Format: E-book
Read with: iBooks for iPad
Length: Novel
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: Trilogy, Book 2
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Hero: Sean Flynn
Heroine: Krista Slater
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: November 1, 2011
Started On: October 30, 2011
Finished On: October 30, 2011

Hide from Evil is the second book in an untitled trilogy by Jami Alden, the first book of which skyrocketed its way towards my favorites book shelf earlier this year. If you are tempted to pick this one up, not that you can’t read this as a standalone, but in my opinion you definitely need to read book 1 first to experience the full impact of the story as it unfolds and for you to be invested in the characters and the outcome of their happily ever after as much as I have been ever since finding out about the expected release date of this book.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Krista Slater is a woman on a mission. Krista who has a vision of her working her way towards the top of the Prosecutor’s Office, always sticking to the rules and never straying from them finds herself wallowing in a conflicting mass of guilt and regret when she finds out that she has wrongly prosecuted and sent an innocent man to the death row. It had only been the tenacious work of Sean Flynn’s sister Megan who had refused to give up on her brother against all odds that had brought to light the actual killer who had neatly tricked everyone into believing that Sean had been the Seattle Slasher.

Refusing to put the case to rest though Sean has walked away a free man, something about the case and its loose ends pricks and prods at Krista until she uses her own resources to find out whether there could be more to the Seattle Slasher case than everyone had originally thought. Her digging opens up a can of worms that she never comprehends, putting her and Sean in the path of a powerful family who would do anything and everything in their power to keep the secrets that they hide from ever seeing the light of day.

The last thing Sean expects is for Krista to turn up out of the blue and make him confront all those feelings that he has bottled up inside, having numbed himself for the past three years of his life because remembering the past just causes him nothing but endless grief, rage and pain. But Sean’s dormant libido seems to have its own agenda when it comes to the classically beautiful and reserved Krista, behind whose propriety lies a wicked sense of humor that cracks through his numbness right from the very start.

Though Krista knows that she shouldn’t let her wayward hormones rule when it comes to Sean, she can’t help but be drawn towards the man buried deep inside the mass of seething resentment that she had previously seen and brushed aside as the egoistic mannerisms of a psychotic killer. But as passion bursts forth and refuses to be denied in its quest to be fulfilled, neither Sean nor Krista is powerful enough to deny each other the need that they have for the other.

As a nationwide manhunt ensues for both Sean and Krista with no way of finding out whom they can trust, the harder they dig their quest leads them to places neither expected, forcing both Sean and Krista to face their changing feelings towards each other as the clock ticks towards the hour of reckoning.

Hide from Evil though a bit toned down in the darker aspects that we come across in Beg for Mercy is still a book of the unputdownable variety. Sean Flynn was everything that I had imagined him to be in my mind and I damn near swallowed my tongue from salivating over his tortured hotness that just about seeps through the words each and every single time he comes into the picture. His desire for Krista that spills over the tight control he holds over all his emotions was one of the best aspects of the story, his resentment towards the woman who helped put him behind bars no match for the red haze of lust and need that nearly blindsides him with its ferocity.

Krista is a heroine basically carved out for my favorite heroines shelf. She is beautiful & smart with a heart of gold, a woman who has the best of intentions at heart and whose truthful nature forces her to face the one mistake she has made in her career and put it to rights. It was the way she seemed to understand Sean, the fears that he battles with each and everyday of his life since he walked out of prison and the way that she wants him with that a no holds barred passion that makes her the type of heroine that I just adore.

Once again, I loved how Jami seems to know just in which direction to steer the story forward, when to bring in the action and when to bring in those intricate details about the past events that teases the memory to recall what happened in book 1 of the trilogy. The scenes of passion between Sean and Krista are of the scorching hot variety, not overly erotic but with just enough action to really make one heat up as you read along. Paving the way for book 3, Run from Fear which is to come out early next year starring the sexy ex-Green Beret Jack Brooks that I just know is going to invade my heart as soon as I get my hands on the story, though Beg for Mercy proved to be a tough act to follow, Jami Alden comes darn close in delivering what the reader expects from her in this second installment.

A taut, gripping novel of suspense with underlying sexual tension hot enough to keep the adrenaline pumping; Hide from Evil is another superb installment in Jami Alden’s unbeatable trilogy of dark romantic suspense!

Favorite Quotes

(Sean) “The therapist calls it cleithrophobia.”
“That sounds like a fear of something else,” Krista snorted before she could stop herself. She bit her lip, as shame washed through her.
Sean turned, his startled laughter sounding rusty as it erupted from his chest. “No, I’m definitely not scared of that.”

Like punch through the brick wall he’d built around himself and give in to the sudden, desperate urges to touch, to taste, to feel. Krista Fucking Slater. Of all the women in the world, why was she the only one who managed to remind him he was still alive in a way no one had been able to in three long years?

“Jesus, you’re beautiful,” he murmured and she felt the warmth of his breath on her face and yes, he was going to kiss her. His mouth came down on hers, hot and fierce. She parted her lips and licked into his mouth, loving the way he shuddered and groaned at the contact.
Her response was fast, ferocious, startling in its intensity. One kiss and she was fired up, more turned on than she could ever remember being.

(Sean) “Sometimes the system fails. And sometimes you have to break the rules to get what you want.”

“I wish I could tell you this was all just because I’m desperate and horny, making up for lost time after being locked up.” He slid his palm under the hem of her T-shirt, groaning at the feel of warm, smooth skin. “It would be so much easier if that was all this was.” He cupped a breast and flicked a nipple through the silk of her bra, loving the way it jumped to immediate attention against the pad of his thumb.
“There hasn’t been anyone,” he said between kisses. “I haven’t wanted anyone. I’ve been walking around like I’m dead inside and then you show up.” He couldn’t keep the edge out of his voice, angry at his own lack of control. Like she needed anything more on him, but he couldn’t keep himself from spilling his guts. “All of a sudden all I can think about is how you smell, how you might taste.” He sucked her tongue into his mouth for emphasis. “How soft your skin would feel.” He whipped her shirt over her head and slid his hands down the smooth line of her back, down the curve of her waist and hip.

He smelled like sweat and sex and Sean, a potent combination that made her want to hold him here inside her and never let him go.