There’s been a murder committed in the Emergency Room OR. The victim was a suspected drug dealer, or so Angel Martino, trauma nurse, is led to believe. The OR has been “locked down” evidence in this case has gone missing and now, Detective Matt Flanagan is on Angel’s tail, ready to chew her up and spit her out. It’s been a hell of a day, especially now that the crucial bullet is missing. To top things off, Flanagan is telling her that the drug dealer was an undercover cop, and his friend, and now Matt’s bound and determined to find out who killed his team mate. He’s pushy, he’s to the point, and what he has to say is that the murderer is somebody on her trauma team.

From the very first page, Angel and Matt create sparks. Angel is as beautiful as her name, but she has secrets to hide. She doesn’t need a snoopy old cop nosing around her department, stirring up things he has no business poking his nose into. For Matt, a friend and colleague is lying on a slab in the morgue and it’s up to him to find out who’s done him in. This beautiful lady, this Angel, is hiding something and he’s hoping that she’s not the suspect he’s looking for.

When Matt makes the request to see Angel after hours to ask her questions, she has no idea that when he shows up on Saturday morning, he’ll come with his son in tow. When he asks her to go out with him, her automatic response is to refuse him. After all, he has a wife doesn’t he? Matt is quick to tell Angel that he and Patrick are alone, and have been so for two years, and that he’s been lonely trying to raise his son on his own. He’s looking to put a woman in his life again and when Angel comes along, he knows immediately that there’s an attraction there, but he’s not certain he should get involved.

He runs a check on her and discovers through a snitch what her real secrets are and then tries to hide what he knows from her. Of course, it doesn’t work and she realizes that he’s found out about her without questioning her. She figures that this relationship is already over. But Matt knows her background and he’s not willing to set his feelings for her aside. He knows that she can help him out in his investigation, but he also knows that he wants her, over and above his work. Angel falls in love as much with Matt’s son, Patrick, as she does with Matt and, maybe for her, it helps to ease the pain of a devastating loss she suffered when she was younger. Maybe that’s why this relationship will work if she gives it a try.

I really gave this review a lot thought. I kept coming to the same conclusion. The book was a decent read but the author threw a curve into the story that really didn’t work for me at all. I liked Matt, he was a decent man, and I liked Angel, with all her secrets. I even liked little Patrick, who was a winner all the way around. What I didn’t like was an integral part of the story. Matt does something that, while I understand why he did it, and perhaps, in some ways, it was the only answer to the whole situation, I felt that there were other ways he could have solved his problem. It almost seemed as if the author didn’t quite know how to set up a situation to catch a killer.

The mystery itself was well written, up until just about the end. Then, at this one point, it failed for me. Amazingly enough, though, the ending was a surprise. Had this author just given the part that lead up to catching the killer a little more effort, this one might have been a keeper for me.