Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Tough Justice by Tee O'Fallon Series: K-9 Special Ops #1
Published by Entangled Publishing on March 22, 2022
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Pages: 368
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
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It should have been a routine investigation. Instead, DEA K-9 agent Adam “Deck” Decker watches in horror as one Denver hospital seems to be Ground Zero for overdoses of a new drug. Now Deck can only hope a certain icy, green-eyed ER doctor will help him and his canine partner track down the deadly source.
Dr. Tori Sampson has her reasons for not trusting federal agents, especially ones working for the DEA. But the rash of overdoses—including a heartbreaking case involving a teen—is alarmingly high. And the new opioid is not only extremely dangerous, it defies all the usual medical treatments. So Tori has a choice: work with the big, brawny, and annoyingly hot DEA agent…or watch more innocent people die.
Tori’s the only person who can help Deck break the case, and they’ll need to trust each other, no matter how high the tension and attraction sizzling between them runs. But with every question answered, they realize there’s something more behind these typical teen overdoses. There’s a pattern here, and a pattern can only suggest one thing. There’s a killer on the loose.
It’s no surprise to my regular readers that I love this K9 Special Ops series. Apparently this is a new series, not exactly the same as the Federal K9 series. I’ll be interested to see how the series develops.
Our main characters are Deck (Adam Decker) who is a DEA agent, who lost his sister to the opioid crisis with his K9, Thor. When a new version of drug nearly kills his partner, he decides to try to work with a doctor, hoping to learn from the victims who live anything they might know to help them catch dealers.
The doctor, Tori Sampson, has a bad history with the DEA since her father was punished for helping people. So she is not favorable to helping but she also doesn’t want more people to die. And people are overdosing daily.
As always, I could have used more time with Thor working, but I was glad to see the team’s dogs working and also some of their training. The mystery and romance are well balanced. It was a little over the top how each character had the exact bias to not like the other for their job without knowing the person.
Deck and Tori work through their personal issues of trust with each other, building respect for each other as they slowly take down bad guys. When one warrant seems to be a setup with not the expected dealer, the DEA fears they have a leak. Some suspect Tori. It’s a deadly race to take down the head dealer before he hurts Tori or Deck. The suspenseful pace to the finish is exciting!
About Tee O’Fallon
Tee O’Fallon has been a federal agent for twenty-three years, and is now a police investigator, giving her hands-on experience in the field of law enforcement that she combines with her love of romantic suspense. Tee’s job affords her the unique opportunity to work with the heroic men and women in law enforcement on a daily basis. Besides writing, Tee loves cooking, gardening, chocolate, lychee martinis, and all creatures canine.
Tee is the author of the Federal K-9 Series and the NYPD Blue & Gold Series.
I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 22-COYER
LOL, yes, that is a bit sketchy that they run up against the one person with an aversion to their field of work. 🙂 Sounds like the suspense was pretty good with the dangerous drug and the mole.
It was a great read. All fiction requires some withholding of disbelief but that was so specific. All the rest made sense though.
I confess that these days I’m not that much in a mood for contempory romances but it will come back
I hear you! I like romantic suspense more than contemporary romance usually because it has more plot with a mystery aspect.
I really enjoyed this one, too, even with the far-fetched situation. Thor was so cute!
It is a bit of a difficult call as it is fiction but I can’t let it go completely when it’s far-fetched. I enjoyed the books anyway.
This whole series sounds good! But then I’m a sucker for K9 reads. 😀
I love all the K9 stories, especially from this author who is actually a federal agent with experience.
Haven’t read it but I might change that
I hope you enjoy it if you do.
I know that I would like these books. I am a big fan of books that feature K-9 agents. I will have to give this one a try at some point.
I think it’s more realistic because O’Fallon has worked in this world.
I love dogs, especially well-trained dogs! I had a friend who was a K-9 handler for the Air Force and that bond between trainer and dog is so special.
Yes. I love these stories. Dogs make everything better.