Gaelen Foley’s Inferno Club series is one that I gave up a while ago, since book two was nearly a DNF for me. Surprisingly, I didn’t completely hate My Ruthless Prince, the fourth and last book in the series.

Since the beginning of the series, Drake, the Earl of Westwood, has been a concern for the members of the Inferno Club. First he was missing in action, presumed dead. When he was finally located he was in the company of the order’s greatest enemies, obviously suffering memory loss. Once captured and healed, he escaped to rejoin the bad guys. Is Drake deluded? Has he turned to the dark side? Drake’s long-time best friend, Emily Harper, doesn’t think so, so she sets off alone across Europe to bring him home.

Drake is walking a fine line in his current occupation of head of security for one of the upper echelon Promethians, the enemy of Drake’s past allies. He wants to wipe out the entire organization in one fell swoop if possible, but feels some affection for his leader, the man who rescued Drake from the torture that broke his mind. Drake’s thoughts are filled with half-formed plans, most of which involve the sacrifice of his own life in order to carry out his goal. When an intruder enters the castle grounds where a summit of Promethian leaders is to be held, Drake investigates and finds his childhood playmate Emily come to take him home. Emily complicates matters, because now Drake has to stay alive in order to keep Emily safe.

Drake and Emily plot together, but their plans are continually foiled. Then Drake is ordered to sacrifice Emily’s life during a dark rite to prove his allegiance to the Promethians and his plans change to escaping with their skin intact. A failed coup occurs and in the aftermath Drake is made head of the entire Promethian organization. Emily is torn. Will Drake allow his new-found power to override his many years of training to despise the Promethians? If so, will Emily be able to stand beside Drake, the man she’s loved all her life?

The reason this book gets a better grade than the previous books in the series I read (before I became disgusted) is because it is somewhat believable. The entire premise is over-the-top, but previous books had an Indiana Jones/National Treasure vibe that is thankfully lacking here. Drake and Emily are not superheros, and the plans they come up with are actually achievable with the technology available during the time.

I also found this book much easier to read than the previous books. The writing is somewhat choppy, especially at first, but smooths out somewhere in the middle. I did have a problem with the dialog on numerous occasions, because it was very difficult to decipher who was saying what – although my copy was an ARC and it’s possible that the problem may be corrected before publishing. The scenes with Drake and Emily are filled with adoration and melting looks, always a forte of this author, and the love scenes are nice and warm.

On the negative side, much of the book raised cynical questions or caused chagrin. Why is Drake so conflicted about his “rescuer”? The man stopped the torture, certainly, but that in no way meant he had charitable intentions. I found Drake’s conflict frustrating. How did Emily, the daughter of Drake’s estate woodsman, travel across Europe on her own to reach Drake? Certainly she has weapons and woodcraft training, but how does that help her navigate, say, the whole of France when she doesn’t speak the language, isn’t a lady, and has little money? Her entire trip seemed unlikely. The way that all Drake and Emily’s plans kept falling through made my blood pressure go up, and not in a good way. And most importantly, why, when they were being watched so closely and all their previous plans had already been foiled and they were in so much danger, did Drake and Emily risk everything to slip away for a little slap-and-tickle? Ugh.

My advice? While this book is better than at least two previous offerings in the series, I wouldn’t bother. Pull Princess from your keeper shelf and sigh over Darius Santiago instead.