a step ahead of him to ensure that the mission she gave up so much for is completed. But with the smart and well connected foe they are facing off against, joining forces may be a better option.
The multilayered plot of this story makes it hard to separate the characters into good and bad categories, and other that the Endgame team itself, everyone else is suspect. Their motives, their goals and their methods are all questionable, especially as people who were thought to be dead are really not and we are getting tiny pieces of the picture that point to a massive high stakes plot that is sure to rock the very foundations of the world as we know it, once the full extent of it is revealed.
Ella and Jude’s love for each other is undying and would be a tad melodramatic, except for the fact that the pace of the story itself is frenzied and fast, and the shadowy forces they are up against seem more like fiction than reality.
I really am excited about this series in a way haven’t been about any other in the last year and I can’t wait to see what Ms. Griffith has in store next. RUNNING THE RISK can be read as a stand-alone, but with the overarching plot, I would recommend starting with the novella that introduced the series and reading in order.
About Lea Griffith
Lea Griffith began sneaking to read her mother’s romance novels at a young age. She cut her teeth on the greats: McNaught, Woodiwiss, and Garwood. A firm believer that love makes the world go round, she still consumes every romance book she can put her hands on, but now she writes her own.
Lea lives with her husband and three teenage daughters in rural Georgia. Two dogs, a cat, and a beta fish named Coddy George complete a family that is always in motion. When not working at the EDJ, she’s usually at her keyboard, using every spare second to write. Science fiction, paranormal and contemporary romance, oh my! Nothing is off-limits when it comes to her writing.
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