Title: Inferno
Author: Scarlet Blackwell
Genre: Contemporary, Crime, Mystery, Suspense
Length: Super Novel (476pgs)
Publisher: Silver Publishing (14th July 2012)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥4 ½Hearts
Reviewer: Pixie
Blurb: In Inferno, passion burns hotter than hell… After a string of murders in gay nightclub Inferno, cop Zack Stewart begins to chase down prime suspect Dante Jardine, the club’s owner, a path that can only lead to disaster…
In Inferno, passion burns hotter than hell…
After the murder of a notorious rent boy in the relatively new gay nightclub Inferno, Moonlight Cove cop Zack Stewart and his partner Claire Keaton are presented with a bewildering array of suspects, all with links to the dead man.
Zack’s chief suspect is arrogant club owner Dante Jardine, a man not so easy to unravel, and even more difficult to pin down. Soon the cops are knee-deep in bodies and Zack’s priorities become more muddled the longer he is around Dante.
When his professional and personal lives begin to merge, Zack finds himself walking a dangerous road between being a good cop and giving in to his growing desire…
Purchase Link: https://spsilverpublishing.com/product_book_info/products_id/899
Review: Zack and his partner, Claire, are the detectives in charge of the murder outside the club Inferno. Jack pegs club owner, Dante, as the murderer and is determined to bring him in. but, against all odds he can’t fight his attraction to the dark sexy man.
This is a wonderful novel from Scarlet Blackwell where the characters are as complex as they are interesting. Zack takes an instant dislike to Dante when he interviews him about a murder behind his club. Is it because he really believes him to be the culprit or because of his fierce attraction to the man? One thing Zack knows for sure is he won’t rest until the culprit is behind bars and he will do everything he can to prove Dante is that man. But, his attraction blindsided him and puts him in a position where everything falls apart and he only has one thing left to hold onto… Dante.
This is one of those books that grip you from the beginning. It pulls you into the complex world of two strong stubborn men and gives you an array of twists and turns you truly don’t see coming and all the while it is feeding us with hot sex, complex characters, an interesting police investigation and two sexy stubborn men. This so didn’t follow the formula that I have got used to in crime stories, I was gobsmacked by some turns of events and wondered what the hell Zack would do next. His relationship with Dante always seemed to hit a brick wall and it takes some deep determination from Zack to begin to crack Dante’s ice encased heart.
Dante is one of the coldest characters I have come across, but there is vulnerability that we catch glimpses of. he truly thinks he doesn’t deserve happiness and that he is no good to anyone. Jack has his hands full proving otherwise, so there are clashes between them, but when they are together there are sparks between them that become explosive and passionate when they have sex. It is far from easy for Zack, mostly because of how Dante treats him, but also because he has no control over how he feels for Dante.
The writing, storyline and plot are brilliant. Actually seeing a MC paying for the consequences of his actions is pretty rare, but damn it was done well. Dante has some deep-seated issues which we just catch snippets of and Jack is deep in the closet at work. A character I liked, which surprised me, was Claire, we see things from her POV a couple of times and that actually added to the story.
So, I am going to recommend this to those who like hot broken men, crime dramas, mistakes made and paid for, conflicting emotions and a surprising happy ending.