This is the fourth installment in the A Year of Loving Dangerously mini-series. When we last saw Simon the terrorist whose ultimate goal is to bring down the SPEAR agency and Jonah, its head, he had a large shipment of arms and was planning on getting into the lucrative drug business run by the gangs in Los Angeles. Does SPEAR have an agent in the gangs? Is the Pope Polish?

Keshon Gray is the undercover SPEAR agent. He had grown up in Los Angeles and like too many young people he had been caught in the lure of gangs. But Gray managed to get out of the gang life when he joined the Marines. From there, he was recruited by SPEAR and has worked for them ever since. Does he have a private life? No – he is in deep, deep cover working as a bouncer in a club while trying to broker a deal with Simon and lure him into SPEAR’s trap.

One day at the club, Gray meets Rennie Williams. Gray and Rennie had been sweethearts in high school and he had been her champion and protector. Gray had joined the gangs to keep an eye on Rennie’s brother, but her brother had been shot and killed despite Gray’s efforts. Both Rennie and Gray had longed to get out of the mean streets and she had succeeded, becoming a psychologist with a practice devoted to women. When Rennie meets Gray, all she knows is that he has served a term in prison, and is working as a bouncer. Seemingly his dreams of a better life have not come true.

It is soon apparent that the old friendship and love are still there between them, and despite her reservations, Rennie becomes involved with Gray. Amos shows us how this relationship tears Rennie to pieces. In her heart, she remembers Gray as her friend and the young man she had loved so much. But her head tells her that Gray is an ex-con working with gang-bangers in a job that can only lead him into trouble. And yet she loves him so, and he is good – she knows it.

The relationship tears Gray up as well. He cannot tell Rennie about his work with SPEAR and she has turned up at the worse time ever. The deal with Simon is delicate and one of Gray’s old gang members who had been in prison with him, turns up to throw a monkey wrench into the deal with Simon. Gray is afraid that he may harm Rennie as well.

Hero At Large, like all the titles in this series, is action lite – most of it happens off stage. The best thing in this book is the characters of Rennie and Gray. Their young lives had been hard but they were so full of hope. Rennie had gotten out, and so had Gray, but he could not confide in her. As I read the book, the words of the an old song by The Animals kept running through my head:

We gotta get outta this place
If it’s the last thing we ever do
We gotta get out of this place
Girl there’s a better life for me and you.

When the HEA did happen, I was so happy for Gray and Rennie, I had totally lost interest in the overarching story line of Simon and SPEAR. Hero At Large is a book where the characters took over for me.

The next installment, Strangers When We Married, is one where SPEAR agent Seth Greene has to join with his ex-wife to match wits with a criminal. Will we finally see more of Simon the terrorist, or maybe even the elusive head of SPEAR, Jonah himself? Stay tuned.