Toni Anderson’s Cold Justice: Most Wanted series of exciting and action-packed romantic suspense novels continues with Cold Spite, in which a pair of agents are targeted by a disgraced former Navy SEAL out for revenge. The suspense plot is superbly executed – full of twists and turns to keep the reader on their toes – but the romance in this one doesn’t work so well; it’s a second-chance love story that just isn’t given the time to evolve, so the reader is asked to take as read that because the couple loved each other once, they must do so now. The author usually achieves a good balance between the plot and the romance in her novels, but it’s a bit off in this one.

Five years before this story begins, Special Agents Cas Demarco and Delilah Quinn have been working undercover to bring down a Mexican drug cartel. For the past year, the romance between ‘Ricky’ and his flaky girlfriend ‘Lacey’, has been more than an act because Cas and Delilah have fallen in love and Delilah is looking forward to their making a future together. Cas, however, is less sanguine. Delilah’s father is an Assistant Director of the FBI and has warned him off, threatening to block his application to join the elite Hostage Rescue Team if the relationship continues. We join them on their final day on the operation, with Delilah accompanying a delivery being driven across the border by Joseph Scanlon, a Navy SEAL who is happily prepared to betray his country in exchange for cash. When the trap is sprung, Scanlon makes some horrible threats against Delilah but he’s taken into custody and at long last, Delilah and Cas can start making plans for their future. Until Cas burns it all down, telling her that their chemistry in bed was great but their relationship was based on a reaction to the danger they were in, his casual dismissal of the love she thought they’d shared like a knife to her heart.

Five years later, Delilah, who is based at the FBI office in San Diego, finds out that Scanlon was released early after convincing the parole board he’d found religion and was rehabilitated. Delilah can’t help feeling unsettled, thinking that maybe his release might account for the occasional feeling of being watched she’s experienced recently. Briefly, she considers letting Cas Demarco know about Scanlon’s release, but figures he’s unlikely to go after an elite operative and former SEAL who can more than look after himself. In any case, Demarco probably doesn’t even remember her – he’s been too busy making a name for himself in the HRT – and she’s too smart to make the same mistake twice. Demarco’s rejection five years ago almost killed her. She’s not about to go there again.

At the end of the work day, Delilah returns home to the apartment she’s sharing temporarily with her best friend, gets changed into her running gear and heads out on one of her usual routes – but she comes back forty-five minutes later to see smoke billowing into the sky, the block surrounded by fire trucks and people crowding round. Realising that Valerie has been killed and fearing that she (Delilah) was actually the target, she heads to her partner’s home – only to find him dead from a bullet to the head, a bullet fired from her own service weapon. There’s no doubt she’s being set up for murder, and no doubt in her mind as to who is responsible – but with the only available evidence pointing to her as the killer and nothing to prove her suspicions that Joseph Scanlon is somehow at the bottom of it, she has to think quickly. She knows she risks losing her job if she lets everyone believe she’s dead, but better her job than her life – and if Scanlon thinks she’s dead she’ll be better able to work to bring him down. But she can’t do it alone, and the only person she can turn to is the one man she’d hoped never to see or speak to again.

The story is thrilling, edge-of-the seat stuff as the author skilfully misdirects the reader with a trail of breadcrumbs that seems to lead to one particular conclusion while simultaneously showing us that it can’t be the correct one. It’s clever and twisty with some superb set-pieces and a strong sense of camaraderie among the various operatives brought on to the task force, but with a villain who is meticulously prepared and almost as familiar with law enforcement procedures as the heroes, Delilah and Cas have to work hard to out-think and out-run him. Scanlon is as well-trained as they are and he’s had a long time to plan his revenge.

I’d almost certainly have given Cold Spite a DIK grade had the romance been better developed. I liked Cas and Delilah individually and they make a great couple, but Delilah’s constant internal monologue of ‘He destroyed me once, I can’t let him do it again’ in the first part of the book is overkill, and while Cas certainly deserves to feel like a total shit for what he did to her, his thoughts about it and how he doesn’t deserve her are also repetitive. I did, however, appreciate their mutual honesty, especially in the scene where Delilah reveals the truth about what happened after they split; it’s painful to read and Cas’ regret is palpable and genuine.And Cas’ personal growth is shown when he finally admits the real reasons he left her. But the present day romance relies heavily on the fact that Cas and Delilah were in love five years earlier (we don’t see that romance either), and I can’t help feeling cheated at not getting to see them fall in love – then or now.

Even so, Cold Spite is a nail-bitingly good read and one I’d definitely recommend to fans of the genre. The plot is intricate and extremely well-structured, the action scenes are expertly written, and I really enjoyed following the clues and putting the puzzle together at the same time as the characters. There are several cameo appearances by other members of the Cold Justice family, and I particularly liked the friendship that develops between Delilah and cyber security expert Yael Brooks (Cold Silence). While the books in the Cold Justice series are designed to work as standalones, there are references to past events and appearances by other members of the FBI divisions (HRT, Negotiators etc.), which may be confusing for someone new to the author’s work, so it’s worth backtracking a little. Most of the books wrap up neatly, but while the bad guys are dealt with and Cas and Delilah get their HEA, Cold Spite ends on something of a bombshell – which has really whetted my appetite for the next in the series.