Book Review: Divide & Conquer by Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux

Title: Divide & Conquer
Series: Cut & Run, #4
Author: Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Genre: Romantic Suspense, M/M Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy from publisher
Published: October 2011 by Dreamspinner Press

Baltimore, Maryland, is a city in alarming distress. Rising violence is fanning the flames of public outrage, and all law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, are catching blame. Thus the FBI’s latest ideas to improve public relations: a municipal softball league and workshops for community leaders. But the new commitments just mean more time Special Agents Ty Grady and Zane Garrett have to spend apart when they’re happily exploring how to be more than by-the-book partners.

Then the latest spate of crime explodes in their faces—literally—throwing the city, the Bureau, and Ty and Zane’s volatile partnership both in and out of the office into chaos. They’re hip-deep in trouble, trying to track down bombers and bank robbers in the dark with very few clues, and the only way to reach the light at the end of the tunnel together requires Ty and Zane to close their eyes and trust each other to the fiery end.

Reviewed By: J9

In a Nutshell: Another sigh-inducing adventure for the sexy and emotionally vulnerable Ty and Zane.

The Set Up: FBI Agents Ty and Zane have committed to each other but are still working out what it means for them to be a couple. Now their city of Baltimore is under attack by a crazed bomber and Ty and Zane will take the case, no matter the cost to themselves.

Why I Read this Book: My name is J9 and I’m a Cut & Run addict. I won’t go to therapy and I won’t stop reading this series.

What I Liked: I can’t say too much about what I like best in this book because it would include a spoiler but the ending is just amazing. Ty commits to his relationship with Zane in a way I didn’t see coming at this book’s beginning. This ending is so emotional between Zane and Ty and includes a little bit of heartbreak but it’s all the sweeter because of it. I know I’m being slightly vague here but I don’t want to spoil the incredible ending. Sigh…

What I Also Liked: As always, the mystery plot adds tension and necessitates change in Ty and Zane’s relationship but it doesn’t over power it. I also like the secondary characters of Ty’s friends come into this book and I think this adds a lot of character development for Ty. I think part of this series’ strength is that the erotic and intense relationship between Ty and Zane doesn’t happen in a vacuum but within the framework of their jobs, which has up to this point defined the men in life. The struggle for Ty and Zane is how to love each other while still being FBI agents who risk it all. This dichotomy is one of the things that keep my attention as a reader, well, and the emotional and erotic relationship!

What I Didn’t Like: I understand why the authors did this, but unlike the other books in the series, this one ends on a cliffhanger between Ty and Zane. Thankfully I had book five waiting so in seconds I was reading the continuation but I dislike the cliffhanger on principle in series. Just make sure you own book five before finishing book four!

IMO: READ IT!

J9’s Rating: