Toni Anderson continues her long-running Cold Justice series with Cold Fury, the fourth book in the spin-off Cold Justice: Most Wanted series. There are mentions of and cameos by some of the characters who have appeared in earlier instalments, and it’s clear that some of the secondary cast in this book will eventually be the heroes of their own stories – but each of the novels in the series works as a standalone. (And honestly, I’ve read at least nine or ten of the previous books and even then, I can’t always remember who did what in which one!)

When Cold Fury opens, we meet dedicated defence attorney Hope Harper. Her star is on the rise, she’s happily married with a beautiful daughter, and life is good – until it isn’t. She’s just doing her job when she gets Julius Leech, accused of the brutal murders of several women, acquitted after she discovers that the police planted evidence designed to ensure a conviction. She doesn’t like it – but rules are rules, and she has to make sure that the letter of the law is upheld. She returns home later that evening to find her husband and daughter have been killed – and then Leech appears on the doorstep, telling her he wants to thank her for doing a good job today. It takes a devastated and distraught Hope a few moments to join the dots, and by that time, the emergency services have arrived, including Hope’s brother-in-law, Brendan, a cop on the local force, who proceeds to beat Leech to within an inch of his life.

Leech is convicted this time, and goes to prison for life.

Seven years later, and Hope is now a highly successful prosecutor with the DA’s office. She’s cultivated a reputation as a “queen bitch attorney”, a strong, confident and powerful woman who is absolutely ruthless in her quest to put away as many killers as she possibly can. Since the deaths of her husband and daughter, she’s locked away the softer emotions and runs mostly on determination and controlled anger at the injustices she sees day after day. She has no personal life and lives with her cat, her entire existence focused around her job.

When an accident on icy roads leads to Leech’s escape from custody, the elite FBI HRT (Hostage Rescue Team) is put on alert and sent to provide protection to anyone who could be targeted by the serial killer. At the top of that list is Hope Harper, but when operative Aaron Nash and his team arrive, he quickly realises that convincing the fiercely independent attorney to accept their protection is the first hurdle to be overcome. Even though Hope realises she has no alternative but to accept the HRT’s protection (the order has come directly from the Attorney General), she doesn’t have to like it and is adamant that under no circumstances will she be prevented from doing her job. Aaron can respect her dedication, but not her somewhat cavalier attitude towards her own safety, and makes very clear that while he’s prepared to work with her when it comes to enabling her to function as normally as possible, there are some boundaries and ground-rules that are non-negotiable.

As the days pass, Hope and Aaron reach an uneasy truce and start to let down their guards down around each other, just a little. There’s a definite spark of attraction between them from the very beginning, and it catches both of them off guard – Hope hasn’t felt even the tiniest bit of interest in any man since her husband and had pretty much convinced herself that she doesn’t want to, and thanks to a past relationship gone bad, Aaron is convinced Hope is out of his league. Besides, she’s his principal, and getting involved with a protectee is a no-no. But somehow, that doesn’t matter in the face of Hope’s keen intelligence, her determination, and the compassion she tries so hard to hide. And Hope is finding it harder and harder to resist the handsome operative who takes her seriously, listens to her and respects her (even when she’s deliberately trying to needle him.)

Toni Anderson always delivers a good dose of romance alongside her suspense plots, and Cold Fury is a great example of why she continues to be one of the best authors of romantic suspense around. The storyline here is clever and utterly compelling, and she does an excellent job amping up the tension as Leech continues to elude capture and more bodies start piling up – and the twist near the end is quite the gut-punch. The chemistry between Hope and Aaron simmers to a boil slowly – which is as it should be given their past experiences and their present situation as protector and protectee – and I liked them as a couple.

I admit that I’m sometimes apprehensive about stories in which one of the characters has to be placed in some kind of protective scheme, because so often, they fight it and do dumb things to prove that they Can Take Care of Themselves. Thankfully, however, Hope acts like a grown-up and doesn’t do TSTL things like try to ditch her detail or lie to them about where she’s going or what she’s doing. She doesn’t like it, but realises that working with HRT guys is the best way to get what she wants in the end.

Cold Fury is an enthralling read and I found it hard to put down. The story is gripping and the tender, sexy romance works because it makes sense that Aaron and Hope would be cautious about getting involved with one another, and their relationship has the feel of a real slow-burn. But with all that said, there are a couple of things that keep it from DIK status. Firstly, while there are plenty of reasons why Hope would have walled herself off emotionally and not be looking for a relationship, Aaron’s past heartbreak is kinda flimsy by comparison. The woman he loved ditched him for his hot, firefighter brother, and his self-esteem took a bit of a dent as a result, so he doesn’t feel he’s worthy of Hope. I mean, he’s only one of the FBI’s version of special forces, so it’s not as though he has a lot going for him, is it? *shrug*

And secondly, did I miss the memo that says it’s a requirement in a romance that the couple has to discuss having kids before the end? Hope and Aaron have a good basis for a relationship, but have only really known each other for a couple of weeks – and they suddenly start talking about having children. It threw me right out of the story.

But don’t let either of those things put you off reading Cold Fury, because it really is terrific. We occasionally talk about the lack of really good m/f romantic suspense novels these days – it came up in a discussion just recently – so here, for those looking for it, is one that definitely deserves that description.