Seth and Domenico, my favorite mafia badasses, are back, and they definitely know how to make an entrance with a bang. In this volume, Seth is the one who suddenly has to take care of everything since Domenico has amnesia – and we all know how Seth’s previous attempts at taking the lead ended. Not well. I kept hoping he’d learned a few things… Domenico is dealing with facing suddenly-unknown-to-him enemies, and it was fascinating to watch him deal with the situation. The only thing he has left is knowing that he can trust Seth, and his instincts—hence the title. I loved the exploration of that idea of “falling back to the basics” and how it affects both Domenico and Seth. This second book in the disturbingly gritty ‘Guns n’ Boys’ series picks up right after the cliff-hanger at the end of the previous book, so please consider anything mentioned in this review a potential spoiler for the two pars of book one.

Seth is finally a little less naïve than he was in the beginning of book one, and having the responsibility for both of their safety while they make their way to Mexico teaches him a lot more. They deal with Domenico’s recovery while trying to stay alive despite multiple attempts to kill them. The one thing Seth no longer questions is that he loves Domenico – and in that sense it is particularly tragic that Domenico has forgotten everything. But Seth is a survivor and he soldiers on as best he can. He still doesn’t really get the kind of danger they are in and some of his mistakes made me roll my eyes, but on the whole, he does manage not to get tem killed.

Domenico, who has always been in control and has survived due to his ability to read and manipulate people, suddenly finds himself operating in the dark. He tries to remember, but it is hard work and new information keeps popping up. On a fundamental level he is still Domenico though, a badass to the core, so in quite a few instances it is his instinct that saves the day. But when it finally all comes together, including a startling revelation from Domenico’s mother, it is almost too late and the suffering he has to go through may be less physical than what Seth has o deal wit, but no less agonizing.

This is yet another novel firmly rooted in the depths of the moral gray zone. Do not read this if you are squeamish in any way, and while the brutality is more psychological than real in most of the book, there is enough blood, gore, and torture to make me want to stop reading. Except I can’t. The warning in the blurb about this story “getting under your skin” definitely holds true for me. I just have to know want’s next for these guys.

So if you want to know how Seth and Domenico deal with being on the run, if you don’t mind things getting rough from time to time, and if you think you can deal with violence, brutality, and the torture of anyone who does not comply with Seth’s father’s wishes, then you will probably like this second book in the series. It is not a fluffy romance, but as dark as this thriller is, the love between Seth and Domenico is fascinating and multi-layered, and continues to fascinate me.


NOTE: This book was provided by the author for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
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