Bad Deeds

June 19, 2017
Continuing the twisted telenovela-like Dirty Money saga, Jones’s third contemporary romantic thriller about the superwealthy Brandon family and their associates (after Damage Control) delivers erotic and emotional punches. Shane Brandon, the young legal lion who’s come home to Denver to save his family’s mega-conglomerate, continues his love affair with his CEO father’s sweet but secretive secretary, Emily. The company and family are being torn apart by Brandon Senior, who’s keeping Shane and his brother, Derek, at each other’s throats. The situation only becomes more complex with the introduction of Adrian Martina, leader of the Martina drug cartel (and brother of Derek’s girlfriend), and his proposal to help the Martina and Brandon families make forays into more legitimate business opportunities. With myriad enemies at their gates, Shane and Emily must work to unite the family despite a plethora of secrets and betrayals. The ride through a minefield of plot twists is capped by a deliciously cruel cliffhanger ending. Agent: Louise Fury, Bent Agency.

July 15, 2017
Third in a Dynasty-esque romance series revolving around a powerful family with criminal ties, the son who wants to go legit, and the woman on the run who falls for him.Emily Stevens and Shane Brandon fell in lust in Hard Rules (2016) and realized they couldn't stay apart in Damage Control (2017), no matter how dangerous their union is to each other and everyone around them. Shane is still trying to extricate Brandon Enterprises from drug-cartel control while battling his brother, Derek, for the title of CEO now that their father is too weakened by terminal illness to control the family business. Although Jones offers a helpful summary and character list, new readers should start from the beginning of this increasingly complicated series. An aura of menace punctuated by gun violence and rape attempts (the latter being the cartel's weapon of choice) pervades. The focus on the Brandon brothers' evolving relationship sidelines the romance except for one scene of light bondage. Shane, driven to criminality and violence to protect his family, wonders how he differs from his enemy. Emily doesn't have much to do besides serve as a receptacle for Shane's protectiveness--"I think she looks like an angel who doesn't know she's trapped in hell"--and his lust. At least her lot is no worse than those of the other women characters. Like the first two, this book ends with a cliffhanger. High drama, luxury lifestyles, aggressive masculinity, and a large and interconnected cast of characters will please fans of this series.

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August 1, 2017
Shane Brandon will stop at nothing to keep his family's business in the family but away from his brother Derek, who has caused him nothing but trouble. Now Derek is involved with a drug cartel, and it is up to Shane to find a way out of this mess, even if it means doing things he vowed never to do. Shane's father is dying but still pitting his sons against one another. Emily Stevens is done running from her past and wants only to run into Shane's arms, but she still clings to a potentially ruinous secret. Full of twists and turns, Jones' sizzling hot ride through the depths of one family's hidden woes and labyrinthine business dealings picks up right at the end of Damage Control (2017).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)